CHRIST THE KING: Ez 34:11-12, 15-17; I Cor 15:20-26, 28; Mt 25:31-46

In today's first reading, God is presented as the Good Shepherd. God is our king, he is a shepherd-king who looks for the lost one, brings back the stray, bandages the wounded, and makes the weak strong. Christ the King is Christ the life-giver, who works to bring us from death to life, both in the course of our earthly lives and at their end.

The judgment topic is interlaced in today's liturgy with that of Jesus, the good shepherd. The responsorial psalm says: "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want, fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose" (Psalm 22:1-2). The meaning is clear: Now Christ reveals himself to us as the good shepherd; one day, he will be obliged to be our Judge. Now is the time of mercy, then, it will be the time of justice. It is for us to choose while we still have time.

The standard of judgment is simple enough; 'whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did it to me'. What may surprise us is God's identification with the most insignificant of his brothers: 'you did it to me. When we do any good for others even though we may not realize how it works, we do it for Christ, who became one of us. He will consider this as the basis for our judgment.

 

The Church believes there are two types of judgements: particular and general. Why will there be a general judgment if there is a particular judgment? Will those who are already in hell or heaven be brought down to the scene of final judgment?

The Catechism (CCC 1022) refers to the "particular judgment" immediately upon the death of each human person. Each man receives eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the moment of his death. This truth is attested to in texts of Scripture like Hebrews 9:27: "it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment." And it is implied in Luke 16:19-23, when Jesus gives us his famous parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

It should be noted that there will be exceptions to the "death" part of this equation. St. Paul tells us those who are "alive and remain" at the time of Christ's coming will never taste death (1 Thess. 4:16-17; cf. 1 Cor. 15:51).

The Church refers to the final judgment at the end of time, in which all will be judged corporately and publicly. According to  Sacred Scripture, this is clearly separate and distinct from the particular judgment, as CCC 1038 declares: The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust" (Acts 24:15), will precede the Last Judgment.

It is fitting that there be a final judgment after the particular judgment for three essential reasons. First, and most importantly, the final judgment will fully reveal God's justice and glory for all to see. This is not accomplished in each man's private and particular judgment.

Furthermore, the full implications of the good and evil that we do in our lifetime will not be fully realized at the time of our particular judgment. These will have ripple effects on our children, our children's children, etc., and on those around us and those around them,  down through the years between our particular judgment and the end of time. All this will be fully revealed at the final judgment.

And finally, since we sin and perform virtuous acts as a body/soul composite, it is fitting that we be judged as a body/soul composite as well. This, too, does not occur at our particular judgment, at the final judgment. Otherwise, only the soul suffers for the acts that the body-soul together acquired.

Will the damned be "taken out of hell, judged, and thrown back into hell then?"  Both heaven and hell are not principally locations; rather, they are states of being. Hell is, as CCC 1033 says, "[the] state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed." And when it comes to the punishments of hell (and we could add purgatory here as well), CCC 1472 says:

These two punishments (speaking of purgatory and hell) must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without but as following from the very nature of sin.

Thus, again, hell is not so much a "place" that one can be "thrown into" in a literal sense as it is a state of being. So in that sense, one cannot be "taken out of hell" because hell is wherever the damned are!

Moreover, because the damned do not have bodies before the end of time, they do not have location as you and I understand it. They are pure spirits. So we can't really speak of hell being a "place" right now, at least, not as we understand "places." However, after the resurrection, because those in hell will have bodies we could certainly speak of them having a "location" or "place" of sorts. Hell and heaven are essentially present wherever the damned and the just are "located," even after the resurrection of the body.

On this Feast of Christ the King, when we profess our faith in the second coming of Christ and his final judgment, let us renew our baptismal commitment, when we were anointed priest, prophet and King - 'King' for we are to be instruments of Christ in bringing about the reign of God on the earth.

Jesus Christ alone is our King; his claim on our lives is greater than that of any earthly ruler or political system. The Solemnity of Christ the King is not just the conclusion of the Church year.   It is also a summary of our lives as Christians. On this great Feast, let us resolve to give Christ the central place in our lives and to obey His commandment of love by sharing our blessings with all his needy children.