CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
• The Last Things
  • 87. Knowledge in Risen Man
  • 88. Time and Place of the General Judgment
  • 89. Persons to be Present at the Last Judgment
  • 90. Christ, the Judge
  • 92. Heaven: The Beatific Vision
  • 93. The Happiness of Heaven: Mansions
  • 94. The Saved and the Damned
  • 95. The Endowments of the Blessed
  • 96. Special Heavenly Rewards
  • 97. The Punishment of the Damned
  • 98. The Will and the Intellect of the Damned
  • 99. God's Mercy and Justice Towards the Damned
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

90. Christ, the Judge

1. Christ as man will judge mankind at the lastday. Our Lord is God the Son who became man by assuming humannature. When His true humanity is emphasized, scripture calls him"the Son of man." And we read (John 5:27): "He hathgiven him power to do judgment because he is the Son of man."Christ is our Lord and master because he is God; but he is also ourLord and master because he redeemed us by dying for us asman. Hence, as man he has authority to judge us.

1. In Isaias we read (65:17): "Behold, I create newheavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be inremembrance." And the Apocalypse says (21:1): "I saw anew heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven, and the firstearth was gone." The earth will be renewed after the last orgeneral judgment. All bodily things were created for man, and whenman is renewed in the resurrection of thebody, the earthshould receive a splendor of renewal for renewed man.

2. Christ will come "with great power andmajesty" (Luke 21:27) to judge mankind. He will come in theglorified body in which he appeared after his Resurrection. He whocame in weakness and "in the body of our lowness" (Phil.3:21) to be our redeemer, will come in strength and majesty to beour judge.

2. "Time shall be no longer," says theApocalypse (10:6). It appears then that the movement of theheavenly bodies must cease, for it is this movement which enablesman to measure time; the movement itself is the reality oftime.

3. At the final judgment the wicked will behold Christ as man,and, at the same time, will thoroughly realize that he is God. Butthey will not behold his divinity directly, for, if they did, theywould be filled with joy, which is contrary to their condition andtheir perverse will.

3. After the last judgment, the renewal of the earth willfind its counterpart in a new splendor of the heavenly bodies.Isaias says (30:26): "The light of the moon shall be as thelight of the sun, and the light of the sun shall besevenfold."

4. As we have noted, all bodily things are for men andwill somehow reflect his glory in heaven. There will be brightnessin all common things. Earth will gain a transparency; water will beas crystal; fire will have the beauty of the most wondrousstars.

5. Plants and animals will have no place in the renewedworld; no living things except those that are deathless will bethere.

"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis

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"Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfill, even in adversity, the will of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"Whoever wants to stand alone without the support of a master and guide will be like the tree that stands alone in a field without a proprietor. No matter how much the tree bears, passers-by will pick the fruit before it ripens. "
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church

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