Recently, I wrote an article about the adulterous Coldplay couple caught on the kiss-cam, and I concluded my piece with some thoughts about the very public General Judgement that will occur when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead:
Whatever happens to the couple from now on, the justice and mercy afforded them in their moment (or lifetime) of exposure is similar to—and yet nothing approaching—the mercy and justice we will all face, together, at the General Judgement at the end of time, when every one of our sins will be exposed, with perfect clarity, to all others.…
Now, I expected that lukewarm or poorly catechized Catholics would be learning something new about this final judgement that will take place at the consummation of the world, but I was surprised to find that even some faithful Catholics are unaware of how things will go down.
For example, one woman stated with worry on my Facebook page: “I thought the sacrament of reconciliation actually blots out our sins and they are remembered no more (Please Lord).” Another was stunned: “Hold up…wait…what? Our sins will be seen by all? How? Where is this taught?” And still another confused commenter: “I thought the ones we confessed were not seen? Or did I misunderstand?”
To clear up the confusion, let’s look more closely at Church teaching.
It is true that in the course of the final, public judgement, presided over by Christ the King, every one of our sins—in thought, word, and deed—will be revealed to every other person who has ever been created. Yes, this even includes the sins that have been confessed and forgiven in a sacramental confession. While we can rest assured that each of those absolved sins are completely forgiven and no longer offend God, they will be seen two more times: first, at our particular judgement, which takes place at the moment of our death; and, second, at the General (or Final) Judgement at the end of time, when the old Heaven and Earth pass away, the universe is renewed, and the Kingdom of God is fulfilled. The first judgement by Christ the King is private and individual; the second is public and universal.
If this is shocking news to you, please don’t freak out; keep reading to understand why—if you are among the saved—you will not feel despair, shame, or humiliation when the Lord reveals all to all.
First let’s go to some familiar Scripture verses on this. Jesus tells us plainly and repeatedly that everything secret will ultimately be exposed: “For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).
There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops. (Luke 12:2-3)
St. Paul echoes this truth when he writes to the faithful of Corinth, instructing them not to make judgements “until the appointed time, until the Lord comes [again], for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
And, in St. John’s apocalypse (which translates to “a lifting of the veil”), he sees in the vision “the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened…. All the dead were judged according to their deeds” (Revelation 20:12-13).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms all of the above when addressing the Last Day: “Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light” (678).
In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare. The Last Judgement will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life. (1039)
The Baltimore Catechism teaches the same: “Every deliberate thought, word, deed, and omission of every person’s entire life will be manifested at the general judgement. The Lord Christ will be the judge” (No. 3, Lesson 14, 180).
In addition to Scripture and catechisms, the saints and theologians throughout the centuries have repeated the teaching on the General Judgement, including St. Bonaventure:
At the time of the judgement to come, when God is to weigh the secrets of hearts, fire will precede the arrival of the Judge; angels will be sent with trumpets to gather the elect from the four winds of heaven; all those who lie in their tombs will rise through the power of God’s command, and will stand before his judgement seat. Then the things hidden in darkness will be brought to light, and the counsels of hearts will be made manifest, and the scrolls of men’s consciences will be unrolled, and that scroll itself will be opened which is called the Book of Life. Thus, together and in a single flash, all the secrets of all men will be revealed to all with such clear certainty that, before the evidence of Truth testifying in the Person of Christ and corroborated by the testimony of every separate conscience, not a single path will be left open for denial or defense, for excuse or evasion, but every man will then receive according to his deeds…
Fr. Charles Arminjon, in his book The End of the Present World (the reading of which St. Thérèse called “one of the greatest graces of my life”), described it this way:
[This] judgement is called universal, because it will cover every crime and offense…. In the clarity of the light of God, all the crimes, public and secret, that have been committed in every latitude and in every age, will be seen clearly and in detail. The whole life of each human being will be laid bare. No circumstance will be omitted: no action, word, or desire will remain unknown. (p. 102)
And the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that the final judgement “will embrace all works, good or bad, forgiven as well as unforgiven sins, every idle word, every secret thought.”
For those who have already died and been individually judged—whether that was days, years, centuries, or millennia before the Second Coming of Christ—the communal display of every thought, word, and deed, and the pronouncement of their sentence (saved or damned) will be identical to that of their previous particular judgement. The only difference is in the final judgement’s public nature. Because man is a social creature, the satisfaction of a social judgement conducted before all is fitting and just.
At that last divine tribunal, every awestruck and trembling soul, with all the choirs of angels and legions of demons on hand, will witness the unveiling and understand the final meaning of all that came before. This consummation of the world will be the Lord’s definitive word and will accomplish three main things.
