None of us will avoid judgment day. What will be his criteria? In an interview about the fourth central truth, Bishop Milan Lach explains the details of the personal and last judgment – what it will be like, when it will happen and what we should prepare for.

Perhaps we will be surprised by God’s logic, which he points out in the context of the differences between God’s mercy and justice, the reward of the good and the punishment of the bad.

Nowadays, we hear more about God’s mercy than about God’s justice. For this reason, many believe that God’s mercy prevails in proportion to God’s justice. Is that so?

Christ invites us to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness. And he also calls us to mercy, which is dearer to him than sacrifice. Elsewhere, he emphasizes pursuing justice, mercy, and faithfulness rather than tithing dill, cumin, and mint. Here, we see the same view of God on mercy as on justice.

Can God’s mercy and justice be compared to human characteristics so that we can better understand them?

God’s mercy and God’s justice are beyond us. We cannot set God in human parameters. Therefore the answer to this question will always be an improvisation. We “are” in God.

We can only talk about human qualities about God to a certain extent in connection with the first verses of the Book of Genesis, where it is written that God created man in his image and likeness. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ clarifies the answer better with the words: “Whoever sees me sees the Father” (Jn 14:9). And everything else follows from that.

Where is God’s mercy and justice expressed in the Holy Scriptures?

In the Old Testament, we read that God is kind, like a mother who receives and embraces a child. Also, he is merciful and extremely patient. But we also read there about a God who punishes who has no mercy. Many people have a problem with that, especially when we read the Psalms.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ speaks of God as a merciful Father. She presents him as Love. Like the fullness of love. As the most beautiful thing, with whom it forms a unity, from whom it originates, and who is sent to fulfill his will.

Pope John Paul II. , in the encyclical Dives in misericordia, he recommended invoking God’s mercy. Pope Benedict XVI claimed that mercy is a central idea for our times, he saw in it a novelty of the Christian message. Pope Francis declared 2015 the Holy Year of Mercy with the bull Misericordiae wullus. Why do the popes constantly point to God’s mercy?

In the last century, we experienced so much humanly inexplicable horror that even many believers could get the impression that God does not like us. That it’s all a punishment from God. A retribution for our sinful way of life that He cannot look upon. However, this does not mean God’s mercy was not and is not there. There are many references to God’s mercy in the church’s liturgy, but people forget it.

“We can expose ourselves to God’s love through active cooperation on our part. That means, first of all, that we need to stop and be quiet.”

Where is it most evident, unmissable when we forget or ignore God’s mercy? Where can we notice it, feel it, and experience it the most?

We Catholic Christians experience it most in the sacrament of reconciliation.

The world has its law. If a person crosses him roughly, he will go to hell. And that, of course, is right and good. It’s so okay. However, how is a person who is sentenced to life or the death penalty to come to any conclusion about the meaning of his life? That is why the church now so clearly condemns the death penalty.

And here we come to the moment of realizing that there is something more than just this earthly life. Mercy is related to eternity and the promise or offer of a new – eternal life with God. Therefore, it is essential not only to talk about God’s mercy and love, but also to expose yourself to them.

Should we expose ourselves to God’s love? How, when and where can we do it?

Always and everywhere. In God, we live, move, and are, as the apostle Paul said in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. If we live and are in God, our whole being is immersed in him. God transcends us all and everywhere.

God created everything we see around us out of love for his creation. Everything is here because of us. And we often forget that. Also, in connection with the ecological disasters that we perceive. These are not situations that we can wave our hands over.

We can expose ourselves to God’s love through active cooperation on our part. This means, first of all, that we need to stop and be still.

Does it follow that both believers and unbelievers can be exposed to God’s love?

It applies to everyone. God loves every person. It is not about someone having a “paper, a certificate, a report card” that they are baptized. If he has it, it is a bonus for him that he has discovered God’s love. This means this world is to love and actively resist temptations and addictions. The first part of the synod, which was held in October in Rome, calls all the baptized to this.

A Christian is one who follows Christ as his disciple and seeks Christ’s freedom in the Beatitudes. And it is also related to mercy. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy” (Mt 5, 7).

Today, it is not a problem to find people who are presumptuously relying on God’s mercy or despairing despite it, which are sins against the Holy Spirit. What is the difference between trust, surrender, and reliance on God’s mercy?

Presumably, relying on God’s mercy means when a person thinks that God can save him even without repenting, that is, radically abandoning sin.

