When we die, our souls will immediately leave our bodies. We will appear before Jesus Christ, the Just Judge. The devil will be there and so will our guardian angels. If we have been faithful to the end, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints will be there. If we have been unfaithful in the end, we shall be alone before Christ. Then will not be the time for mercy, but for judgment. “[H]e will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Mt 25:33).
Our entire life will be set before us, and we shall have to answer for all our sins. Yet, we will no longer be able to defend ourselves, to make amends. All will have passed on forever. Where will we go? Will we be saved or damned? As the Catholic chant for requiem masses goes: Dies Irae, Dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla – Day of Wrath, that day, when all shall lay in ashes.
At each of our respective deaths, Jesus Christ will judge each of us personally, and we shall go to eternal reward, eternal punishment, or a period of purification before eternal reward. This judgment is called the Particular Judgment. The Lord will judge each individual particularly.
Then, at the end of time, will come the Final Judgment, also called the Parousia. The end of time means the end of the universe, the end of time and creation. At the Parousia, all will come before God, and He will confirm each person’s destiny. Those who are in Heaven shall be confirmed in their salvation, those in Hell shall be confirmed in their damnation, and those in Purgatory will be liberated, and Purgatory will forever cease to exist. The Final Judgment will not change anyone’s eternal destination. This destination is merely confirmed. But then why have a Final Judgment.
There will be a Final Judgment, as well as a Particular Judgment, so that God’s justice can be manifested to all. The entire history of creation will be laid bare, and we will understand how God conquers all suffering and injustice by His Infinite Mercy. When all souls are confirmed as to their eternal destination, they will be confirmed together, as a unit. Christ will say to all the blessed what He said at the Particular Judgment, presuming they did not go to Purgatory first: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34). He will say to all the damned: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:42).