We Will Be Judged

I believe there is a Judge and we will all be judged.

“Charity disheartens us, worries us, taxes us because when it comes to charity no excuse, no way out, no explanation is of any avail. I love or I do not love, I give or I do not give. It is certainly no accident that all the parables of the Last Judgments hinge not on faith – the righteous being the faithful believers, the unjust the miscreants – nor hope – the righteous hoping for the restoration of the Kingdom, the others having given up on it – but on charity. Have we helped our neighbor, loved the least of these? This is the only criteria, the only crisis, the only test. The Judgement singles out not the athletes of faith, not the militants of hope, but the workers of charity. By consequence, charity becomes for each of us the site of an individual Judgement that, in the end, includes the whole span of time we call our life.”

– Jean-Luc Marion (What Love Knows, Prolegomena to Charity, p. 155)

I believe faith – orthodox faith in Jesus Christ – matters. I am prepared to defend the hope that is in me. But, I also affirm – because the Bible tells me so – that "the greatest of these is love." And Jesus is the embodiment and definition of love (see John 15:12).

I also find comfort and peace in the assurance of grace. The one who judges is the one who prayed, “Father forgive them . . .” as he was dying on the cross. Still, I don’t look forward to standing before his gaze with my all my unlove revealed.

Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy

Lord have mercy

See also: 

What Jesus Commanded, Part 11: Stay Awake & Endure, Judgement Day

Gathered Together at the Foot of the Cross