fear our Judge. before the eyes of a Judge who sees all things,”[1] a Judge who knows all our thoughts, intentions, desires, words, and works. O mortals! think and judge of me as you please, I hold with the holy Apostle, St. Paul: “To me it is a very small thing to be judged by you. He that judgeth me is the Lord.”[2] Think and say of me, if you wish, that I am a good-for-nothing, wicked man; He who has to judge me is an all-knowing Lord. Happy me if I am found good in His sight! Think and say of me that I am a holy man; He who is to judge me is an all-seeing Lord. Wo to me if I am found wicked in His sight! “Therefore,” concludes St. Augustine, “fear Him to whom everything is known;”[3] fear that Judge who is an almighty, and at the same time an all-seeing God. And there is another point to be considered, which gives us still greater cause for dismay: fear, O mortal! Him who, when He shall judge us, shall be a God without mercy, as we shall see in the
Second Part.
In this life God shows His mercy to men, but hereafter they shall experience only His Justice. How can that be? A God, and without mercy? Those are terms which contradict each other. For is it possible to conceive the idea of a God without mercy? Does not the Catholic Church, relying on countless passages of Holy Writ, sing: “O God, of whose mercy there is no measure, and of whose goodness the treasures are infinite”?[4] Does not the Prophet David call Him often a God of mercy, a gracious God? “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient, and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”[5] Does not St. Paul call Him “the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort”?[6] It is true, and therefore we often natter ourselves that we need not fear being too presumptuous with Him. But the mercy of God is only for the time of our lives here on earth; that time past, it has fulfilled its office and gives way to justice alone. Hence the Lord commanded the Prophet Osee to call one of his daughters by the terrible
- ↑ Magna nobis est indicta necessitas probitatis, quando ante oculos agimus Judicis cuncta cernentis.
- ↑ Mihi autem pro minimo est ut a vobis judicer. Qui autem judicat me, Dominus est.—I. Cor. iv. 3, 4.
- ↑ Time ergo eum, cui omne apertum est.
- ↑ Deus cujus misericordiæ non est numerus, et bonitatis infinitus est thesaurus.
- ↑ Miserator et misericors Dominus; patiens et multum misericors. Suavis Dominus universis; et miserationes ejus super omnia opera ejus.—Ps. cxliv. 8, 9.
- ↑ Pater misericordiarum, et Deus totius consolationis.—II. Cor. i. 3.
