He Who Fulfilled the Prophecies promised the winnowing and weeding of souls. In winnowing, each individual grain of wheat is separated from the inedible chaff that surrounds it. Once, it was done by tossing the lightly crushed grains into the air so the wind would blow away the chaff. Mt. 3-12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
All must consider: There are good grains of wheat and bad. The bad grains of wheat are among the chaff which is blown away. How do we tell the difference? A good grain of wheat, when planted properly, yields “a hundredfold”. The grains without life in them yield nothing, no matter how well they are planted.
Weeding is different than winnowing each individual grain of wheat from its surrounding chaff. Jesus describes the “weeding” version of Judgment as separating species of good plants from bad in The Garden.
Mt 12: 29-31 “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
The promise is repeated:
Matthew 13:41-42, “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
We are told very clearly that there is no avoiding the coming Judgment:
Luke 17:33-36 “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”
Thinking about winnowing and weeding leaves us with this mystery that follows the above passage with Luke 17:37, “And they answered and said unto him, ‘Where, Lord?’ And he said unto them, ‘Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.'”
Some Catholics think that passage means Guardian Angels will appear at the moment a body dies. The Angelic Eagles escort the saved soul to Heaven, getting it safely past the grasping claws of ravenous demons.
