Hi David,

I hope all is well.

You said:

• What will happen to those that have ascended to Heaven or are in Purgatory after the Parousia?

I think a Radio Reply answer does a good job answering this.

From Radio Replies:

Question:

What of the souls already in Hell, Heaven, or Purgatory?

Answer:

When their bodies rise from the grave, each soul will be re-united
with its own proper body, the body sharing the fate merited for it by the soul.

On that last day which will be the day of Judgment for all mankind, Purgatory will cease to exist. Our Lord tells us that there will be but two sentences. Matthew 25:34-41. The souls which have not finished their purification will be purified completely on that day itself, intensity supplying for any lack of duration. God will find no difficulty in arranging that.

You said:

• If everyone is either in Heaven, Purgatory or Hell, who will be judged by Christ when he reappears for the Last Judgment?

Sometimes when one Catechism doesn't explain an issue to the reader's satisfaction, it is best to go to another Catechism of the Church. My second preference is the Baltimore Catechism.

I went to my Number 4 Baltimore Catechism and found the following:

Question:

When will Christ judge us?

Answer:

Christ will judge us immediately after our death, and on the last day.

Question:

What is the judgment called which we have to undergo immediately after death?

Answer:

The judgment we have to undergo immediately after death is called the Particular Judgment. "Particular" because one particular person is judged.

Question:

What is the judgment called which all men have to undergo on the last day?

Answer:

The judgment which all men have to undergo on the last day is called General Judgment.

General because every creature gifted with intelligence will be judged on that day - the angels of Heaven, the devils of Hell, and all men, women and children that have ever lived among the earth.

You said:

• Is the Sacrament of Confirmation mandatory?

Yes it is. It is the personal commitment of the adult baptized Catholic to freely choose to defend and spread the Good News of Jesus and His Church.

At Baptism, the parents made this choice for the good of the child. If the parents, and local parish have done a good job in catechizing their children in the Catholic faith, at Confirmation, the adult will want to make the choice on [his/her] own.

Mike

Just to add to what Mike has said —

Once the Lord returns, Purgatory will be done away with because it will no longer be necessary.

Bear in mind, Purgatory is a condition more than a place. It is the final stage of purification or sanctification which a soul undergoes.

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NKJ)

We see here in this verse that we are all judged and purged by fire, if needed, but we do not know if the fire is literally a fire. That topic is open to debate.

I use the following model:

The Bible teaches us that God's love is an all-consuming fire. For those who are completely purified, it is pure joy. For those who are saved but still suffer the effects of sin on their soul, God's love burns away all selfishness; it is a healing, joyful pain.

For those who have closed themselves from God's love, i.e., those who have damned themselves, God's love is a source of pain.

So when the Lord does return, the purification of souls who are saved will be immediate.

The whole notion of time periods was developed for us to grasp some understanding, but time does not really apply to God, who invented time and lives in the eternal now.

Time can also be a metaphor for intensity. Hence Purgatory, for all we know, is instantaneous. Yet those of us who are limited by time and space, are allowed to pray for those in Purgatory, because God allows the eternal now to be made present to us who live in a temporal universe.

As for the Last Judgment, take a look at Matthew 24:

There, Christ is judging the nations. The nations is a term that in the Old Testament applied to everyone but Israel. Today we understand the term as everyone who doesn't know Christ.

Hence, when He separates the goats from the sheep, He is not judging believers. It's pretty clear in the text, the sheep ask Him, when did we feed you, etc., etc. No believer would ask that question. They are essentially saying to Jesus,

• Who are you; when did we feed you?

So I believe this judgment is for those who never had the opportunity to hear, understand, or accept the Gospel, but did respond to whatever grace God gave them.

Every human being has an obligation to continue to form his or her conscience and seek the truth, but in the end, a just God only holds man accountable for what he knows and in accordance to the grace that has been bestowed on him.

John