He created the laws and carries them out. He sets the limits of all historical happenings and controls the occurrence of seasons as he wills. As our maker he knows what is best for us and what the future holds for each one of us. He is therefore totally in charge of all reality, beginning from himself, human beings and the world with its contents, whether visible or invisible. This certainly makes him a king, and a ruler.
While in the Old Testament judgment meant good governance and judges were national leaders who preceeded Israel kings, God was seen as the supreme judge, the ruler of all things. The Israelites believed God to be the most transparent judge in whom there would never be injustices. This explains why their idea of messiah involved one who would not only eliminate the oppressive Roman ruler, but also one who would establish a peaceful and just leadership based on the truth. Jesus’ teachings on the last judgment pointed to some kind of separation of the good and the bad (Matt. 13: 30, 36-43, 49-50) by the compassionate Father (Lk. 6:37, 37). Today we still believe that everyone will be judged according to what they know. Those who have never heard of the written laws of God will be judged by what they know of God from creation, and what their consciences tell them about what is right and what is wrong. Since however we all fail to live up to what we know of God and his standards, we all stand judged on the basis of the life we have lived. But since our God is a loving Father, a merciful Father who know that if he were to deal with us as we deserve we would never survive ( ), then we have no cause for fear. We, the Christians, are lucky due to the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is also our brother. On the basis of his self sacrifice, the judgment of the last day will depend on one’s relationship with him. The last judgment in this sense will not be a kind of ambush by God. As one feels ashamed to enter a very clean room with muddy feet when others are going in, so will the last judgment be. We will actually judge ourselves worthy of the kingdom of God or not, depending on how we will have lived by then.
Looking at judgment in this way, we realize that it is no longer that scaring. If our worthiness will depend on how we are now cooperating with the grace of God, then it means we are in control to a great extent of our journey to sanctity. (God has already done his part by sending his son, giving us his commandments, and putting his voice in us to be able to judge between what is good and what is evil. He is still doing his part by giving us his Holy Spirit to guide us). With this in mind, it is now clear that next time we reflect on the saints, we will neither think of them as supernatural beings, nor fear that we might be judged harshly; instead we will see them as our brothers and sisters who, amid many human difficulties, have managed to cooperate with God’s grace to fulfill their vocations. This perspective of things is rather important to us who are now struggling to live up to our vocation. It is a reminder that God does not take for granted our efforts to live upright lives, and that, although justification is only possible through the sacrifice of Christ, we should not just be passive - our cooperation with God is necessary for our salvation. Let us pray that as we celebrate the feast of all Saints, finally God may find us worthy to share his glory with Christ our brother, Our Lady our mother, and all the worthy men and women who have gone before us.
