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| 1221 |
Then
on the right hand of Christ himself will be gathered those pure people,
chosen according to their virtues, who had previously, during the
days of their life, fulfilled his decree with zeal and with delight;
and there before the Creator evil-wreakers will be assigned into the
inferior portion; them the veritable King of victories will command
to depart upon his left hand, the multitude of the sinful. There,
having been exposed, they will weep and tremble, terrified, before
the Lord, an unclean people as foul as goats; they will not expect
mercies. |
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| 1232 |
Then
the judgement of souls before God will be determined upon the generations
of men according as they had previously deserved. Readily conspicuous
in the blessed there will be three marks together, because they kept
well the will of their Prince in words and deeds. The first one manifest
there will be that they gleam with light before the people, with splendour
and with brightness beyond the mansions of cities. Their former achievements
will shine in each one of them brighter than the sun. The second one
moreover will be just as recognizable - that in glory they will know
for themselves the Ruler's grace and will perceive to their eyes'
delight that they, the blessed amidst the angels, are allowed to enjoy
pure pleasures in the kingdom of heaven. Then there will be the third
one - how that happy throng will see the abandoned throng suffer pain
in the malignancy of darkness as punishment of their sins, and the
billowing flame and the bite of serpents with stinging jaws, the horde
of burning people. From this a pleasant joy will burgeon within them,
when they see others undergo that misery which they by the Lord's
mercy have escaped. They will thank God the more earnestly then for
the splendour and the ecstasies, because they perceive both things
- that he saved them from violent torment and also granted them joys
everlasting; to them hell is closed and the kingdom of heaven vouchsafed.
Thus shall the bargain be honoured towards those who through heartfelt
love formerly kept well the will of the Lord. |
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| 1262 |
For
the others at that time their will shall be realized with a difference.
They will be able to see the superfluity of evils in themselves, their
abundant sins and the atrocious and unfortunate things once committed.
To them, sorrowing there, pain will attach, a general tormenting malignancy,
in three respects. The one of them shall be that they will see on
hand an excess of miseries and the fierce fire of hell ready as a
torture in which, undergoing banishment, they will have for ever to
endure their condemnation. Then there will be a second misfortune
likewise, to the ignominy of those found culpable, that there, brought
to ruin, they will endure the utmost humiliation. In them the Lord
will discern each loathsome and outrageous evil, far from few; and
the all-radiant array of heavenly angels too, and the children of
mortals, all earth's inhabitants, and the hideous devil will be scrutinizing
their sinister strength; every guilty blemish, their vicious transgressions,
they will be able to see in those souls, through their bodies. Their
sinful flesh will be ignominiously pierced through like the clear
glass that can be completely seen through with the greatest ease.
Then there will be the third cause for sorrow in those destitutes,
the plaintive anguish that they see in the innocent, how gladly they
rejoice because of those good works which they, unhappy and weeping
sorely over their works because they had freely done wrong before,
had formerly disdained to do while their days lasted. They will see
their betters shine in splendour. Not only will their own miseries
be as a torment to them but the felicity of the others will be to
their grief, since in the days past they renounced such pleasant and
peerless joys for the fickle delights of the body and the vain lust
of the wretched fleshly frame. There, ashamed and tormented by the
ignomity, they will be wandering about in a daze; they will be bearing
the burden of sin, their wicked works, and the multitude will see
it. It would have been better for them then that they had shown shame
for their outrageous deeds, for every wrong and for their wretched
works earlier, before a single mortal, and had told a minister of
God that they knew to their sorrow of the wicked deeds upon them.
The confessor cannot see through the flesh into the soul, whether
a man is telling him the truth or a lie about himself, when he confesses
his sins then. Even so a man may cure every vice and unclean evil
if he tells it to one single person; and no one will be able to hide
a blemish unatoned on that harsh day, where the multitude will see
it. |
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