DEATH, HEAVEN AND HELL

November 3, 2007

On November 1, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, and on the following day, All Souls Day, we pray for all the faithful departed. These important days, which help the Church approach the end of her year of worship, invite us to look to our final end. The “last things”, as they are called, involve death, God’s final judgment, the resurrection of the body, and ultimately heaven or hell.

Recalling death from time to time helps us take life seriously and appreciate it more. Death is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body. At the time of death, each person is judged by God and immediately receives his reward or punishment. At the end of the world, Jesus Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. God’s whole plan for the world will be revealed, as well as his justice and mercy.

Heaven will be the reward of the just, and hell the punishment of the wicked. The saved who are not yet completely cleansed of sin or perfected in their love of God will undergo the purification of purgatory, in which all that is not holy in them will be purged, as dross is purged from a fine metal until it is without blemish.

Today, people seem to be more possessed of trust in God’s goodness than of fear of him, but this should not lead anyone to believe hell does not exist. The Lord himself taught the reality of hell.

Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). Emphasizing the urgent need to renounce sin, the Lord elsewhere teaches, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into hell. It is is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48).

The fire of hell is the pain of eternal separation from God and his love. Hell is an eternity of complete loneliness and the absence of love.

Hell exists as a possibility for every human being because God endowed everyone with free will, and although our freedom has been damaged by sin, each of us is nonetheless given by God the opportunity to choose good over evil. Were we not free to choose for or against God and his love, heaven would be no more than a concentration camp.

Heaven will be an eternal state of blissful communion with God in love, with the capacity to see God. The company of the saints and angels will also be shared in a perfect communion of God’s love. Imagine it! God will fulfill all our heart’s desires, although we don’t know how.

There is no way to adequately describe the happiness of heaven. St. Paul said, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

When we consider what awaits the good in heaven, we can begin to lose our fear of departing from this world. Poet Emily Dickenson asked, “What need have I to fear death, for what is death but the porter of my Father’s lodge?” The expectation of being with the Lord in heaven makes this life something not to be clung to, but only a pilgrimage to be made patiently. St. Theresa of Avila, longing for the perfect communion with God that awaited her in heaven, sighed, “I die because I do not die.” How blessed are we if we seek the path of righteousness, and are able to look forward without fear to our death as the end of all separation from God!

On All Souls Day especially, but also throughout the year, let us be consolers of those who have lost loved ones, and let us commend them to the Lord in prayer, expressing confident hope that we will meet in God’s kingdom. In the Final Commendation and Farewell of the Church’s Order of Christian Funerals, we acknowledge that “There is sadness in parting, but we take comfort in the hope that one day we shall see (the deceased) again and enjoy his/her friendship,” because “the mercy of God will gather us together again in the joy of his kingdom.”

Then, commending the deceased into the hands of God, the “Father of mercies”, we pray: “Merciful Lord, turn toward us and listen to our prayers: open the gates of paradise to your servant and help us who remain to comfort one another with assurances of faith, until we all meet in Christ and are with you and with our brother/sister for ever.”

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap