A few years ago I became the Secretary of
our Parish Cemetery Committee and being a small rural parish those duties
include helping with the supervision and maintenance of our two
cemeteries. Through the Spring, Summer and Fall, I am often in
one or the other of our graveyards, checking on its condition or
marking out a grave.
Naturally this sort of work turns your
thoughts to what a graveyard is for and the type of death that brings those who come
to it for the last time. As a Catholic who tries to practice his
faith, I hope and pray that all of those who make their last
journey to their final resting place in our cemeteries, or any
other, were prepared for that journey and their entry into
eternal life that went before it.
Sometimes death comes swiftly and without
warning. One of our cemeteries is the last resting place for three young men of
our parish who died in car accidents and one young lady who was
run down at a city intersection. Or as in the case of a 53 year
old friend of mine who went to bed with the flu and did not wake
up in the morning. All we can do in situations like these is pray
that these individuals were in a state of grace with God when
death comes calling.
There is not a man or woman on this earth
who does not have to come to terms with death, it is a part of life. From the
moment we are conceived we start to walk a downhill road to the
grave. When we are younger we can put it out of our minds as it
seems to be so far away. As time slips by though and we get older
we start to think more about the end of things as it applies to
us as an individual and this seems to happen to us whether we
want to think about it or not. The fact that there is less and
less time in front of us, than what is piled up behind, has its
effect.
For the Christian, death should come as a
welcome release from the trials of this life and no matter who we are or how many
material possessions we have the trials are there. The truth is,
Christian or not, death is that "something" ahead of us that
often fills many of us with dread. We will struggle and strive
and do whatever we can to put off this natural end of things for
as long as possible. Modern science has made great contributions
in our battle against illness and disease, but that inevitable
day finally comes when all physical intercession comes to an end
and we set out on that final journey.
There is nothing wrong in our struggling to
maintain our lives, and in fact we have a moral duty to look after ourselves,
and not put ourselves into situations of unnecessary danger that
may rob us of life. Deep in all of us is a God given drive for
self preservation otherwise the human race would have died out
countless ages ago. Eventually the time comes when our heart
stops and we step out from our physical bodies, encumbered or
enhanced by how we treated others, for that is what it all
finally comes down to, and we come face to face with God. At this
point God's mercy, which has been available to us all of our
lives ends and His infinite Justice takes over.
In whatever way death happens to us the
Church teaches that at the moment of death we come to "The Particular Judgement". The
"Catechism of the Catholic Church", from which all the following
quotations will be taken, describes it this way: "Death puts an
end to human life as the time open to either accepting or
rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New
Testament often speaks of Judgement in terms of the final
accounting with Christ at his second coming but it also affirms
that each of us will be rewarded immediately after death in
accordance with our works and faith (1021). Each man receives his
eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of
his death, in a particular judgement that refers his life to
Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven - through
purification or immediately-, or immediate and everlasting
damnation (1022)." In other words, if our lives merit it, male or
female, we are rewarded with life in heaven immediately or, life
in heaven after having been purified or, eternal damnation in
hell.
Those who enter straight into heaven are
called Saints by the Church. Some of them are known to us in this life but
countless tens of thousands reach heaven immediately who are
known only to God. "Those who die in God's grace and friendship
and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ. They are
like God for ever, for they 'see Him as He is,' face to
face:...(1023) This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity -
this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin
Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called 'heaven'(1024).
The elect live 'in Christ,' but they retain, or rather find,
their true identity, their own name(1025). By his death and
resurrection, Jesus Christ has 'opened' heaven to us. The life of
the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the
fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ (1026). In the
glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God's
will in relation to other men and to all creation. Already they
reign with Christ; with Him 'they shall reign for ever and
ever'(1029)."
Then there are those who have made their
peace with God and have died in the State of Grace, but they are in need of a some
purification before they enter heaven. "All who die in God's
grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed
assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo
purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter
the joy of heaven (1030). The Church gives the name Purgatory to
this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different
from the punishment of the damned (1031). This teaching is also
based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned
in scripture: 'Therefore (Judas Maccabeus) made atonement for the
dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.' (2 Macc.
