Dear Father Angelo, 

today I was reading this passage from the First Letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18): “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

         For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

          Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,  will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.

         For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore, console one another with these words”.

Here it seems that at the time of judgement there will be people still alive who will go directly to the afterlife shortly after the Resurrection of the others. 

The problem is that in Maria Valtorta’s revelations, Jesus describes how things will happen in the last days in a much more logical way. He says that at a certain point the world will end and everyone will die. However, there will not be an immediate Resurrection of the dead and final judgement because we will have to wait for all the inhabitants of Purgatory to finish their punishment according to justice. Once Purgatory is completely empty and therefore no longer has any reason to exist, the Resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgement will take place, and everyone will take their body to Heaven or Hell. It seems much more logical to me than how it appears, on a material reading, that St Paul describes things.

However, the letter to the Thessalonians is the Word of God. I am a little confused. Can you help me? 

Thank you in advance.

God bless you.

Priest’s answer

Dear friend,

1. The Christians of Thessalonica, now known as Thessaloniki, believed that their deceased brothers would not be able to take part in the triumphant celebrations for the coming of Jesus Christ.

But St Paul states that the righteous who will be alive at that time will have no special advantage over the dead, because both will be equal spectators of the great event.

2. Regarding St Paul’s statement, the Eastern Church Fathers believed that not all men would die, but that some would be alive at the time of the Lord’s coming and would pass immediately from the present life to the state of glory.

3. However, St Thomas does not agree with this view and says that everyone will die because St Paul himself says: “as in Adam all die”. (1 Cor 15:22)

Similarly, St Paul says: “we shall all be raised”. (1 Cor 15:51)

If everyone will be raised, it means that everyone must die.

This is why St Paul also says: “death came to all”. (Rom 5:12)

4. Thus, St Thomas concludes: “Therefore, it must be said that some will be found alive at the time when Christ comes for the judgement; but at that moment they will die and immediately rise again. Therefore, because of that brief interval of time, they are considered alive”.

5. And again: “Therefore, it seems that we must say that all will die and all will be resurrected, and this will happen simultaneously.

And the Apostle does not say here that those will be resurrected before these, but that those will be resurrected before these meet Christ.  

In fact, first of all, at the coming of the Lord, those who are found alive will die, and then, immediately together with those who had died previously, they will be resurrected and caught up in the clouds.”

6. With reference to what Maria Valtorta says: regarding the fact that some time should pass between the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead because purgatory must be completely emptied, it can be argued that purgatory can also be emptied instantly.

Furthermore, if what you have reported is in accordance with Maria Valtorta’s thinking, Sacred Scripture does not suggest that Christ will return to earth and have to wait for purgatory to be emptied in order to resurrect the dead.

7. I think, instead, that St Thomas’ interpretation is plausible: everyone will die instantly and everyone will be resurrected instantly, including those in purgatory.

With the hope of being found among those who will rise to eternal life, I bless you and remember you in my prayers. 

Father Angelo

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