The Last Judgment, The Judgment of Love

Last updated on: February 7, 2021 at 4:10 am by Henry Karlson

The Last Judgment, The Judgment of Love 2021-02-07T04:10:47-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Richard Mortel (photographer): Fra Angelico, Last Judgment / Wikimedia Commons

Jesus is coming again. When he comes, he will judge the living and the dead. Through that judgement, Jesus will reveal to everyone, including ourselves, who we are. No one will be able to hide from the truth. What we have made of ourselves, who we have become, will be clear. We will not dispute it. There will be nothing which we can dispute, because it will be true, and we will know it is true. We will know ourselves

Jesus comes not to condemn us, but to free us, to liberate us. Jesus wants us to receive deifying grace and so to become partakers of the divine nature in and through him. But to get there, we must not lie to ourselves. We must not deny our need for God. Jesus will make sure we understand what we can achieve all by ourselves and we will see how little that is. However, if we have made room, any room, for love in us, that love will serve as our bridge to grace; it will make sure we move outside of ourselves which is what we need to do if we are to receive the bounty of God’s love. If we have embraced love, even if we have faltered in such love, that love can open us up and set us free so that in and through that love, we will be welcomed into the kingdom of God. If, on the other hand, we have denounced love, that, too, will be made clear, and in that unlove, we will experience the full consequences of our unlove, all its bitterness and strife as it reverberates back at us: all that we wished upon others in that unlove we will feel and experience ourselves.

Jesus, preaching about the last judgment, told us that it will show us who and what we have become by showing to us what we have done for others in the world. This is how we will see whether or not we have opened ourselves to love. For love has us give ourselves over to others and think about and be concerned about them. When we help those in need, our love grows; when we reject them, or worse, ridicule or cause them some undue harm, our love wanes.

What we do out of love connects us with the God who is love, and so is done for God. On the other hand, rejection of love distances us from God, and what is done against love, and is done against God. Thus, as we grow in love, as we act out of love and help others around us, we will find, we did it for God, even as when we abandon love, act with malice towards others and hurt them, we will find we have also done such to God. In the last judgment, our embrace of love or unlove will determine who and what we are and what we have become. If we have joined ourselves with love, we should not be surprised to hear the judge tell us well-done, for we have done it for God and connected ourselves with God. If we have acted with malice, and let such malice rule over us and turn us into creatures of hate, it should not be surprising that the judge will, with pity, decry what we have become and reveal that we have turned away from God by our actions (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). St. Maximos the Confessor suggests the guidelines of the judgment, indicated by Jesus when he discusses the last judgment, are based upon the basic divisions of love:

They say that love is the most general of virtues, and that the most general power of productive love is reason, which, holding on tightly to its own Cause, is parted through its activities into six more general modes, compassing the various forms by which the principle of love is distinguished, namely, attending physically and spiritually to the hungry and thirsty, to strangers, to the naked, the sick, and to those in prisons. [1]

We will find ourselves being told by God we have done well if we embrace these six ways of embracing love. Corporal works of mercy, corporeal works of love, are not secondary issues but rather form a primary place in our salvation. To disregard them as secondary is to ignore Jesus and what he declared in his ministry.

Since, as Maximos said, love is the most general of virtues from which all other virtues flow, to nurture our virtue we should nurture love. This can lead us to say we nurture Christ by the way we nurture our love and act in the world in the way love suggests. “For Christ is refreshed and renewed in every virtue of our soul, in every pursuit of our faith, in every work of justice, mercy, and piety, since he himself is the author and founder of every good work.”[2]Christ is refreshed by us in our acts of love, when we help the homeless, when we help the hungry, when we help the refugee, when we help victims of racism or sexism, when we help those weighed down by burdens, we help not only them, but Christ, who, with the greatest of compassion, has joined himself with them, feeling the burdens of those in need.

Love is the greatest of virtues, as it is the most general of virtues, and through it all other virtues can be nourished. This is why love is able to cover a multitude of sins, for in and through love, we can overcome our sins. Love connects us to the God who is love, so that through it we receive the bounty and grace of God’s love. That bounty transcends any failure on our part, so not only is it able to restore us to the condition we were before our sin., it can make us better than before. It is, for this reason, why we must understand what whatever spiritual disciplines we engage will be shown to be worthless if they are not connected to love. Thus, if we fast without love, all we will do is grow hungry with our hate. And so if we must discipline ourselves under the mantle of love, we must consider others around us in our discipline, and act, not just for our own self-correction, but with the needs of others:

Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak (1 Cor. 8:8-9 RSV).

Fasting can be good, if we use it to discipline ourselves, to overcome undue self-attachment, if we use it to remind ourselves that our lives are not meant for the pursuit of inordinate pleasures at the expense of others. Fasting can help us, but if we begin to glorify ourselves in and through fasts, or begin to think fasting is more than a tool but an end in itself, then our fasting is in vain. Eating or not eating is not the issue, the issue is how we develop ourselves so that we do not lead selfish, self-centered lives. We must not focus on our wants and needs while ignoring the needs of others. Fasting by itself will not commend us to God. If we fast thinking God should be satisfied by our fast, without engaging the higher virtue of love, we will fail to achieve our desire and will go away angry and confused. On the other hand, if we embrace such love, if we have died to the self already, and so look after and promote the good of others equally to our own good, then we will find we are no better or worse if we fast. When we are filled with boundless love, we embrace fasting, not for ourselves, but as a way to encourage others, to show that self-discipline can be of value if approached with the right spirit; in this way, our fast will not be about ourselves but others, and so will be done in love and so will be able to do some good.

What we need to learn is simple: we need to learn how live our lives full of love, to be disciplined in our actions, so that we do not give in to baseless desires if our actions will hurt others. The more we act upon and nourish our love, the more will we nurture Christ. And if we become perfectly one with the way of love, we will show ourselves to be true children of God. Then, when Jesus comes, Jesus will reveal to us and the world the glory of that love as we are welcomed into the kingdom of God and receive our boundless inheritance.

[1] St. Maximos the Confessor, On Difficulties in Sacred Scripture: The Response to Thalassios. Trans. Fr. Maximos Constas (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2018), 232-3.

[2] St. Chromatius of Aquileia, Sermons and Tractates on Matthew. Trans. Thomas P. Scheck (New York: Newman Press, 2018), 47 [Sermon 11].

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Previous Post

February 4, 2021

The COVID19 Threat And Sports

Next Post

February 8, 2021 St. Josephine Bakhita And The Holiness Of Love

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz