Purgatory of Moments

 
A sculptured arch on ancient church  [i] 
pictures men dividing,
Christ presiding, at the Last Day….[ii]   
As well as crowds of Faithful at the End,
each soul has first an inward sifting  [iii]
of scattered pieces,
in Timelessness, we watch Our time  [iv] 
 
while, under Christ’s hand,
this sorting out proceeds,  [v]   
our Inner Goats and Sheep depart….  [vi]  
and we are cleansed by His review – however long –
each moment, each life decision:
He was hungry, and we gave food  –  or Not,  [vii]
our love for Least Ones was for Him.      
 
Thus earthly instants trot, off to eternity,
directed right or left
our blurring wrong decision weighed, each grain
as Blessed, or Banishment to fire….
But yes, our Inner Rich Man from the flames  [viii]  
will yet gaze across a chasm  
to find our blessed Lazarus consoled.   

(2010s)   


[i]    “Tympanum (architecture)”.  Wikipedia.org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanum_(architecture)  } (accessed December 1, 2021).
 “A tympanum over a doorway is very often the most important, or only, location for monumental sculpture on the outside of a building. In Romanesque architecture … the tympanum  more often has a semi-circular shape” 

[ii]   Illustration Footer:  Peter Campbell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.  “Conques doorway carving 2003 IMG 6330.JPG”.  {https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conques_doorway_carving_2003_IMG_6330.JPG}  (accessed December 1, 2021)  
     More on this Tympanum at the Church of St. Foy in Conques, France:  “The Last Judgment”.  “The Tympanum of the Last Judgment”.  Office de tourisme Conques-Marcillac, France.  {https://www.tourisme-conques.fr/en/en-conques/the-tympanum} (accessed December 1, 2021).    
“At the western gate, a deep barrel vault shelters the Tympanum of the Last Judgment, one of the masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture from the first half of the 12th century ....
All is set around the central figure of Christ,  out of proportion with the others, so he attracts all the attention. ….
On his left, ‘Hell seems the image of Paradise in negative (set on his right), an anti-heaven. In this case, all is order, limpidity and peace, contemplation and love, when in the other it is violence, compulsive agitation and fright.’ (Marcel Durliat)"

[iii]   “Particular Judgment”.  Wikipedia.org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particular_judgment} (accessed December 1, 2021). 
“Particular judgment, according to Christian eschatology, is the divine judgment that a departed person undergoes immediately after death, in contradistinction to the general judgment (or Last Judgment) of all people at the end of the world.”

[iv]   “Purgatory”.  Wikipedia.org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory}  (accessed December 1, 2021).  
“Purgatory is, according to the belief of some Christians, an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory is the final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.”  

[v]   Jesus’ parable begins in Matthew 25:31-33: 
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” 

[vi]  Illustration Header: showing the Sheep and the Goats:  “Sarcophagus Lid with Last Judgement, late 3rd –early 4th century?”.  The Met.  {https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466583} (accessed December 1. 2021)    

[vii]   Jesus explains his parable in Matthew 25:38-42  – 
“When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.’ ” 

[viii]  Luke 16:22-24, Jesus tells the parable of  Lazarus and the Rich Man:
“When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.”