The Particular Judgment, and Purgatory as a Confessional...

You wrote on Aug 11, 2007 at 5:16 PM.
Okay...here's some thoughts...

Numerous Catholic apologists insist that there is a "particular" judgment each person goes through after they die.

Interestingly, they insist that Hebrews 9:27 lends support to this idea:

"Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment,"

The idea is, essentially, that judgment occurs IMMEDIATELY after physical death.

However, as I mentioned in my stock answer on Hebrews 9:27, Protestants often use the same verse to prove the immediate GENERAL judgment in an effort to disprove Purgatory.

The following verse, in my opinion, means that verse 27 CANNOT be used as a prooftext for EITHER position:

Hebrews 9:28, "so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him."

The whole idea of "immediacy" would appear to be totally disproved by the comparison given, by the analogy drawn. There is a LARGE gap of time between Christ's death and the Parousia, therefore, since a parallel is given here, the text is saying that there will be a gap of time (perhaps the 1,000 year reign, figuratively speaking, but still a gap) between our own physical death and the FINAL, or general, judgment. The particular judgment is not taught by Hebrews 9:27.

Now, having considered the evidence of the Particular Judgment from the Catholic Encyclopedia, and in the witness of the Fathers, I am NOT saying, in any way, that the Particular Judgment is not doctrine. I am simply dismissing Hebrews 9:27 as a prooftext for it - and I am tempted to do the same with 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 more properly is speaking of the "day" as the day of the GENERAL judgment, the day Purgatory ends, effectively.

However, that isn't to say that we don't know, quite immediately, where we are going right after we die - the particular judgment can be affirmed without either of the two previous passages as scriptural support for it.

The damned? Well, pardon me for being blunt, but they are going to rather immediately realize what is going on, and their reaction will be: "Oh, shit."

The saved? Well, while many of them are going to have to undergo quite a bit of purification, they are still, in virtue of being in the state of grace, going to be breathing a sigh of relief.

The words of Captain Hook in the movie "Hook" come to mind for those who, in the particular judgment, are assured of their ultimate salvation, but are told something before they can even get near the gate of Heaven..."Now brace yourself lad, because this is really going to hurt."

It won't hurt anywhere near the fires of Hell and eternal loss, but it IS going to hurt. Sanctification can be painful.

Hebrews 12:11, "At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it."

Now, I was thinking about Purgatory being primarily about an emotional catharsis, akin to "watching a movie of your past life" - similar to Scrooge seeing his past deeds in a Christmas Carol, or Adam Sandler seeing (supposedly past) deeds in "Click."

However...

After having read Scott Hahn's book on Confession, I was thinking that perhaps the "movie theater" may not be the best analogy for Purgatory...and as I searched my mind for the appropriate earthly parallel, I fixed upon one thing in particular...

Confession.

Purgatory is going to be like being in the confessional...but it is not going to be like private confession. EVERYTHING will be revealed, in line with 1 Corinthians 3, and similar passages. This isn't going to be like private auricular confession. It is going to be like the ancient public confessions that we hear about so much in apologetics.

Those that will end up going to Hell? They are the ones that completely and totally spurn the use of "The Last Confessional." They are going to be the ones that mocked and derided the sanctity of confession and the confessional booth during life, the ones who said, "I go often enough" or the ones who almost never go. And one of the worst aspects of their final punishment is that they are going to be denied entrance to the final confessional, by virtue of their own free choice.

I was thinking about how Scott Hahn mentioned how we sometimes try to justify ourselves in the confessional. Well...there isn't going to be any room for that. We are going to have to go over ALL our past sins, one, by one, by one, by one, until every last sin has been confessed. Only THEN do we get absolution.

Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting that our suffering in the confessional on earth is self-sanctifying - I would concede most definitely to whatever the Church holds on the matter, as I know all too well that the sacrament is not received until the words of absolution.

But, then again, what we will be confessing in this "Last Confessional" is VENIAL sins at most - since if we HAVE unconfessed mortal sins at this juncture, we won't even be ALLOWED into the Last Confessional. So perhaps there is some sanctifying value after all, in the suffering itself...

We "suffer loss" - experience punishment - in the retelling of all of our unconfessed venial sins, and in the public exposition of our most sinful inclinations. It's hard enough to tell the parish priest our sins. Imagine confessing to our friends, parents, and, ultimately, to God Himself.

I wouldn't even be surprised if Jesus, in His throne, conducts the Confession Himself, with there no longer being a need for His holy priests to act as alter Christus.

In this confession, which (may) last until the Final Judgment, depending on how much we have to (validly) confess (bye bye, scrupulosity!) - God is going to give us, effectively, a "transcript" to go off of - there will be no opportunity to miss a single, solitary sin.

I find this imagery solidly satisfying...and I think it rather "acceptable" that the Church's dogma of Purgatory draw upon the Sacrament of Confession. Instead of having our sins read off to us, as charges in a trial - WE are going to have to accuse ourselves, as Catholics have always been taught to do in the confessional.

Your thoughts?

- Sean