details of the forgiven sins of the Elect will be shielded from the knowledge of the rest of the Elect because of the priority of focusing on God's glory and the power of His mercy.
I've not heard Fr. Wolfe say this, but I'll take your word for it. I also have not heard this before.
I am of the view that we will know each other's sins, confessed or not.
(ST; Supp. Q.87)
Article 1.
I answer that, According to
Romans 2:15-16, "In the day when
God shall judge" each one's
conscience will bear witness to him and his thoughts will accuse and defend him. And since in every judicial hearing, the witness, the accuser, and the defendant need to be acquainted with the
matter on which judgment has to be pronounced, and since at the
general judgment all the works of
men will be submitted to judgment, it will behoove every
man to be cognizant then of all his works. Wherefore each
man's conscience will be as a book containing his
deeds on which judgment will be pronounced, even as in the
human court of
law we make use of records. Of these books it is written in the Apocalypse (
20:12): "The books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books [
Vulgate: 'book'], according to their works." According to
Augustine's exposition (De Civ. Dei xx) the books which are here said to be opened "denote the
saints of the
New and
Old Testaments in whom
God's commandments are exemplified." Hence
Richard of St. Victor (De judic. potest.) says: "Their hearts will be like the code of
law." But the book of life, of which the text goes on to speak, signifies each one's
conscience, which is said to be one single book, because the one Divine power will
cause all to recall their
deeds, and this energy, in so far as it reminds a man of his
deeds, is called the "book of life" [Cf.
I:24:1 ad 1]. Or else we may refer the first books to the
conscience, and by the second book we may understand the Judge's sentence as expressed in His
providenceArticle 2.
On the contrary, A
gloss on
1 Corinthians 4:5, "will . . . bring to light the hidden things of darkness," says: "
Deeds and thoughts both
good and
evil will then be revealed and made
known to all."
Further, the past
sins of all the
good will be equally blotted out. Yet we
know the
sins of some
saints, for instance of
Magdalen,
Peter, and David. Therefore in like manner the
sins of the other elect will be
known, and much more those of the damned.
I answer that, At the last and
general judgment it behooves the Divine
justice, which now is in many ways hidden, to appear evidently to all. Now the sentence of one who condemns or rewards cannot be
just, unless it be delivered according to
merits and demerits. Therefore just as it behooves both judge and jury to
know the
merits of a case, in order to deliver a just verdict, so is it
necessary, in order that the sentence appear to be
just, that all who
know the sentence should be acquainted with the
merits. Hence, since every one will
know of his reward or condemnation, so will every one else
know of it, and consequently as each one will recall his own
merits or demerits, so will he be cognizant of those of others. This is the more probable and more common opinion, although the
Master (Sent. iv, D, 43) says the contrary, namely that a man's
sins blotted out by repentance will not be made
known to others at the judgment. But it would follow from this that neither would his repentance for these
sins be perfectly
known, which would detract considerably from the
glory of the
saints and the praise due to
God for having so mercifully delivered them.
Reply to Objection 1. All the preceding
merits or demerits will come to a certain amount in the
glory or unhappiness of each one rising again. Consequently through
eternal things being seen, all things in their
consciences will be visible, especially as the Divine power will conduce to this so that the Judge's sentence may appear just to all.
Reply to Objection 2. It will be possible for a man's
merits or demerits to be made
known by their effects as stated above (
Article 1, Reply to Objection 1), or by the power of
God, although the power of the
created intellect is not sufficient for this.
Reply to Objection 3. The manifestation of his
sins to the confusion of the sinner is a result of his neglect in omitting to confess them. But that the
sins of the
saints be revealed cannot be to their confusion or shame, as neither does it bring confusion to
Mary Magdalen that her
sins are publicly recalled in the
Church, because shame is "fear of disgrace," as
Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii), and this will be impossible in the blessed. But this manifestation will bring them great
glory on account of the penance they did, even as the confessor hails a man who
courageously confesses great crimes.
Sins are said to be blotted out because
God sees them not for the purpose of punishing them.
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So Thomas differs from Peter Lombard here slightly and says we'll know based on merit and demerit.
It's not perfectly clear still the mode by which we will know other's sins we may only know them insofar as the effects of them brought God glory.
Interesting topic regardless, one which I think about a lot.