Horror, horror, horror

 Today's gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46) is a challenging one for us and for many of our contemporaries. We see the events of the last judgement unfold in three acts.

In the first act, Jesus describes the return of the Son of Man. He will come in glory, i.e. nobody will be able to deny that this is the Christ, the anointed one of God. He will take his seat on the throne of glory, i.e. He will sit as a judge who has power to liberate and to punish, for justice may require both. He will face all of humanity, the people of all nations, not just his followers and not just the Chosen People.  And finally in this scene, He will separate men from each other, “as the shepherd separates sheep from goats”. We can almost guess what is coming next for we know that sheep and lambs are images of those whom Jesus loves and who return that love. For many years, theologians have insisted on the unity of the human race. Yet that unity cannot be understood without taking into account the implications of this passage which narrates the final moments in the history of all humanity. The unity that makes every single one of us part of that human race is itself meant to serve the union that joins creation to its Creator. To separate the sheep from the goats, i.e., to separate the saved and the damned, is not to destroy the unity of the human race, but rather to make public the actions of those you have destroyed it. It is not our inheritance that defines us but what we do with it that makes us who we are supposed to be.

Then comes the second act. The king invites the sheep to come and receive the heritage that His Father has prepared for them since the beginning of time. And the judge then goes on to announce why it is that the sheep will receive this inheritance. In this well-known passage, Jesus singles out the corporal works of mercy that manifest the love that rules the hearts of the Blessed and makes them most like God. The implications of this passage are alarming. When Jesus told the disciples at the Last Supper to “love one another as I have loved you”, He might almost have said, “Love one another, for the way in which you love each other will be the way in which you love me”. It is a thought that invites us to drive from our hearts every movement of hostility and coldness, even towards those who have hurt us. This is a blessing that only the grace of Jesus can work in us. We must not imagine that love of neighbour exhausts our duty to God, for Jesus confirmed that the greatest commandment has two requirements: love of neighbour of course, but also love of God. Yet these two are in some ways intertwined. As Saint John argues in one of his letters, “How can you love the God you do not see if you do not love the brother that you do see?” (I quote the words approximately, but it is 1 John 4: 20!). The worst sin as we know is not against neighbour but against God, for it is the sin against the Holy Spirit. As to what is required of any individual in this moment of the last judgement, we can cite also the words of Jesus elsewhere: to whom much is given, much will be expected (Luke 12: 48). God will judge not only according to His law but according to the gifts that He gave to every individual. Now, there is a sobering thought.

And, so we come to the final act of the last judgement when the effects of the separation that Jesus spoke of at the beginning become apparent in their fullest sense. And we hear words that are now so deeply unfashionable that some might even believe Jesus could not have said them: “Go away from me with your curse upon you to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The Sacred Heart, the Divine Mercy Incarnate, the gentle Jesus of countless children's carols - this Jesus who came to heal the contrite is also the Judge who pronounces the most terrible of sentences. Our one consolation here is that we know this Judge will make no mistakes. He knows everything: every thought, every word, every act of love and every act of rebellion of which we are the author. We do not often think of Him in this powerful position, but it should be a reminder to us that when we ask for mercy, we cannot trade in it cheaply. When we ask for His mercy, it must be to reconcile ourselves with Him; not to soothe the disappointment of our self-love which is wounded by our failure to follow Him.

As we dwell on these three scenes, we cannot go forward without acknowledging the horror of eternal suffering. It is quite common these days to dally with theories about whether hell is empty. Even a lot of high-placed clergy are prone to this kind of wishful thinking. This blog is not a place of controversy to address that issue but let us at least observe the following. Nobody should even consider such a question who has not conceived in their hearts a horror for sin equal to their horror for the idea of eternal damnation: horror for sin because it separates us from God, because it disfigures His image in us, and because it alienates us from everything that He calls us to.

May every reader hear the words that are spoken to the sheep. But let us not forget: there will be sheep and there will be goats. Jesus Himself says it. Mercy itself makes no sense without justice.