SERMONS OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI pt. 1.1: "On the General Judgment"

“And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with much power and majesty.” Matt. 24:30.

AT present God is not known, and, therefore, He is as much despised by sinners, as if He could not avenge, whenever He pleases, the injuries offered to Him. The wicked “looketh upon the Almighty as if He could do nothing” (Job xxii. 17,) But the Lord has fixed a day, called in the Scriptures “the day of the Lord,” on which the Eternal Judge will make known His power and majesty. “The Lord,” says the Psalmist, “shall be known when He executeth judgment.” (Ps. ix. 17.) On this text St. Bernard writes: “The Lord, who is now unknown while he seeks mercy, shall be known when he executes justice.” (Lib. de xii. Rad.) The prophet Sophonias calls the day of the Lord “a day of wrath a day of tribulation and distress a day of calamity and misery.” (i. 15.)

Let us now consider, in the first point, the different appearance of the just and the unjust; in the second, the scrutiny of consciences; and in the third, the sentence pronounced on the elect and on the reprobate.

First Point On the different appearance of the just and of sinners in the valley of Josaphat.

1. This day shall commence with fire from Heaven, which will burn the earth, all men then living, and all things upon the earth. “And the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up.” (2 Pet. iii. 10.) All shall become one heap of ashes.

2. After the death of all men, “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again.” (1 Cor. xv. 52.) St Jerome used to say: “As often as I consider the day of judgment, I tremble. Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, that terrible trumpet appears to sound in my ears, arise ye dead, and come to judgment” (Matt, c. v.); and St. Augustine declared, that nothing banished from him earthly thoughts so effectually as the fear of judgment.

3 At the sound of that trumpet the souls of the blessed shall descend from Heaven to be united to the bodies with which they served God on Earth; and the unhappy souls of the damned shall come up from Hell to take possession again of those bodies with which they have offended God. Oh! how different the appearance of the former, compared with that of the latter! The damned shall appear deformed and black, like so many firebrands of Hell; but the just shall shine as the sun (Matt xiii 43) Oh! how great shall then be the happiness of those who have fortified their bodies by works of penance! We may estimate their felicity from the words addressed by St. Peter of Alcantara, after death, to St. Teresa: “O happy penance! which merited for me such glory”

4. After the resurrection, they shall be summoned by the angels to appear in the valley of Josaphat. “Nations, nations, in the valley for destruction for the day of the Lord is near” (Joel iii 14) Then the angels shall come and separate the reprobate from the elect, placing the latter on the right, and the former on the left. ”The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from the Just.”(Matt. xiii 49). Oh! How great will then be the confusion which the unhappy damned shall suffer!. “What think you,” says the author of the Imperfect Work, “must be the confusion of the impious, when, being separated from the just, they shall be abandoned” (Hom liv.). “This punishment alone” says St. Chrysostom, “would be sufficient to constitute a hell for the wicked”. ”Et si nihil ulterius paterentur, ista sola verecundia sufficerit eis ad poenam,” (in Matt, c. xxiv.) The brother shall he separated from the brother, the husband from his wife, the son from the father, etc.

Reference:

https://sensusfidelium.com/meditations/st-alphonsus/st-alphonsus-sermons-for-every-sunday-of-the-year/sermon-i-first-sunday-of-advent-on-the-general-judgment/