By JOE SIXPACK
Queen St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) was one of the most benevolent monarchs in the history of the world. Not content with receiving numbers of the poor in her palace on a daily basis, and relieving the distress of all whom she could find, she built several hospitals, where she served the sick and dressed the most horrible sores and infections with her own hands.
Once she was carrying in the folds of her mantle some provisions for the poor when she met her husband returning from hunting with his friends. Amazed to see her struggling under such a heavy burden, he opened the mantle to see what she was carrying. He was even more amazed to find nothing in it but red and white roses, even though it wasn’t the season for any sort of flower. He took one of the miraculous roses and kept it the rest of his life…which was to be short lived.
Her charity to the poor was so great that people used to call her “Dear St. Elizabeth.” Her ladies in waiting tried to persuade her not to do many of the services to the poor and sick that she did, telling her it was beneath her royal dignity.
Elizabeth answered, “I’m preparing for the day of judgment. On that day Jesus will ask me for an account of all the good works I’ve done for Him, and I want to be able to say: ‘You see, my Lord Jesus, when you were hungry, I fed you; when you were thirsty, I gave you drink; when you had nothing to wear, I clothed you; when you were sick or in prison, I visited you; because you said that in doing these things to the poor, I did them to you. So I beg you to be kind to me in the sentence you’re about to pass on me’.”
After her husband’s death when St. Elizabeth was but twenty years old, she was cruelly driven from her palace and forced to wander penniless, hungry, and cold in the streets with her little children. Despite her sufferings, which she welcomed and offered up to Jesus as a gift in reparation for her own sins and the sins of the world, she continued to mother the poor and managed to convert many others by her holiness of life. She finally went to her reward at the young age of 24.
Last week we talked about being judged immediately after our death, which will happen to us all. This is called the particular judgment. However, many people fail to realize there are actually two judgments: the particular judgment immediately after our death, then the general judgment at the end of the world. We’ll take a look at the general judgment now.
God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful, and all mankind has a right to see the perfection of both His justice and mercy, which is why there will be a general judgment at the end of time. Everyone will see that in His infinite mercy God wanted to save us all, and we’ll see that He was right in rewarding those who trusted in His infinite goodness. We’ll also see how He was just in punishing those who rejected Him with their sins and refused to repent. The same identical judgment will be given in the general judgment as in our particular judgment, as there are no second chances after death.
In all of Sacred Scripture there is only one time that Jesus gives us the criteria for the general judgment. It’s found in Matt. 25:34-46:
“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
“Then He will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they will also answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The Church teaches that Jesus meant these things literally, which is why St. Elizabeth did the things she did. I know of a prisoner who became a Catholic while incarcerated. The man who led him to the faith thought he’d benefit from developing a friendship with a Carmelite sister at her motherhouse in St. Louis, so he gave the prisoner the sister’s address and told him to write to her. The prisoner didn’t want to write to her, though. After all, what did a convicted felon have in common with a nun? But he finally wrote, and his letter pretty much expressed his feeling that she couldn’t possibly want to have anything to do with him. He posted the letter and promptly forgot about it.
About two weeks later, he got a letter from the sister. For most of the first page, she went on and on and on about what a privilege it was to be able to write to him. The prisoner thought she was nuts, and he expressed this to the man who led him into the Church the next time he saw him. That was when the man showed the prisoner the passage we just read above. He told the prisoner that in the sister’s mind, she was writing to Jesus…and she was! Not just in her mind was she writing to Jesus, but according to Our Lord Himself, she was writing to Him — visiting Him in prison. The sister and the prisoner developed a very close friendship over the years, and she helped him to persevere in the faith because of it.
So the next time you see a workman who is working in the heat and needs a drink, give him some water. The next time you see a homeless person who is hungry, buy him a burger. The next time you drive by a hospital or nursing home, stop in and find someone who could be uplifted by your visit. The next time you notice a poor person or family in need of clothing, gather the things in your closet you’re not using and give them to those people. Get involved in a good Catholic prison ministry and visit Jesus in prison.
You don’t necessarily have to do all these things. You could specialize. My wife developed the habit of making weekly visits to nursing homes and found ladies she could visit who never had visits from anyone else.
Perhaps you could do that, or work in a local kitchen for the homeless, or collect clothing for the poor and ask your priest for the names of people who could use them (he certainly knows some). Whatever you decide to do, you should resolve to do it now. Your eternal destiny may depend on it. Remember that Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of these my brethren, you do to me.”
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
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