Fr Sean again:
Meeting Christ the King: Our Final Examiner
Jesus’ Church ends this year of grace with the celebration of Jesus as King of kings, our Saviour and our Judge. As the Lover of Justice He’ll hold each of us accountable for our words and deeds. Christ as King is the Lord of creation. Every person’s history on earth begins and ends with Jesus as the “Judge of the living and the dead.” (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Peter 4:1-8). Jesus warns us, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and, when He does, He will reward each one according to his behaviour” (Mt 16: 27). It’s appropriate that the Church ends her year reminding us that Jesus is King and will judge us as to whether we chose His Kingdom or Satan’s through our choices while on earth. The consequences are eternal. His Church teaches that there are two judgments: the particular judgment of each of us at death and a general judgment at the end of time demonstrating that love conquered hate, freedom conquered slavery to sin, good conquered evil, truth conquered falsehood, and beauty conquered ugliness. Heaven is the eternal enjoyment of love, freedom, goodness, truth, and beauty. Hell is the eternal experience of hate, slavery, evil, lies, and ugliness. Jesus is the final examiner who gives us our final exam that determines our entry into Heaven, hell, or Purgatory. He appeals to our reason by asking, “What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world (seeking popularity, pleasure, possessions, or power) and ruins himself? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for himself” (Mt 16:26)? Are our daily choices leading us to Heaven or hell?
St. John Henry Newman noted the following concerning our particular judgment: “Each of us must come to the evening of life. Each of us must enter on eternity. Each of us must come to that quiet, awful time, when we will appear before the Lord of the vineyard, and answer for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or bad. That, my dear brethren, you will have to undergo. … It will be the dreadful moment of expectation when your fate for eternity is in the balance, and when you are about to be sent forth as the companion of either saints or devils, without possibility of change. There can be no change; there can be no reversal. As that judgment decides it, so it will be for ever and ever. Such is the particular judgment…When we find ourselves by ourselves, one by one, in His presence, and have brought before us most vividly all the thoughts, words, and deeds of this past life. Who will be able to bear the sight of himself?” (A Year with the Saints, p 101). The only witnesses to testify at our trial will be the Word of God and our Guardian Angel. Jesus warns us that, “Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words already has his judge, namely the word I have spoken – it is that which will condemn him on the last day” (Jn 12:8). For each of us the “last day” is when we die.
God told His people through Moses, “See, I set before you today … a blessing, if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God … a curse, if you disobey the commandments of your God and leave the way I have marked out for you today, by going after other gods …” (Deut 11:26-27). God blesses those who obey Him lovingly. The disobedient bring a curse on themselves. Heaven is the blessing. Hell is the curse. The choice is ours. We hold our destiny in our own hands. Do we want to hear Jesus’ invitation, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the Kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34) OR His dismissal, “Out of my sight, you accursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). Our final exam will show whether we lived an egocentric or Christocentric life?
God is a loving Father endowing each of us with the capacity to say “Yes” to a happy union with Him and with one another. He wants to be personally involved in our life as our Provider and Protector. “I myself will look after and tend my sheep … I will rescue them … I will pasture them … I will give them rest … The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy … I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats” (Ez 34:11-12, 15-17). But He cannot save us unless we freely choose to follow Jesus. That means acknowledging Him in the Psalmist’s words: “The Lord is my Shepherd, three is nothing I shall want…” (Ps 23:1). God's promises in Ezekiel are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, our Good Shepherd. Jesus assured the continuity of God’s pastoral providence when He founded His Church on Peter whom He commissioned to “Feed my lambs … Look after my sheep … Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17). This mission is primarily the responsibility of the Pope, Bishops, and clergy. But we all must participate according to our gifts in spiritually looking after Jesus’ lambs and sheep, especially the most vulnerable. He provides us with the wherewithal to do this in and through His Church that calls us to obey the Ten Commandments, live the Beatitudes, and carry out the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. St. Paul assures us that “In Him who is the source of my strength I have strength for everything” (Phil 4:13). This is what faith in Jesus does for us so that we can live joyfully looking forward to meeting Jesus our King face-to-face.
Jesus has given us a preview of His exam in Matthew 25:31-46). Since the Examiner is Himself the Truth, we’ll have to be honest in our answers. God gives us every opportunity on earth to prepare for this test so we’ve no excuses. We’ll have to answer each question with a Yes or a No.
1. Did I make Jesus the centre of my daily life? Yes No
2. Did I help to feed those who were physically or spiritually hungry? Yes No
3. Did I help meet the needs of those who were physically or spiritually thirsty? Yes No
4. Did I help to show hospitality to the physical or spiritual stranger? Yes No
5. Did I help to clothe those who were physically or spiritually naked? Yes No
6. Did I reach out to those who were physically or spiritually sick? Yes No
7. Did I reach out to those who were physically or spiritually imprisoned? Yes No
On the basis of your answers, where would you be if you died now – Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory? Start answering these questions today so you can receive your desired result (All Yeses= Heaven; All Nos = Hell; 3 Yeses and 4 Nos = Purgatory). Remember, the final exam has no repeat, results are final. (fr sean)