12:46)(1032)."
This teaching on Purgatory is one that a
great many people outside of the Roman Catholic Church have a lot of trouble
accepting. Today in our secular humanist world a great many of us
believe that there is no such thing as sin so how can there be
any punishment for it. It follows then that if we cannot be
faulted for our actions then we can't be punished and if we can't
be punished how can there possibly be a Hell let alone a
Purgatory.
When this teaching about Purgatory came into
my life as an adult convert, it answered a nagging concern that I could not
quite get rid of or have adequately explained. Although Jesus
Christ had by his redemptive death opened the way to heaven for
all men, I still did not think that my own purification was such
that I merited immediate entrance into heaven while at the same
time I did not think that I merited eternal damnation in hell
either. The purifying fires of Purgatory answered these questions
for me and the teaching fitted well with my image of a loving
Father whose will it is that all of us come to live with Him for
all eternity. Didn't Christ say that we cannot enter heaven until
we have paid the last penny?
Then there is hell itself and the Catholic
Catechism describes hell in the following way: "We cannot be united with
God unless we freely choose to love Him. But we cannot love God
if we sin gravely against Him, against our neighbour or against
ourselves. 'He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in Him (1 Jn. 3:14-15).' Our Lord warns
us that we shall be separated from Him if we fail to meet the
serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his
brethren(Mt. 25:31-46). To die in mortal sin without repenting
and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from
Him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive
self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called
'hell' (1033). The teaching of the Church affirms the existence
of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of
those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where
they suffer the punishment of hell's 'eternal fire (1035).' God
predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning
away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it
until the end (1037)." Hell is a state of total isolation to
yourself in a state of absolute lovelessness for all of eternity.
The Church and Scripture teach us that we
do not have the right to judge another or to decide the final destination of any
soul. There is nobody living that can know how God deals with a
soul and how that soul reacts in the final seconds of its life. A
person can be unconscious to our eyes, yet a lot of activity
between God and that soul could still be going on. All it takes
is one cry for forgiveness from that soul, a movement of the
heart toward God, and He will come with love and forgiveness and
take that soul to Himself forever. However, if you are that soul
that is suddenly struck down, how can you be sure that you will
have the time or the grace to cry out to God in those final
seconds or even fractions of a second?
All it takes to be sure about your final
destination is to bring Christ into your life. If you are a baptised Catholic but
you have been away from your faith, maybe for a long time, why
don't you try going back to Mass? Hundreds and thousands of
conversions have begun with an attendance at Mass either alone or
with a friend. While you are there ask our Lord, who is
sacramentally present on the altar, to lead you home and He will.
It may not be an easy journey, and in some situations of life it
may take time, but if you are faithful the Lord will not fail
you.
For those who have been born and raised
outside of the Catholic Church, or even any church at all, you can be reassured
that God refuses Himself to no person of good will who lives by
the dictates of their conscience. Every soul has come from God
and our conscience, for all of us, is the sure guide back to Him.
Unfortunately our conscience can become battered and compromised
as we move through life and it can use all of the help it can get.
Once again, a sure way of obtaining this help is to bring Christ into
your life and fortunately this is not all that difficult to do.
It's as simple asking Jesus to come into our hearts wherever you
happen to be in life at that moment.
To begin with, any sort of simple prayer of
request will do: "Please Lord Jesus help me, teach me, guide me." He will bring
you into touch with people, books, teachers and events that will
help you to find your way.
In the event that you do bring Christ into
your life, why don't you look into the Roman Catholic Church whose present day
Bishops are the direct spiritual descendants of the Apostles?
"Leaflets of Faith" publishes a leaflet called "Approaching the
Catholic Church for the First Time" which you may find helpful.
Another way is to phone a parish that is near to where you live
and ask about their adult education classes. These classes are
open to anyone and do not obligate you in any way to join the
Church. You can usually find a listing of Catholic Churches in
the Yellow Pages of most phone books. Meanwhile may our Lord
bless you and we at Leaflets will keep you, the reader of this
Leaflet, in our prayers.
William J. Bradley
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