Jesus Christ is God incarnate – Love. Jesus presents his Father to us as kind. God loves us as his own child. God is not a policeman as many falsely imagine him to be. Sadly, many Christians believe such a false image and live their spiritual lives accordingly.

However, every sin complicates our relationship with Love. We are invited to be one with God, to be in God as he is in us. We are invited to give ourselves entirely to him in trust. When we want this in our life, which is achieved above all in prayer, we no longer even think of making any calculation with a loving God who loves us entirely and always and forgives us anyway without our repentance.

We have passed down sayings from our ancestors: God is not hasty but memorable. Also: God’s mills grind slowly but surely. What is God waiting for so much? Why doesn’t he step in and speed things up?

Why should he speed them up? He is the unlimited Lord of space-time, and He is also Lord beyond time and beyond this three-dimensional space that we know. God is our loving Father who does not want the death of the sinner but for him to convert and live a new eternal life here on earth with God. For this reason alone, He still waits for sinners to be converted. He gives them a chance because he loves us all.

Every year, we remember the hour of Divine mercy . When and where should we perceive God’s justice?

God’s justice is already here. God gives us everything. Everything is grace. Justice is to give every one what is due to them in the measure that is due to them. And we achieve this righteousness in our lives through prayer. God’s justice is love.

Does this mean that we don’t have to fear God’s justice?

Before the Lord God, we should have the fear of God, but we should not be afraid of him. That’s the difference. God invites us to love him, to be one with him here on earth. He gives himself to us in the highest degree. He is altogether marrying us. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3, 16).

Acording to Pope Francis we have a limited idea of ​​justice; we think that whoever is wrong will pay for it and thus satisfy the wrong he has caused. But God’s justice is much greater. Its goal is not the condemnation of the guilty but his salvation, rebirth. It is the justice that comes from love, it comes from the bowels of compassion and mercy, which are the very heart of God. Could you clarify his words?

Pope Francis first points to secular law. For example, when someone steals something or commits a crime, they must pay for it. But how do you get revenge if someone murders someone? Life cannot be undone. However, such a person has the possibility of a holy confession – God’s mercy, where God can forgive his sins.

And Pope Francis subsequently points to this. However, it cannot be said that the person can now do whatever he wants.

Are you talking about penance for sins that he should perform after holy confession?

Aye. However, we are called to do penance and satisfaction even without a holy confession. John the Baptist already said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3, 2). In these contexts, it must be explained that repentance is not a condition for God to forgive us. Repentance is our response to God’s mercy. Knowing God’s mercy makes us realize we don’t want to be wrong.

Regardless, no one can avoid their death and we should all be informed and prepare for our judgment day as best we can.

Yes, it is essential to ask now what will happen, where one will move beyond the time boundary, and how to get there. What happens then? After all, there must be some “closing” of every person’s earthly life. And life will go on. And one has to wonder what will happen next? There are people who say that everything ends with death – including all the evil they have done, that it will be fine, that everything will expire… It won’t be like this!

The idea of ​​God’s judgment in the New Testament, such as the text 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, is colored by the images of the Jewish apocalypse, which are based on the principle of reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked. As elsewhere, the Bible uses images here – for example, rest for the moral, destruction in the flames of fire, being cast out from the face of the Lord for the wicked.

However, in all the texts, the point is that God will not evaluate people according to their mood or whims, but objectively according to how a person has decided to live during his life. God’s judgment will only be a revelation of this truth. As a person lives, so does after death.

Is that the criterion of our court?

Yes. The criterion of our judgment will be our love. That is, something that is available to everyone. We are all capable of love. But it is up to us whether to live or reject that love.

“Repentance is not a condition for God to forgive us. Repentance is our response to God’s mercy.”

The moment of judgment will be when we find out whether we really gave that love. And only God can see into a person’s heart. We cannot judge a person, not even a murderer; that would be very superficial because we cannot see into his heart. That would be too “early”.

Today, the word love is so misused and twisted that people themselves do not understand its meaning. Could you describe the love by which we will be judged?

Love is a will oriented towards the good of the one I love. Love is not an exchange – something for something. Love is selfless. And such selfless love given will weigh in the moment of judgment. God is love. So the criterion is God – the principle, the beginning, the being that transcends everything through and through. To love means to live love.

