Answer: Holy Scripture says, men will wither away for fear of what is coming; they will call upon the mountains to fall and hide them;[1] they will be rushing here and there, not knowing what to do. Money will be of no value then; dress, wealth, fame, power, learning, and all else will be useless, for at that moment all men will be equal. Then shall be heard the sound of the angel’s great trumpet calling all to judgment.[2] The dead shall come forth from their graves,[3] and the demons rush from hell.[4] Then all shall see the blessed Lord coming in the clouds of heaven in great power and majesty, surrounded by countless angels bearing His shining Cross before Him.[5] He will separate the good from the wicked;[6] He will welcome the good to heaven and condemn the wicked to hell.[7] The sins committed shall be made public before all present.[8]
Imagine your feelings while you are standing in that great multitude, waiting for the separation of the good from the bad. To which side will you be sent? Our Lord is coming, not with the mild countenance of a savior, but with the severe look of a judge. As He draws nearer and nearer to you, you see some of your dear friends, whom you thought good enough on earth, sent over to the side of the wicked; you see others that you deemed foolish sent with the good, and you become more and more anxious every moment about the uncertainty of your own fate. You see fathers and mothers sent to opposite sides, brothers and sisters, parents and children separated forever. Oh, what a terrible moment of suspense! How you wish you had been better and always lived as a friend of God!
The side you will be on depends on what you do now, and you can be on the better side if you wish. Do, then, in your life what you wish to have done at that terrible moment. Learn to judge yourself frequently. Say this, or something similar, to yourself: “Now I have lived twelve, fifteen, twenty or more years; if that judgment came today, on which side should I be? Probably on the side of the wicked. If then I spend the rest of my life as I have lived in the past, on that last day I will surely be with the wicked. If my good deeds and bad deeds were counted today, which would be more numerous? What, then must I do? It will not be enough for me simply to be better in the future—I must also try to make amends for the past. If a man wishing to complete a journey at a certain time, by walking a fixed number of miles each day, falls behind a great deal on one day, he must not only walk the usual number of miles the next, but must make up the distance lost on the previous day. So in our journey through this life we must do our duty each day for the future, and, as far as we can, make up for what we have neglected in the past.
[1] Lk 23:30.
[2] Matthew 24:31.
[3] Isa. 26:19
[4] Rev. 16:14
[5] Matthew 26:64.
[6] Matthew 13:49.
[7] Ps. 34:21.
[8] Mk. 4:22.