“The dead man sat up and began to speak”
Benjamin Franklin said, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." We cannot escape death, nor are we called to.
“That no one, however young and healthy, will escape death, wherefore we should always be prepared to die”[i] Some would say we are cursed and blessed at the same of knowing this; that we will die. A curse because there is no escaping death, and many people fear death, however for a Christian this is a great blessing.
Why is the knowledge that we will die a blessing? The answer is very simple: as good as this life is, there is a greater good, that of eternity with God and as difficult as this life can sometimes be, there is eternal peace. The only way we see meaning and hope in death is in Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead. “The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is ‘away from the body and at home with the Lord.’”[ii] The answer to the proverbial question, “What is the meaning of life?” or “Why are we here?” is easy to answer: To get beyond this life.
What is death? “The cessation of the bodily functions of a human being through the departure of the soul. It is part of revelation that, in the present order of divine providence, death is a punishment of sin. According to the teaching of the Church, death is a consequence of Adam’s sin, as declared by St. Paul;: ‘Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death’ (Romans 5:12). In the case of those justified by grace, death loses its penal character and becomes a mere consequence of sin. All human beings, therefore, are subject to death, although in the case of Christ and his Mother, because of their freedom from sin, death was neither a punishment for sin nor a consequence of sin. Yet, as they were truly human, death was natural for them. Death is also the end of human probation or testing of one’s loyalty to God. It ends all possibility of merit or demerit. Properly speaking, only the body dies when separated from its principle of life, which is the soul. However, the Bible speaks of a second death (Revelation 20:6), referring to the souls in hell, who are separated from their principle of supernatural life which is God.”[iii]
The Church has always tried to keep a good balance when dealing with and discussing death. “…The Church has been careful to avoid two extremes; either so concentrate on the moment of death and the transitory character of earthly things as to undervalue the importance of this life; or so ignore the sublimity of death as to canonize the goods of this world and distract the faithful from the pursuit of holiness.”[iv]
What is the relationship between the sacraments and our death? “The Christian who dies in Christ reaches at the end of his earthly existence the fulfillment of that new life which was begun in Baptism, strengthened in Confirmation, and nourished in the Eucharist, the foretaste of the heavenly banquet.”[v] During clothing with the white garment at the Baptismal Rite, the celebrant says, “N., you have become a new creation, and have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.”[vi] We are called to bring the same “white garment”, our soul, unstained after baptism to heaven. We cannot bring our soul to heaven, but through death, the separation between body and soul. Many times at a funeral Mass a white pall is placed over the casket, just as one time a white garment was put on a person at baptism.
What should we do to prepare for death? We can do a number of things. We should continue to pray to our Father and Saint Joseph who is the patron for a happy death. We should request a priest immediately so that we may receive Anointing of the Sick, Last Rites, Viaticum, and an Apostolic Blessing. Lastly, we should ask are friends and family to pray for us. Hopefully we are doing most of these things (minus the Sacrament of Anointing and Last Rites) every day.
St. Francis de Sales wrote, “O man, represent to yourself in lively colors, that at your death the world will cease to exist with respect to you. In that last hour the pleasures, the vanities, the riches, the honors, the friendships, and all that was dear to you, will disappear before your eyes as so many shadows. O fool that I am! You will then say, for what trifles and fooleries have I lost all! On the contrary, piety, good works, penance, etc., will appear pleasant to you, and you will exclaim: O, why did I not travel on this blessed road! Then the sins which you now consider as mere trifles, will seem to you like mountains, and all that you thought you had accomplished as great things, with regard to piety, will seem to you very little….What terrors will befall her, when she must appear before the tribunal of that God whom she never really loved and honored in her life-time, and before whom she must now give the strictest account, and hear an irrevocable and just sentence!...How can you escape this terrible future? By living now, as you would wish to have lived at the hour of death. Die daily with St. Paul by crucifying the flesh and its lusts and by voluntarily withdrawing your heart from the world, its pomps and vanities, before death will do this by violence.”[vii]
What is Viaticum? “Viaticum is the Holy Eucharist received by those who are about to leave this earthly life and preparing for the journey to eternal life. Communion in the body and blood of Christ who died and rose from the dead, received at the moment of passing from this world to the Father, is the seed of eternal life and the power of the resurrection.”[viii]
Can someone receive Last Rites after one is dead? It depends. We do not know when the exact moment when the soul leaves the body. If a priest arrives minutes after a doctor pronounces someone dead the priest is allowed to still anoint. However, if the body is breaking down and decomposing then obviously the person’s soul has left the body, and the priest can pray for the repose of the soul but would not give anointing and Last Rites.
What happens right after we die? “After death, which is the separation of the body and the soul, the body becomes corrupt while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet judgment of God and awaits its reunion with the body when it will rise transformed at the time of the return of the Lord. How the resurrection of the body will come about exceeds the possibilities of our imagination and understanding.”[ix]
How will our resurrection be? We do not know exactly how it will happen, but we do know that it will happen. In the last two articles of the Apostles Creed we proclaim that we believe in “the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” This is what the Church does know of our bodily resurrection, “The universal return to life of all human beings, to occur soon before the last judgment by God’s almighty power. Each individual soul will be reunited with the selfsame body with which it was united on earth. While all the dead will rise, only the just will have their bodies glorified.”[x] We know when we all will be raised, which is at the second coming of Jesus Christ to establish once and for all His Kingdom and reign over Heaven and Earth.
What is the “last judgment”? The last judgment or Final Judgment is after all have been raised from the dead will be “a social judgment because it will answer to the social side of humanity. We are to be judged not only as individuals but as members of society, to reveal to the world God’s justice in those he condemns and his mercy in those who are saved. …there is a deeper reason for the final judgment, arising from the nature of human actions. Their full import cannot be gauged the moment they are done, or even at the end of the life of a person who does them…his life still goes on in a sense, and is affected by what happens afterward.”[xi]
What is the significance of our Resurrection? Our Resurrection is not possible without Jesus rising from the dead first. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament and what He said while living here. This is why in the Creed we say “in accordance with the Scriptures”.[xii] By Jesus Resurrection this means we too share within Him the newness of life. “Christ’s Resurrection – and the risen Christ himself – is the principle and source of our future resurrection: ‘Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. …For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.’ The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. …Christ, ‘the first born from the dead’ (Col. 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls (cf. Rom. 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf. Rom. 8:11).”[xiii]
[i] Goffines, The Church’s Year
[ii] CCC 1681
[iii] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 146-147
[iv] Hardon, The Catholic Catechism pg. 257
[v] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 354
[vi] The Rite of Baptism
[vii] Phil. Part 1, chap. 13
[viii] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 320
[ix] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 205
[x] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 466
[xi] Hardon, The Catholic Catechism, pg. 259
[xii] cf. CCC 652
[xiii] CCC 655, 658