And that means forgiving and being able to accept wounds from others. This is love. Love Hurts. Love is a sacrifice. In it, not everything is easy or fine, and you can’t pretend that a loving person doesn’t have a problem with anyone. Jesus did not promise us that we would not have problems. Jesus said that the criterion is love. Everyone on earth has the opportunity to love and show love, to be exposed to it. But some people reject it.

At our court, neither faith nor the church will be decisive, “only” love?

Christ speaks of love. We have the Church to help us get to know Love more surely. It is a community of believers who believe in Love and whom this world should know. And this is currently the challenge for us Christians.

Jesus said: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13, 35). This is our human problem, which we struggle with out of human weakness. And rightly so, we are criticized by people outside the church for not bearing witness to Love.

True love is willing to go to such a degree. Christ also did this. From the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them.” From the cross, which was the most excellent, most shameful form of torture in his day!

Not every person is capable of such holy, heroic deeds. People usually have a problem with forgiving and forgetting similar brutally serious wrongs. When someone commits a serious crime, such as murder, tyranny, abuse of victims of violence, or human trafficking, especially children or their organs, how and where should mercy and justice take place?

These are harrowing things that can never be excused and excused. These are reprehensible acts. Criminal liability for these acts must be applied, without debate, immediately!

The public must talk about this as a precaution so that these victims are no longer penalized and there is no recurrence in other forms because these actions are dangerous for the whole society. When evil happens, it must be prevented as soon as possible! Absolutely! Absolutely! No covering up! The state law applies, and justice must also be judged.

Mercy with forgiveness is needed internally. I would also recommend experts – psychotherapists – to these victims. Healing of such wounds can take several years. And only the Lord can heal them. Nobody else. There is no point in looking for forms other than forgiveness because they don’t exist.

In the Our Father prayer, we pray: “(…) and forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive our trespassers.” And we pray that every day. Jesus taught these words to his disciples when they asked him to tell them how to pray. Christ puts these words into our mouths as “instruction” with the words “do it this way.”

Does forgiveness make one merciful?

By forgiving, a person resembles Christ and thereby becomes a saint. This is what holiness is – in daily forgiveness.

We talked about a personal trial, the main criterion of which will be love. Love above all else despite drastic wrongs and wounds. When will this moment of judgment occur for us?

According to the church tradition, it will be at the moment of our death and meeting with the Lord. When we pass from earthly life to eternal life, beyond time and space. To the dimension that we know from the narrative of the images of Jesus Christ. It will depend on whether we will be in God or feel the absence of God because we ourselves will reject him. At the moment of death, we all have the grace to decide whether we want to be with God.

In these contexts we encounter opinions about predestination.

The Catholic Church rejected the delusions of predestination, that is, who will or will not go to heaven. We freely decide whether or not we want to be with God. Our entire personal judgment will be about whether we decide for God.

So, can no one be excluded beforehand from heavenly bliss?

Lotor on the cross was saved at the last moment when he said to Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He answered him: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23, 42-43)

It is a biblical moment for us that makes it clear to us that we cannot exclude anyone from salvation. Even if a person fights against the church all his life. In history, there are many evidences of great radical conversions, such as St. Paul or St. Augustine. Sinners became saints. Mercy goes this far.

And when we talked at the beginning about the difference between God’s and man’s mercy, the answer here is more prominent that man is incapable of God’s mercy by himself. Human qualities make it impossible to achieve such an attitude. God’s mercy has a different logic.

What is the logic of God’s mercy?

It is very well illustrated in the parable of the vineyard (Mt 20), when people came to work at 9:00 a.m., at 12:00 p.m., at 3:00 p.m., at 5:00 p.m. The first ones thought that they would definitely get paid more. And there was a great disappointment when the Lord said he could do what he wanted and rewarded everyone equally.

So far, we have talked about personal judgment. Despite our human limitations, let’s at least try to go beyond the horizon of death and private judgment, which requires another higher level of spiritual insight. After all this, the final judgment awaits us. What do we know about him?

The final judgment will be at the world’s end as we await the Lord’s second coming. We can say that the last judgment will be like a general statement, a summary of all personal judgments.

It’s hard to name it. All these human verbal expressions will always “falter” as they are only very weak comparisons. We don’t know how it will be. What we know for sure is that this time will surely come.

And it will be a time when our bodies will also be resurrected and glorified. That is why Christians bury human bodies with respect in the ground because these bodies will one day be resurrected from the dead. It is related to the moment of Christ’s second coming. This will happen at the time of the last judgment.

