Q. What is the difference between judgement at the time of death and the one at the end of time?
A. In the Nicene Creed, which we recite at Mass during all Sundays and Solemnities, we say “[Jesus] will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Your question is a good one because we have to ask what is meant by Jesus coming again to judge if we have already received judgement at the point of death.
The Catholic Church teaches that at the end of a person’s life, his or her soul is immediately judged by God. This is traditionally called the particular judgement. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “Each 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” (CCC 1022).
Specifically, this means souls leaving their bodies in the state of grace but still in need of purification due to venial sin or attachment to sin will enter purgatory, and eventually the beatific vision. Souls that leave the body in a state of perfection will enter immediately into heavenly glory. Souls that choose to reject God through mortal sin will remain in that state for all eternity. A mortal sin is a sin that is a serious matter and done with full knowledge and deliberate consent of the will. Thus, it is a free human choice which God permits, but does not want for us.
Scripture gives witness to this teaching on the particular judgement in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, found in St. Luke’s Gospel (Lk 16:19-23). The rich man who neglected his neighbor here in this world and lived extravagantly entered immediately into eternal damnation, and Lazarus entered into eternal paradise.
However, as the Nicene Creed indicates, when Jesus returns to the world in the Second Coming, he will make a general or final judgement which is distinct from the particular judgement. In doing so, there will be a further revealing of one’s particular judgement. As the Catechism says, “The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life” (CCC 1039).
God has created us as communal beings. Jesus established the Church as his Mystical Body, in which the baptized are integral parts of that body. The Lord uses us as channels of his grace, and the final judgement will reveal the full effect of our goodness until the end of time. It most especially will reveal the eternal mercy of God.
A discussion of the particular and final judgement should not cause us undue fear and anxiety. Our Lord offers us the gift of his grace, which has as its fruits serenity and peace in this life and in the world to come. Our Lord wants nothing more than to shower his mercy upon us. As Jesus revealed to St. Faustina, “the flames of mercy are burning Me—clamoring to be spent; I want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don’t want to believe in My goodness.”
We should not be presumptuous of God’s mercy, that is, thinking that we can live our lives in a sinful way with no consequence. The particular judgement will be a judgement of the state of our souls at the time we leave this world. Let’s seek the mercy of God now—and enjoy its fruits for all eternity.
This question was answered by Father Nicholas Kipper, moderator of the curia. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
