After death

[Uknowhoo]

What happens immedeately after one dies?
Do we go to heaven/hell/purgatory?
Or do we wait for “Judgement Day” when Jesus “shall come to judge the living and the dead”?
Doesn’t this contradict what Jesus told the thief who was crucified next to him? “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.

Sorry if there are too many questions. This has been on my mind for practically ever!

 

[Genesis315]

First there is our particular judgment–it’s either Heaven of Hell. If it’s Hell, we descend there immediately. If it’s Heaven, we either enter immediately, or if we are in need of purification we are purified (Purgatory) and then we enter Heaven.

At the Second Coming there will be the general judgment, when all the living and dead with be gathered together, reunited with their bodies, all works will be made manifest, and then each will depart to their final destination forever.

 

[trth_skr]

…Doesn’t this contradict what Jesus told the thief who was crucified next to him? “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”…

I think the explanation here is the followng:

Before Jesus died on the cross, Satan had the ability to stand between man and God. He could accuse men to God for their sins, and because of His honor, God was more or less forced to concede in condeming the sinner. For this reason, no one except a couple of bodily assumptions entered heaven. Those who were rihgteous in God’s eyes had to wait in Hades, a place like Hell, but with no punishment.

Now, according to the standard Catholic interpretation of the Apocalypse, when Christ was nailed to the Cross, this satisfied part of God’s plan to reclaim mankind from the fall. At this point (the Cross), Satan was bound in the bottomless pit for the Millennium (in the standard interpretation this is symbolic for the entire Church age- the age we are still in). This was a partial defeat of Satan.

Because of this partial defeat, Christ was able to go to Hades and bring the righteous to heaven. He probably also brought the good thief to heaven at the same time. Having partially defeated Satan, he was able to keep his word.

For more on God’s plan to redeem mankind, I reccomend The Apocalypse of St. John, The Catholic Apologetics Study Bible, Volume II, Robert A. Sungenis, Ph.D.

Mark Wyatt
www.veritas-catholic.blogspot.com

 

[Derrickdcosta]

First there is our particular judgment–it’s either Heaven of Hell. If it’s Hell, we descend there immediately. If it’s Heaven, we either enter immediately, or if we are in need of purification we are purified (Purgatory) and then we enter Heaven.

At the Second Coming there will be the general judgment, when all the living and dead with be gathered together, reunited with their bodies, all works will be made manifest, and then each will depart to their final destination forever.

Just to expand on this wonderful yet brief explanation and also to answer your query of the good thief, (may God bless us as well with his happy eternity) please see the explanation of Fr. Michael Müller
**12. Whither do souls go after the particular judgment?

1. Those who die perfectly innocent or penitent, go to heaven;
2. those who die in mortal sin, go to hell;
3. those who die in venial sin, or without having fully satisfied God’s justice, go to purgatory. **
4. " Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt, vii, 21.) In these words, our divine Saviour means to say that no one, whosoever he may be, and whatsoever exterior good works he may perform for his name’s sake, shall be admitted to the glory of life everlasting, if he has not performed all, according to his will. Let us now imagine a soul on the point of leaving this world in perfect charity with God, a soul that has spent her life in perfect conformity to the holy commandments of God.
   That soul, no doubt, will immediately be admitted into the presence and enjoyment of God; for Jesus Christ assures us that " the clean of heart shall see God." (Matt, v, .)
   Such a soul was St. Scholastica. Hence, after her death, her soul was seen by St. Benedict, her brother, to go up to heaven in the shape of a dove.
   The good thief on the cross died perfectly penitent; hence he heard Christ say to him: Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. The robe of such a soul is whiter than snow, and on her head she wears a glittering crown. how beautiful is such a soul!
   So marvellously beautiful is the soul clothed with the light of glory that, could we but gaze on her, we should die of joy; for she is now, indeed, the image and likeness of the living God. Let us follow this pure soul as she rises from the earth, and passes through the countless myriads of stars and planets that light up her pathway to heaven.

 

[Fidelis]

When each of us dies, our souls are immediately taken to the presence of God and judged. This is called the Particular Judgment. At this point we begin our eternal destiny. If we are going to hell, our souls go directly there. If we are deemed worthy of heaven, our souls will go directly to heaven, or if we are going to heaven but are in need of purification (probably the vast majority of us), we may go to Purgatory first for a while (everyone in Purgatory will eventually go to heaven). Whatever our fate, our souls will stay there (heaven or hell) until the end of time, at which time the Second Coming will occur.

At the Second Coming at the end of time, those Christians still alive will be taken to heaven (what some Protestants think of as of the rapture). Then will occur the General Judgment. At that time the souls of the living and the dead will be reunited with their bodies and brought together in God’s presence and judged before all. Those who have already been judged in the Particular Judgment will be brought from wherever their souls were -heaven, hell or Purgatory-- and have their judgment confirmed before all, so that both the justice and mercy of God will be manifest to all.

After this, time and Purgatory will be no more and all will enter with their souls and bodies into their eternal destiny, either hell or heaven.

This is an extremely bare-bones sketch, so if you want to get the details, see the five articles I linked below:

rosary-center.org/ll57n1.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n2.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n3.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n4.htm
rosary-center.org/ll49n6.htm