Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The Catholic doctrine of the Particular Judgment is this: that immediately after death the eternal destiny of each separated soul is decided by the just judgment of God. Although there has been no formal definition on this point, the dogma is clearly implied in the Union Decree of Eugene IV (1439), which declares that souls leaving their bodies in a state of grace, but in need of purification are cleansed in Purgatory, whereas souls that are perfectly pure are at once admitted to the beatific vision of the Godhead (ipsum Deum unum et trinum). The doctrine is also in the profession of faith of Michael Palaeologus in 1274, in the Bull Benedictus Deus of Benedict XII, in 1336, and in the professions of faith of Gregory XIII and Benedict XIV.[1]
This Judgment is called Particular in order to distinguish it from the General Judgment, which will take place at the end of the world.
“The views of the Early Fathers on the fate of the deceased are obscure. However, their belief in the particular judgment emerges from the general conviction that the good receive their reward and the evil their punishment immediately after death. As to the nature of the condition of reward or punishment in the other world uncertainty reigned. Many of the older Fathers (St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, St Hilary, St. Ambrose) assume a state of waiting between death and resurrection, in which the just indeed receive reward and the evil punishment, but do not yet achieve the final blessedness of heaven or the final condemnation of hell. Tertullian makes an exception in the case of martyrs to whom he concedes immediate assumption into, ‘Paradise,’ that is, the bliss of heaven. St. Cyprian insists that all the just enter the kingdom of heaven and attain to Christ. St. Augustine doubts whether the souls of the just before the Resurrection enjoy (like the angels) the full blessedness which consists in the vision of God.
“The belief in a Particular Judgment is directly attested to by St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and Caesarius of Arles.”[2]
The Particular Judgment is not necessarily a formal sentence. It may be merely a clear perception of guilt or innocence, whereby the soul is moved on its own accord to go immediately to Heaven, Gehenna, or purgatory, according to the appropriate reward or punishment due.[3]
Father Kenneth Baker writes:
It is fruitless to try to imagine what the particular judgment is like. We just cannot adequately picture these transcendent realities. The image of a judge and tribunal has often been used in Christian art, and it does serve some useful purpose. But we should not think that such representations are accurate. The particular judgment involves a most intimate relation between the human person and the divine judge. But there will be no witnesses, cross-examination, accusers, defenders and so forth. For in a very true sense, we have already judged ourselves, depending on how we have made use of God’s grace during this life. Our merits and demerits go with us. We appear before God immediately at the moment of death bearing in our hands our good deeds and our sins. Those who die in the state of mortal sin have already judged themselves; they have rejected God and God lets that rejection stand forever. Those who die in the state of sanctifying grace have chosen to believe in God and to serve him in this life. After death, adorned with grace and good works, they are admitted into the eternal kingdom as children of God and co-heirs with Christ. That is their particular judgment.”[4]
Where the Particular Judgment will take place, no one knows. It is likely that each soul is judged on the spot where it leaves the body. Though Divine Revelation does not expressly explain, we may assume that the God-man Jesus will act as judge both at the Particular Judgment and the General Judgment.
Saint Paul says, “And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment”[5] This text may be quoted in favor of our thesis, though we do not know for certain whether the Apostle is referring to the Particular or to the General Judgment.
You Have Searched Me and Know Me; Nothing is Hidden from God
“Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me: thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out. And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue. Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me. Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me. And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures. But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother’s womb. I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knows right well. My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them. But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.[6]
Jesus will judge us by our deeds and the consequences will be eternal. Yet this just judge is also our savior who knows our sins and has paid the price with his own blood.
God Offers Mercy Before Justice
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.” [7]
In the early 1900’s, Our Lord gave many great mystical graces to Sister Faustina of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. He also gave her a mission – to tell the world that He is Mercy itself, and that before He returns as a just Judge, He is coming as a merciful Savior.
In paragraph 83 of her Diary, Our Lord tells her, “Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy.”
Jesus called Faustina His “Secretary of Divine Mercy”, and commanded her to write everything He told her. In obedience, Faustina kept a diary, now called “Divine Mercy in My Soul”, and published by the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. This printed diary fills over 600 pages.
God wishes to offer His mercy before exercising His justice. This theme, in fact, is seen time and again in St. Faustina’s Diary in Our Lord’s revelations to her.
In paragraph 50, He states: “I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of Mine towards souls of sinners. Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me. The flames of mercy are burning Me — clamoring to be spent; I want to pour them out upon these souls.”
In paragraph 848, He states: “(My daughter) Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them.”
