Death then Judgement?

[justfran]

When we are at our Particular Judgement, do we have the use of free will? I mean, the soul is alone when we got that first judgement, so I'm guessing that means we must have just died or something. But the Catechism states that we receive our judgement at the moment of our death, while the Bible (Hebrews 9:27) says "Just as man is destined to die once and [b]after that[/b] to face judgement." (if it were referring to the General Judgement, then it'd have to go on about resurrection and everything, right?)

[BLAZEr]

There is no clear understanding about the time lapse. However, we do know that the way you die is the way you're decided . . . in other words, you cannot be seperated from God, in mortal sin, and rejecting his grace in your life and expect it to be different after you've died.

However, there is hope. St. Faustina tells us in her diary that Jesus floods our souls with his Divine Mercy in the very moment before our death and offers us a moment to choose him before we die. We don't know how this works, but it is just another sign of God's great mercy.