The general judgment as described and defined by
Garrigou-Lagrange, seems both terrifying and consoling. The author notes, “This general judgment is evidently
expedient, because man is not merely a private person, but is a social being,
and this judgment will reveal to all men the rectitude of Providence and its
ways, the reason also of its decisions and their outcomes. Divine justice will
then appear in all its sovereign perfection in contract to the frequent
miscarriage of human justice. Infinite mercy will be revealed in the case of
repentant and pardoned sinners. Every knee will bend before Christ the Savior,
triumphant now over sin, the devil and death.”
I read all footnotes, of course, and at the end of this
chapter on Providence and Justice,
the author writes this in a footnote:
“A young Jew, the son
of an Austrian banker, who knew little of the Gospel beyond the Our Father, was
one day given an opportunity of revenging himself on an enemy. But at the very
moment the opportunity presented itself, there came to his mind the words,
‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’
Instead of carrying out his revenge, he forgave his enemy completely with all
his heart, and immediately his eyes were opened: he saw the Gospel in all its
majesty and most firmly believed. He became a good Catholic and afterwards a
priest and religious of the Order of St. Dominic. The kingdom of God
To be continued….next, Providence
