“Jesus, Mercy”

A Catholic Perspective on Death

Time and space (our material universe) are contained within God’s eternal realm. Both heaven and hell, therefore, can be experienced (partially, in shadow form) here on earth in this life. At certain brief moments (or even over longer periods of time) in this life, we can get a glimpse or foretaste of our eternal destiny. Also, God and other spirits are able (within certain limits set forth by God) to penetrate into our physical world and sometimes manifest themselves to us, but we cannot break through the barrier of physicality into their invisible spiritual realm of eternity. Except through death.

Death is simply the portal into eternal life, nothing more and nothing less. The peculiar problem we experience acutely in this life, however, is that we don’t know exactly when (or under what circumstances) we will reach that mysterious doorway. Only God knows the precise moment (and manner) He will call each of us out of this life into the next. This is why the practice of living out a life of virtue (loving service to God and one’s neighbor) is so important. By loving God and placing ourselves at the service of others for His sake (cf. Mk 12:28-34), we are “rehearsing” for the moment of our own death when we finally make our eternal choice of Yes to God’s love. In this way, we will always be ready to meet the Lord, whenever He should call us. In His loving providence, He knows the best way and the most spiritually advantageous moment for each of us to cross over to Him, and that is the moment when He will call us.

This earthly life, whether brief or long, is “only a test” and not the “real thing.” The purpose of life is only for our instruction and “practice” for the Great Entrance Exam. The “Final” exam occurs for each of us individually only at the moment of death when the soul says to Jesus the Just Judge (cf. Matt 25: 31-46) either “Thy will be done,” or “My will be done.” By saying the former, we effectively throw ourselves upon God’s tender mercy. By doing this we enter heaven (although perhaps first passing through that “mud room” of heaven which Catholics call “purgatory” (cf. 1 Cor 3:12-15; 1 Pet 1:7; Rev 21:27)). By saying the latter, we set ourselves in defiance of God and his mercy, thereby cutting ourselves off from experiencing His love, and so fall into hell.

The all-important question which determines whether a soul enters the eternal life of heaven or falls into hell is its love for God—or rather its returning (or participating in) God’s own love for us. Love is a spiritual reality and can be present in a person without any visible manifestation (physical activity or emotional display), such as in an infant or young child, someone with severe retardation or brain damage, or a patient lying unconscious in a hospital bed. We receive this love of God through the divine gift of faith, and we exercise it through obedience to God’s will. The full truth of a man’s [1] love exists only in the quiet recesses of his heart, and only God can read a man’s heart. As the recently published (1994, 1997) Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly teaches,

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very
moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to
Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—immediately or through a
purification—or immediate and everlasting damnation. [Paragraph 1022]

As St. John of the Cross (1542-91) stated, “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.”
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[1] (Throughout this essay I will use the word “man” in the traditional sense meaning both men and women, mankind.)
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However, while it is possible that a person might not outwardly show his heart’s participation in the love of God which is his “ticket” to heaven, ordinarily we show (and grow in) this love of God through our love of and service to our neighbor (Matt 25:31-46). As our Lord often repeated through his parables, such is the kingdom of God.

Death is one of the mysterious “Four Last Things” which are explored in the branch of Catholic theology called eschatology. Those Last Things are death, judgment, heaven and hell. All four are very real. Although many people today believe otherwise (or simply avoid the subject altogether), they are mistaken—we have the Lord’s word on that.

[The next several paragraphs are excerpted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1997; paragraphs 1008-1013.]

The Church teaches that death entered the world on account of man’s sin (cf. Gen 2:17; 3:3; 3:19; Wisdom [2] 1:13; Rom 5:12; 6:23). Even though man’s nature is mortal, God had originally destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin (cf. Wis 2:23-24). Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned, is thus “the last enemy” of man left to be conquered (cf. 1 Cor 15:26).
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[2] (The Wisdom of Solomon (Wisdom) is one of the seven Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament found in Catholic editions of the Bible but which are typically excluded from Protestant versions.)
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Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite His anguish as He faced death, He accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to His Father’s will (cf. Mk 14:33-36; Heb 5:7-8). The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing (cf. Rom 5:19-21).

Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). “The saying is sure: if we have died with Him, we also shall live with Him” (2 Tim 2:11). What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already “died with Christ” sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death completes this “dying with Christ” and so completes our incorporation into Him in His redeeming act:

It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the
earth. Him I seek—who died for us. Him it is I desire—who rose for us. I am on
the point of giving birth…. Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived
there, then shall I be a man. [St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. ca. AD 107), bishop
of Antioch; speaking of his impending martyrdom in Rome]

In death, God calls man to Himself. Therefore the Christian can experience a desire for death like St. Paul’s “My desire is to depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23). A man can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ (cf. Lk 23: 46):

My earthly desire has been crucified; …there is living water in me, water that
murmurs and says within me: Come to the Father. [St. Ignatius of Antioch]

I want to see God and, in order to see Him, I must die. [St. Teresa of Avila (1515-82)]

I am not dying; I am entering life. [St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-97)]

The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgical prayer of the Church (cf. 1 Thes 4:13-14):

Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our
earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.
[Roman Missal, Preface of Christian Death I]

Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When the single course of our earthly life is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: “It is appointed for men to die once” (Heb 9:27). There is no “reincarnation” after death.
[End of excerpt from the Catechism.]

Whether death comes in an instant through an accident or the malice of another person (i.e. murder) or through the slow process of old age or disease, it is part of God’s will and is under His ultimate control. The sorrow and grief experienced by those of us who survive the death of friends and family members are the good, natural and healthy expressions of our love for the beloved deceased and of the loss of their presence among us. We should and must grieve. But after a reasonable period of time, despite the loss, life returns to a normal state. Time heals all wounds. We never forget the beloved, of course; the memories remain through-out our lives. The bonds of love are not destroyed by death, and the soul itself does not die. We are separated only for a time, not forever. We shall see them again when we join them in eternity after our own death. And we shall live together with them in the resurrection of the just in our glorified bodies, cleansed from every blemish and imperfection, at the end of time. In comparison to the eternity which awaits us (heaven), this time on earth is only a flicker.

It is rare for a human being to be in a state of the pure love and grace of God at the moment of death. Usually there is at least some impurity, spiritual imperfection or trace of sin in any person’s life. Sometimes this is obvious (if the person lived a manifest “life of sin”), but it frequently is known only to the dying person himself in the core of his being, and to God who knows all things. But God loves even the “manifest sinner” and we trust that He gives every soul the opportunity before death to repent and be saved, even at the last moment, even in the unconscious moments preceding actual death. Such things we cannot know. We the living survivors can and must always trust in the generous mercy of God to purify the departed soul of these sinful traces through the fire of His love and admit our loved ones into the glory of His eternal presence.

We all depend completely on the love and mercy of God, both in life and in death. It is therefore good and acceptable to pray to God for the purification of the departed soul (cf. 2 Maccabees [3] 12:46). We are called in Scripture to always pray for one another, and death is no barrier at all for prayer. (If their souls are already in heaven (having completed their purification) and no longer have need of our prayers, we may be assured that God will graciously apply them to other souls who do need them. Prayer is never wasted.) It is an act of concern and love for our departed brothers and sisters to pray:

Have mercy, Jesus. Bring them into Thy rest, O Lord. Amen.
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[3] (2 Maccabees is another of the Deuterocanonical books to be found in Catholic editions of the Bible.)
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