In paragraph 1146, He says: “…before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice…”
One last revelation worth sharing from St. Faustina’s Diary that illustrates the beautiful truth that Almighty God wishes to exercise toward all His mercy before His justice.
In paragraph 1588. He tells St. Faustina simply and lovingly: “Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.”
In the Caeremoniale Episcoporum— The Ceremonial of Bishops, published in 1985, there’s a paragraph entitled Concerning folding the hands, and an explanation in a note at the bottom of the page that states:
“When it says with hands folded, it is to be understood in this way: palms extended and joined together in front of the breast, with the right thumb over the left in the form of a cross.” (#107, n.80)
When I was in grade school, one of the sisters instructed us saying, “When praying, put your hands together and fold your right thumb over the left.” They explained that this represented the saying of the New Testament, ‘mercy over justice’;[8] as long as we can pray, they said, ‘we could beg God for mercy.’” This was a fine spiritual interpretation of a simple gesture.
Saint Thomas Aquinas gave a profound meaning to Mercy, Compassion and Justice.
The word compassion is originated from Latin word “compassio” meaning to suffer together. Compassion empathizes with the sufferer. Someone takes another’s suffering as if it belongs to him or her. However, compassion does not remove the suffering.
Mercy is something more than compassion or heartfelt sorrow at another’s troubles. Mercy goes further as it removes suffering. A merciful person shares in another’s misfortune and suffering as if it were his or her own and such a person will do everything in his or her power to dispel, or heal that misery or misfortune. Mercy “moves us to do what we can do to help the other.” Mercy seeks to remedy the weakness of others to recognize their need for repentance and turning away from wrong doing.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, mercy is connected with justice. He said that mercy “does not destroy justice but is a certain kind of fulfillment of justice.” “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; and justice without mercy is cruelty.” Pardon without repentance negates justice.
Saint Paul tells us that Jesus “had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people.[9] Jesus experienced the very misery from which he came to save us. His actions too are all an interpretation of His divine mercy, even though they are not represented as such by the evangelists.
Jesus wished to show for all tine, the characteristic features of divine mercy which showed forth in His actions. To sinners, who saw themselves excluded from the kingdom of God by the pettiness of the
Pharisees, He proclaimed a gospel of infinite mercy which follows in a direct line from the authentic pronouncement of the Old Testament. Those who please the heart of God are not the self-righteous but the repentant sinners, whom He likened to a lamb or drachma that was lost and found again;[10] the father is anxiously awaiting the return of his prodigal son and when he sees him in the distance he is “moved with compassion” and runs to meet him.”[11] God has waited long: He still waits long for Israel who, like the barren fig tree, will not be converted.[12]
God is indeed the “Father of mercies”[13] who showed mercy to Saint Paul[14] and promises it to all believers.[15] Saint Paul manifests the amplitude and superabundance of the completion of the task of mercy in that salvation and peace which were announced in the early gospel canticles.[16] The high point of his epistle to the Romans occurs in this revelation. Seeing that the Jews, by their failure to recognize divine mercy, were misconstruing justice to be something they could procure through their works and observances of the Law. Saint Paul declares that they too are sinners and hence they also need this mercy through the justification of faith. Before their very eyes, the pagans, to whom God had made no promises are drawn into the immense orbit of His mercy. All must acknowledge themselves sinners in order to become beneficiaries of His mercy: “For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.”[17]
We shall be judged according to the mercy we have shown, perhaps unknowingly, to the very person of Jesus: “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”[18]
The Particular Judgment in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
§1021Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul – a destiny which can be different for some and for others.
§1022Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven – through a purification or immediately, or immediate and everlasting damnation.
At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.
[1] McHugh, John. Particular Judgment. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910).
[2] Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, (p. 476.
[3] St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplem., Question 69, Article 21.
[4] Baker, Kenneth, S.J., Fundamentals of Catholicism, Vol. 3, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press), 1985, pp.366-367.
[5] Heb 9:27.
[6] Ps 139:1-17 (Douay-Rheims).
[8] James 2:13.
[9] Heb 2:17.
[10] Lk 15: 7, 10.
[11] Ibid. 15:20.
[12] Ibid. 13:6, 9.
[13] 2 Cor 1:3, Jam 5:11.
[14] 1 Cor 7:25; 2 Col 4:1; 1 Tim 1:13.
[15] Mt 5:7; I Tin 1:2; Tit 1:4; 2 Jn 3.
[16] Lk 1:50, 54, 72,78.
[17] Rom 11:32.
[18] Mt 25:31-46.