Many hypotheses and conjectures about this time can be found on the Internet. Do we know exactly when it will happen?

Jesus says that he himself does not know. Only the heavenly Father knows when it will be. However, we know that this moment will come when the end of the world, the end of our planet, that tiny poppy seed in the entire galaxy, and the universe.

One day, all this will end. What it will be and how it will be, we have yet to determine. It can be, for example, the extinction of the star we call the Sun, and there will be no more energy, or heat. But that is not important. The essential thing is that the moment of the last judgment will be after the second coming of Christ, when he comes in glory.

In the Holy Scriptures we read: “Now is the judgment of this world, now will the prince of this world be cast out” (Jn 12, 31). In another place, in connection with judgment, we read about the eternal torment of the unjust and the eternal life of the righteous (Mt 25, 46). How should we explain these words?

The words from the Gospel according to John are from the Farewell Speech. It is a parable. Jesus often expressed himself in parables so that people would better understand what he wanted to tell them. However, in the words about the last judgment, which are recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew, he no longer speaks as a parable, but as a picture that will be.

What will be the reward of the righteous that we should desire and strive to obtain?

The reward will be life in fullness with God. This means being happy, blissful, having all the desires of the heart fulfilled by God – completely and absolutely. To be in God, in perfect peace. Saint Paul said: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

In the Holy Scriptures we also find other information about the end of the world: “(…) the angels will come out, separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 13:49). Could you clarify these words so we know what to avoid at all costs?

That is the opposite of what I just said. People who do not love God will be damned. If they do not love God, they cannot love their neighbor. Typical examples are tyrants, tyrants. Let no one say that they love God.

“If anyone says, ‘I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar.’ After all, he who does not love his brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he does not see. And we have this commandment from him: that he who loves God should also love his brother'” (1 John 4, 20-21).

That is why the church calls people to love God. Because if he loves God, he will also love people. And the one who does not do this is a schizophrenic, a hypocrite, because he says one thing and does another. I do not believe that a person who consciously actively harms innocent defenseless people and is not mentally disturbed loves God.

Those who did not accept love, that is, did not accept God in their lives, will be punished. Some people imagine that somewhere “out there” is God, but here is my life. I am a Christian for one hour on Sunday, but I live differently seven days a week.

We also see this in our company in Slovakia. This is the tragedy of the whole thing – they didn’t understand, they didn’t accept, we didn’t learn the truth about the true God. And that is that God is love. And nothing else will help us. Neither on earth, nor in Slovakia, nor the Slovak church, just to like each other, to love each other, to forgive each other and to eliminate the division that is very felt here.

What will it look like in damnation?

In damnation, there will be an absence of God. Figuratively, we can compare it to the opposite of a beautiful sunny day somewhere by the sea, where a person is exposed to heat, light, glow, and good humidity. That is, a person will be in the dark, cold, frost, in such a winter that it will not be possible to stand in it. And forever, without end. There is no time in eternity.

Nevertheless, his whole being, existence, and consciousness of being at all will burn him. The fact that he rejected God will burn him the most. Because man has free will. 

Last judgment icon

The Last Judgment icin can help us supplement information or complete the picture of the Last Judgment. What can we learn from it?

The icon of the Last Judgment is also known as the Second Coming. It points to the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second coming is seen as God’s final judgment on the people of every nation, resulting in the reward of some and the punishment of others.

Around the vertical axis above the fiery river that ends in hell, Jesus appears as the judge. He comes before mankind. To his left is John the Baptist, and to his right is the Virgin Mary. Also present are the apostles and a multitude of angels and people awaiting the hour of judgment.

The icon points to the gospel message that each of us will die one day, after death, will appear before a personal judgment at the hour of his death, and at the end of the world the Lord Jesus will come to earth for the second time to execute the last and definitive judgment.

Also written on the icon is a series of images depicting the causes for which human souls may be damned. This is important for us to know.

They are the passions or vices based on the division made by Evagrius of Pontus, and there are eight of them: gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, acedia – aversion to spiritual things, sorrow, vain glory and pride.

Here on the icon are even more specified the torments or torments that souls will suffer for individual bad deeds that they did during their earthly life and did not repent.

And so here we have troubles: 1.) misers; 2.) heretics; 3.) proud; 4.) idolaters; 5.) wicked and criminals; 6.) usurers of people; 7.) drunkards; 8.) predators and killers; 9.) fornicators; 10.) wizards; 11.) murderers of people; 12.) fornicators; 13.) gossipers and bilinguals; 14.) thieves and those who receive stolen goods; and 15.) lovers of money – greedy.

