He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead

Jesus will come. How? In glory. Why? To judge.

Jesus will come again in glory, not in the humility and simplicity of his first coming. Instead, he will appear in power to judge.

Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.”

Again and again, Jesus reminded us to always be prepared, for no one (not even the Son) knows the time of the Second Coming.

Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history.

Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the King's return to earth.

In the Creed, explicit reference is made only to the Second Coming of Jesus. According to the Council of Florence (1439), the particular judgment of each individual takes place immediately after death.

Those leaving the body in the state of grace, but in need of purification, are cleansed in purgatory. Souls that are perfectly pure are at once admitted to the beatific vision of the Holy Trinity.

The General Judgment will take place at the end of the world, or the Second Coming of Christ, concluding the historical process. This public, communal event will fully reveal God's justice and love, and determine each person's eternal destiny.

The verdict from the Particular Judgment will be confirmed at the General Judgment.

Who will be judged? The living and the dead. Jesus will judge all people – past, present, and future. No person will escape his judgment.  

Those who are alive at the time of his coming (the living) and those who have previously died (the dead, whether they were in Heaven or Hell) are all resurrected, reunited with their bodies, and brought before the judgment seat of Christ.

Like the steward in the Gospel who must give an accounting of his stewardship, we must give an accounting to God. 

God’s judgment is based on faith and good works or charity. Those who believe and live out their faith will be saved.

However, those who believe but do not love God and their neighbor, those who reject Jesus as the Christ, and those who refuse God’s grace will be lost.

At the Second Coming of Jesus, our bodies will be raised and reunited with our souls. The bodies of the unjust will receive identity, immortality, and entirety (body united with soul).

The bodies of the just, however, will be glorified with these same qualities, along with the additional gifts of impassibility (no suffering and pain), clarity (luminosity),

agility (movement with ease and swiftness), and subtlety (no limitation of time and space).

This judgment will determine the eternal destiny of individuals, with some receiving eternal life and others facing eternal punishment. 

I pray that I may be able to say ‘YES’ when Jesus asks whether I cared for Him by loving and serving my brothers and sisters.

I place my trust more in God’s mercy than in His justice, and I receive redemption as His gracious gift.