CAPG's Blog 

"In fine, to obtain eternal life, the soul must be found, at judgment, to have led a life conformable to the life of Jesus Christ. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son. (Rom 9. 29) It was this that made Job tremble. What shall I do when God shall rise to judge me? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him? (Job 31. 14)  Philip II. rebuking a domestic for having told him a lie, said to him: "Is it thus you deceive me?" The domestic went home, and died of grief. What will the sinner do? What answer will he make to Jesus Christ, His Judge? He will, like the man in the Gospel, who came to the feast without the nuptial garment, remain silent, because he will not know what to answer. His very sins will close the sinner's mouth. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. (Ps. cvi 42) St. Basil says that the sinner will then suffer more from shame than from the very fire of hell.

Finally, the Judge will pass sentence. Depart from Me ye cursed into everlasting fire." (Matt. xxv. 41) Oh! what an awful thunder-clap will that sentence be to the sinner! "Oh! how frightfully," says Denis, the Carthusian, "will that thunder resound!" "He," says St. Anselm, "that does not tremble at such thunder, sleeps not, but is dead." Eusebius writes, that the terror of sinners at hearing the sentence of their condemnation, will be so great, that, if they could, they would die again." "The wicked shall be seized with such dismay at the sight of the Judge pronouncing sentence, that, were they not immortal, they should die a second time." There is then no more time for prayer, no more intercessors whom the sinner can invoke. "There," says St. Thomas of Villanova, "there is no opportunity of praying; there no intercessor, no friend, no father, shall assist." To whom will the sinner then have recourse? Is it to God, whom he has so much despised? "Who,"says St. Basil, "shall deliver you? Is it that God whom you have insulted?" Perhaps he may have recourse to the saints, or to Mary? No: for then the stars that is, his holy advocates - shall fall from heaven, and the moon, which represents Mary, shall not give her light. "Mary," says St. Augustine,"will fly from the gate of heaven."

 "O God! with what indifference," exclaims St. Thomas of Villanova, "do we listen to persons speaking on judgment! We appear to feel as little as if the sentence of condemnation could not fall upon ourselves, or as if we were not to be judged. And is it not," says the same saint, "great folly to entertain security in so perilous an affair." My brother, St. Augustine admonishes you not to say: Will God really send me to hell? Say it not, says the holy Doctor; for even the Jews did not persuade themselves that they should be exterminated. So many of the damned did not believe that they would be cast into hell, but afterward the final vengeance came upon them. "An end is come, the end is come...Now I will accomplish My anger in thee, and will judge thee." (Ezek. 7.6) And thus, as St. Augustine says, the same will also happen to you. "The day of judgment will come, and you shall find the threats of God verified."Ps. Lxxiii At present it depends on us to choose whatever sentence we please. It is in our power, says St. Eligius, to determine the character of the sentence which we shall receive. What then must we do? We must adjust our accounts before judgment. Before judgment prepare thee justice. (Ecclus XViii 19.) St. Bonaventure says that, to escape the danger of failing in business, prudent merchants frequently review and settle their accounts. The Judge may be appeased before judgment, but not during judgment," says St. Augustine. Let us then say with St. Bernard: "I desire to present myself before Thee already judged, and not to be judged." O my Judge, I wish to be judged and punished during life, which is a time of mercy and pardon; for after death will be the time of justice."

• Affections and Prayers:

My God! if I do not appease Thee now, there will then be no more time for turning away Thy anger. But how shall I, who have so often despised Thy friendship for miserable beastly pleasures, be able to appease Thy wrath? I have repaid with ingratitude Thy immense love. How can a creature ever make sufficient satisfaction for having offended the Creator? Ah, my Lord! I thank Thee, for giving me in Thy mercy a means of appeasing Thy anger and satisfying Thy justice. I offer Thee the blood and death of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, and behold! I see a superabundant atonement and satisfaction made to Thee. To appease Thy anger, my repentance is also necessary. Yes, my God! I repent with my whole heart of all the injuries I have done Thee. Judge me now, O my Redeemer! I detest above all things all the offenses I have offered to Thee. I love Thee with my whole heart and above all things, and I purpose to love Thee always, and to die rather than ever offend Thee again. Thou hast promised to pardon all who repent. Ah! judge me now, and absolve me from my sins. I accept the punishment which I deserve, but reinstate me in Thy grace, and preserve me in it till death. Such is my hope. O Mary, my Mother! I thank thee for all the mercies which thou hast obtained for me. Ah! continue to protect me to the end."

Source: The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori: The Ascetical Works, Volume 1 page 247