“That is how it will be at the end of time. The angels will go out, and the will separate the wicked from the good.”
(Matthew 13:49)

Now it becomes clear why I am interested in making good friends with the angels. It is they that are in charge of the last sorting out. They will separate those who go to one side from those who go to the other. And I want to land on the right side. We have to make friends from now.

The angels separate. This has troubled me for a while, as I don’t want to classify people in my mind as “wicked” or “good”, I don’t want to judge anybody, I don’t want to print labels and stick them on to anyone. The world is not a movie with good guys and bad guys. Nobody is fully good and nobody is fully bad. That’s why I’ve thought for a while what is the point of angels separating people. It turns out that they do separate people, but they do it only at the end of time: “The harvest is the end of time: the angels will go out and they will separate the wicked from the good.”

That gives me some respite and shows me a direction. It is not for me to judge people or separate people or classify people. For me all are good. There are people who do things I don’t consider fair, and there is suffering in the world and there is madness and blood and wars and terrorism, and, once more, we have to do all we can to stop violence and end suffering and promote love; but it is not for me to judge consciences and to set the world right, although I’ll keep doing all I can in my surroundings to soften down friction and to gladden lives. There are pressures and prejudices, there are conditionings and false premises, there is blindness and madness and groups and clans and violence and hysteria. I do not justify anything, but I do not condemn anyone either. Let justice have its way with those who violate law and order. The angels will do that, but they will do it at the end of time. They know how they’ll do it and what is the meaning of separating one from another, of left and right, of good and bad. We’ll see it when it happens. The point for us at present is clear and simple: do not judge, do not condemn, do not separate anyone from anybody. Help all, understand all, love all. And let the angels do their job when their time comes. Leave it to them.

In any case I do want to make friends with the angels, for the joy it now gives me and for the safety it will mean for me on the last day. A meeting of friends. We know each other well. And let them take me along with the just.