Also there is another row showing which people will go to eternal torment. Which people will they be, or what should we avoid so that we are not among them?

Individual categories are depicted there: the poor, merchants, farmers, artisans, bishops, priests and monks. All bear the penalty of neglecting to be faithful in their calling in earthly life.

According to the vision of Blessed Theodora, the soul of the condemned passes through the so-called toll booths. What should we imagine under that?

According to her vision, the soul, after death, goes through certain checkpoints – toll booths, where it is confronted with the assistance of its guardian angel and an evil spirit with its vices or sins that it has committed during its life.

If he can stand one station, he advances to the next. If he passes all of them, he goes to heaven, but if he doesn’t pass even one of them, he can go to hell.

The mentioned soul is the soul of each one of us. Even here in earthly life we ​​have a guardian angel to help us, yet we fall. As long as we live on earth – if we fail some test, we usually still have the possibility of correction. Will it be a “life and death” test after death? Will we have other helpers to help us pass this test? 

Some mystics say that people who have shown respect for the Virgin Mary during their lives will also have her when they die and she will help them—also saints, personal patrons and many others.

For example, when a bishop stands at the last judgment, his witnesses will be his believers, who will either support him because he stood by them during his earthly life, or they will condemn him because he was not with them, did not stand up for them, remained silent, was not interested in them, did not have their like. All these witnesses will be there. Figuratively speaking, we are going into this new dimension together.

Are you implying that we should count on the fact that someone with us will testify against us to “sink” us?

In a very hostile sense, especially evil spirits will testify against us.  

Everything will be revealed in this objectivity. The whole truth will be revealed. There you will not be able to hide from anything, you will not be able to conceal or outwit anything. But there we will also have a strong defense:

“But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2, 1-2). And the Book of Revelation says that there is also an accuser who sues us day and night (Revelation 12:10).

“I do not believe that a person who knowingly, actively harms innocent defenseless people and is not mentally disturbed loves God.”

So, according to these images, the last judgment will take place as a battle between prosecution and defense, while the Advocate – Jesus Christ, who will defend sinners, will have stronger “trump cards” in the sense: I was human, I know what it is to be in human skin, I know how strong temptations can be, I know how fragile and weak man is, and I even died for those people.

And satan, the accuser, what did he do? He just sues and “snaps” at people because he doesn’t know how to love, and when he doesn’t know how to be happy, he doesn’t want to let anyone do that.

Can we somehow help other people get to heaven so that they too can attain a state of eternal bliss?

We cannot force anyone to love or believe. We can explain things to people and pray for them. This is how we can help those people. Accompany them with your prayers and your example. This is very important. To show them God’s love here on earth.

Already from the time of early Christianity, we have examples of many saints who faithfully and fearlessly professed their faith in Jesus before the emperor. When their executioners saw this Christian attitude, they themselves believed in God at that moment – which cost them their lives, because finally the executioners themselves were beheaded because of this faith.

We Christians have a solemn mission on earth that we are not even aware of. Let’s be patient and leave the rest to God. Let us not take God’s justice into our hands, although we have inclinations and tendencies to do so. Even our politicians. It gives me chills when I see how they put themselves in the position of God.

We must realize that we are not God, and do everything we can for the good of man and society. We are not here to judge and condemn, but at the same time we must protect people and society from danger so that we can all live well here.

Could you narrow down this important life advice to a personal level?

We consistently live our profession in which we are. If, for example, you are a husband and a father, then be him fully and responsibly. Love and seek the good of your wife and children, for as you live your calling; you will be held accountable after death. And so we could continue row after row for everyone.

Is this what our personal preparation should look like so that we are guaranteed to pass our last test – the secret trial and receive an eternal blissful reward?

Let us love God and love people. That is the best preparation. Daily, patiently, in small deeds, without claim to reward, satisfaction. We don’t have to immediately put a status on Facebook or Instagram about who we helped, what charity we did or what diploma we have framed in our office. To these people the Lord Jesus says: “You have already received your reward.” Done.

But if we go to do something out of love, let our left hand not know what our right hand is doing… And our Father will reward us, because he sees even in secret (Mt 6, 3-4).

I encourage all of us to live the words that are in God’s word every day with joy, to the fullest, and then I believe that we will all meet together in heaven