NOTES for Mat 25:31-46
When we read today’s Gospel text, we usually become very frightened, because we do not dare imagine that the Lord will count us among the righteous. And we feel our reason demanding Purgatory with all its might. This is a difficult question, and at some point everyone resolves it personally. Although we understand that the boundary between good and evil runs through the human soul, we must nevertheless hold firmly to the Word of God, casting off as far as possible the whole cultural burden of two thousand years, which sometimes only obscures our perception. The Lord, then, speaks of separating the righteous from the wicked. Let us not look for our own place in this “icon,” but look at it as we usually look at icons, discerning the theological meaning in the depth of its symbolism. The principal message of this text, it seems to us, is that there will be no more half-measures: good will be completely separated from evil. But what is to be done with the share of evil present in everyone whom his mother bore “in sins” (Ps 51), that is, in every human being?! The solution to this difficult problem may be Purgatory, or it may be Forgiveness. We have no right to impose our solution on anyone; each person comes to it personally, provided that the choice of another person is respected.