The Four Last Things Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell Agenda 1 Life Everlasting 2 Death 3 Judgment 4 Hell 5 Heaven 6 Your Destiny 1. Life Everlasting “I believe in…the life everlasting. Amen” Apostles Creed We all sense a desire for something more than this world. • “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee” (St. Augustine, Confessions, 1.1.1, Polkington trans.) We all sense the intrinsic value of people. • “Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God” (St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1.2) Cf. 2 Peter 1:4 “I believe in…the life everlasting. Amen” Apostles Creed We have the ability to reason about abstractions. • “The operation of anything follows the mode of its being” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1.75.3). Thus the Church rejects annihilationism. “ The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God—it is not “produced” by the parents— and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection. d” Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para. 366 Thus the Church rejects reincarnation. “ 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.” There is no d “reincarnation” after death. ” Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para. 1013 (Cf. Lumen Gentium 48, 3; Hebrews 9:27) Two Arguments Against Reincarnation 1. Absence of Maturity Tertullian: “For all men are imbued with an infant soul at their birth. But how happens it that a man who dies in old age returns to life as an infant? . I ask, then, how the same souls are resumed, which can offer no proof of their identity, either by their disposition, or habits, or living? (A Treatise on the Soul 31). St. Irenaeus: “If we don’t remember anything before our conception, then how do advocates of reincarnation know we’ve all been reincarnated?” (Against Heresies 2.33.1). Two Arguments Against Reincarnation 2. Population Growth Tertullian: “If the living come from the dead, just as the dead proceed from the living, then there must always remain unchanged one and the selfsame number of mankind” (A Treatise on the Soul, 30). 2. Death “It is appointed to men to die…” Hebrews 9:27 Death: The separation of body and soul at the end of one’s life. “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom. 5:12) “For in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gn. 2:17) “You are dust and to dust you shall return” (Gn. 3:19) Psalm 90 “It is appointed to men to die…” Hebrews 9:27 Jesus transformed the curse of death into a blessing. “‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’” (1 Cor 15:54–55) “So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:21) “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3–4) “It is appointed to men to die…” Hebrews 9:27 “It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt.” In a sense bodily death is natural, but for faith it is in fact “the wages of sin.” For those who die in Christ's grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can also share his Resurrection (CCC, 1006). Death is a consequence of sin. The Church's Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man's sin. Even though man's nature is mortal God had 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. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” is thus “the last enemy” of man left to be conquered (CCC, 1008). “It is appointed to men to die…” Hebrews 9:27 Death is transformed by Christ. 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. The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing (CCC, 1009). Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him.” 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” (CCC, 1010). A Prayer “ 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. d” Roman Missal, Preface of Christian Death I. A Prayer “ Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. d” Hail Mary A Prayer “ O BLESSED JOSEPH, who yielded up thy last breath in the arms of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me this grace, O holy Joseph, that I may breathe forth my soul in praise, saying in spirit, if I am unable to do so in words: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give Thee my heart and my soul.” Amen. d” Prayer to St. Joseph, Patron Saint of a Happy Death A Prayer “ Go forth, Christian soul, from this world May you return to [your Creator] in the name of God the almighty Father, who formed you from the dust of the who created you, in the name of Jesus earth. Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered for you, in the name of the Holy May holy Mary, the angels, and all the Spirit, who was poured out upon you. saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life. Go forth, faithful Christian! May you see your Redeemer face to May you live in peace this day, face. may your home be with God in Zion, with Mary, the virgin Mother of God, with Joseph, and all the angels and saints. d” Order of Christian Funerals, Prayer of Commendation 3. Judgment “and after that comes judgment…” Hebrews 9:27 Particular Judgment: The judgment of each person at the moment of death. Luke 16:19–31 Luke 23:39–43 1 Peter 4:3–5 “and after that comes judgment…” Hebrews 9:27 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 speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul—a destiny which can be different for some and for others (CCC, 1021). 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—through a purification or immediately,— or immediate and everlasting damnation (CCC, 1022). “and after that comes judgment…” Hebrews 9:27 General Judgment: The revelation of the eternal destination of all persons at the end of time. Matthew 25:31–46 “those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn 5:29) 2 Thes. 1:5–10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body” (2 Cor 5:10). “and after that comes judgment…” Hebrews 9:27 The resurrection of all the dead, “of both the just and the unjust,” will precede the Last Judgment. This will be “the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” Then Christ will come “in his glory, and all the angels with him.