Dear John:

There is a guarantee of heaven when we are in a State of Grace, but most of us will go to purgatory on the way to heaven.

Upon death we go through a Particular Judgment, not the Final Judgment. The Particular Judgment determines our eternal destination of purgatory/heaven or hell.

It is in purgatory, "that sins not expiated during life must be expiated after death, for nothing unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of God." 

The Final Judgment has nothing to do with salvation or purgatory. It is not about sin for they have been forgiven and God remembers them no more. The Final Judgment for those who are saved is to judge how we lived our lives. It is a judgement of the effect of your life upon others. As explained in the other post:

Those who depart this life sometimes leave behind them children who imitate the conduct of their parents, descendants, followers; and others who adhere to and advocate the example, the language, the conduct of those on whom they depend, and whose example they follow; and as the good or bad influence or example, affecting as it does the conduct of many, is to terminate only with this world; justice demands that, in order to form a proper estimate of the good or bad actions of all, a general judgment should take place..."

This is why the Final Judgment is not just after we die, but at the end of the world — because the effects (legacy) of our lives is not realized yet. Our bad behavior in life may affect three or four generations or more yet to come. The Saints are good examples of that. The legacy of the Apostles are still having effect upon people 2000 years later. The same of true of all the Saints that their lives are an example and have an affects on many generation long after their death.

Thus, in the Final Judgment the number of Good works and the effects (legacy) we leave behind to others, even after our death, are examined to determine what rewards we will have in heaven. For the saved, the Final Judgment is not about punishment, for that was taken care of in purgatory, it is about receiving rewards. If the influence of a person's life was small, then the rewards are few. If one's life was filled with good works and others were affected greatly, even after the person's death, then the rewards are great.

Heaven is the greatest reward, however we should all strive to be good Christians and to leave a legacy to others of our Godly lives. Pope Benedict just the other day said that we as Christians should be a witness to Christ in both our words and deeds.

The Final Judgment for the saved is to close the books, as-it-were, on not only the good works we did in life here on earth, but also the legacy of our lives that came after our death. This will determine what rewards we will have in heaven, but if God judges me as having few good works, I will have no problem being a Private in heaven. Heaven is heaven after all.

As the old saying goes, "I'd rather be a Private in heaven than a General in hell."

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary