The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-12-14
PARTICULAR JUDGMENT.

ct is appointed unto men once to
die and after this the judgment"
(Hebrews tx: 20. Immediately after
the soul leaves the body it goes be-
fore God to be judged. 1t stands de-
fenseIess at the Divine tribunal while
it is weighed in the balance. The
good deeds that it has performed dur
ing life are compared with the evil
deeds, and the balance drawn. The
accounting is a strict one. The reign
of mercy is then over and strict JUS
tice holds sway. Upon this Judgment
depends not lifetime, but an eter-
nifty. Our eternal destiny is decided by
the outcome of this trial. 1t is either
salvation or damnation. 1t is Heaven
or hell forever.
This is what we call the particular
judgment, the judgment of the soul
stripped of it's earthly covering and
standing helpless before the God Who
gave it being. The reason why We are
judged is because we are responsible
beings. We are creatures of under
standing and will. God has favored
us with the power Of knowing good
and evil. He has given us a will
whereby we are enabled to choose or
reject the good or evil when we know
it.. g. We love liberty. If we would en-
Joy it, we must pay the price, and the
price of liberty is responsibility. We
are free, and hence accountable. We
have the gift and we enjoy it. We
must, therefore, bear it's burden. The
irrational animal is not judged be-
cause it lacks the faculties of knowing
and willing, thence it is not respon-
sible.
But we have freedom. And evil is
so attractive in many instances that,
even though we know it to be evil,
we are drawn towards it almost ire
sistibly. We seem to be almost pow
erless to choose the good. This, how.
ever, is a delusion. While it is true
that we are naturally weak, yet God
supplies the strength as we need it.
| His grace helps us and assists us tC
overcome the temptations that seem
to drag us down. Moreover, even
| when we fall God has regard to ou1
natural weakness and supplies us with
the means of arising from our SAD
state. He is to us now a God of Mer
cy, eXhorting us to do what is right
and to repent of our sins. He pleads
| with us, He urges us. He does every
| thing short of forcing us. The arm
of His mercy is extended now to sus
tain us in our dangerous surroundings
but the time is coming when the arm
of mercy will be withdrawn and ex
| tended again. But this time it viii
bear a sword of justice, to fall upon US
and destroy us if we have not awaited
ourselves of His mercy. Now He is {
God of forgiveness, then He will be {
God of revenge. Now is our Saviour
then He will be our Judge. We art
| writing our eternal destiny. At tht
present time we are gathering thu
material for the day when we shall
be judged.
On that day we shall stand alon.
with God defended only by our goot
deeds. The bright light of the SUI
of God will be cast upon our naked
souls, showing us our misdeeds in al
! their hideousness. We shall shrink be
fore that sight. The Divine light will
dazzle and daze us. Our soul will ad
nit it's failings and condemn us. How
happy we shall feel then if we car
raise our eyes and gaze unabasheC
at the pure light searching our souls
if we can feel sure that our gooC
deeds far outweigh our evil ones. How
glad we shall be to know that at las
we are to receive the reward for which
we have worried a lifetime. Now i!
the time for us to bring this to pass
Nov is the acceptable time, now i:
| the day of salvation" Our future fate
is in our own hands. If we close oul
eyes in Gods grace we will be awak
ened gently from the sleep of deatl
by words of welcome. If we die in sir
we shall be aroused by the dreadful
/ sentence to descend into hell to avail
/ the final judgment of all men.
The Tablet