Tough teachings: Death

We are in the Advent season.  Many think Advent is all about preparing for Christmas.  That is a small part of it, but the much more central theme to Advent, especially early in the season like this, is a preparation for something else. That something else is our death.  At our death, as we discussed last post, we will meet Jesus at our particular judgment.  In addition, also as discussed last post, Our Lord will come again at the end of the world and there will be a Last Judgment where our lives will be laid out for all to see.  (The two judgments could be at the same time if we are still alive when the world ends, of course!)  It is these comings of Jesus that is the real focus of Advent.   The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, despite it being an eternal event due to Our Lord’s divinity, has already occurred in the course of history.  We can prepare to celebrate it, and that will be the focus of the final week of Advent.   However, for the majority of the season, the focus is on the coming of Our Lord that will really matter for us eternally, his coming at the end of our own lives, and at the end of the world.

Because death is a time when we will meet Our Lord, it is something we need to think about often.  Saint Benedict said to his monks “Keep death daily before your eyes.”  The Catechism has a lot to say about death in its section on the topic (Part One, Article 11 2).  

1)      Death is a separation of the soul from the body.  Both go on!  The soul goes to judgment and from there to heaven, purgatory, or hell.  The body continues on, as well, in decay, but it does continue.   At the Final Judgment, it will be reunited with the soul.  So, really nothing ends per se at death.

2)      Death is the end of earthly life.    Death is a normal part of the cycle of life as is evident all around us in the rhythm of life.  Therefore, there is something normative or even natural about death.   This alone, the fact that it so natural, so much a part of our reality, leads certain urgency to our lives or at least it should.  We only have a limited time to bring our lives to fulfillment.

3)      Death is a consequence of sin.  God did not create us to die.  It is something that does not seem like it should exist, but it does.  Just like how we hate violence, and feel it should not exist, so too with death.  In the midst of all the beauty in the world, and the desire for life and goodness in us, it does not feel right that we should have to experience death.  However, we all do.   No one this side of the grave can offer a one hundred percent satisfactory explanation why that is the case.  It is, as with other elements of life, a mystery.  However, it is not a question mark.   The Church’s teaching on Original Sin (perhaps a topic for a future post) is the most logical explanation for the reason for death.   Death entered the world on account of man’s sin.  We choose to turn away from God, and bad things happen, death being one of them.

4)      Death is transformed by Christ.  Our Lord suffered death.  He could have avoided it because He was the eternal Son of God, and has rule over life and death. However, he chose not to in act of submission to the Father’s will, out of love for us.   Saint Paul, in his letter to the Romans (5:19-21), reveals that the curse of death is now a blessing because of Our Lord. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.  But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification^, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Death is not entirely a bad thing anymore.

5)      For the Christian, death is a positive thing.  Saint Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (1:21) says, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”   How is death positive?  The Catechism explains in paragraph 1010:  Through Baptism, the Christian has already “died with Christ” sacramentally in order to live a new life, and that if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death is the completion of this “dying with Christ”.  The life of Christ has been in us since we were baptized.  This includes his death!   So, in a sense, even though the senses say one’s natural life ends at death, in a real sense, the believer has already died.  The reign of his natural life ended at Baptism, and the reign of the supernatural life began.  One hears this phrase at funerals a lot, “In Baptism, (this person) died with Christ.  May he also now share in His Resurrection.”   The grace received at Baptism, and nourished by the other Sacraments throughout our lives, is more and more realized as our lives go on, and when we die, we participate in the most definitive self-offering of Our Lord, and with that, the grace of Baptism shines most fully!  This supernatural way of looking at death is not easy, and requires prayer and mortification to really experience, but is the deep true reality for the Christian who is in a state of grace.

6)      In death, God calls man to himself, and therefore, in a sense, we can desire death.  We have to make sure we interpret this the right way.   There are many things in life we can desire, but it does not mean we can seek them out whenever we want, however we want.  We do not want to actively seek death.  In fact, choosing to end one’s life voluntarily on one’s own is a serious sin.  Furthermore, it is not necessarily right to desire something right now, even if it be OK to say we desire it in general.  Desiring death, so we can be with the Lord is a good thought to have.  However, desiring death right now, or pursuing it in a wrong way, is not a good thing.  It means we are pursuing it for selfish reasons, not for the Lord.   For the Christian, though, beyond just being with the Lord, there is other reality about death, which we alluded to before, but did not state explicit. Death is our opportunity to share in the obedience and love of the Father on the part of the Son at his death.  Our Lord showed no greater love than laying down his life.  In a way, we can show no greater love than dying ourselves for a greater good, to win souls, and to indeed, be with the Lord.

7)      Death marks the end of our opportunity to work out our life and determine our eternal destiny.   There is no “reincarnation”.  There is no “do over”.  We have one life to live, and we will live it forever, first here, and then in heaven or hell.  We will not get a second one to live.  Therefore, we should always live our lives with the two realities we spoke of in our last post: that we will be judged on it at our particular judgment, and that it will be laid out for all to see at the Last Judgment.   May we keep this ever in mind, especially during this Advent season.

I believe I have already posted this prayer to Saint Joseph for a happy death in a previous post, but it is appropriate to post here again.   During this Advent season, when we should be thinking about our own death, it would be good to say this prayer often to good Saint Joseph, who is the patron of the dying. 

O Glorious St. Joseph, behold I choose thee today for my special
patron in life and at the hour of my death. Preserve and increase
in me the spirit of prayer and fervor in the service of God.
Remove far from me every kind of sin; obtain for me that my
death may not come upon me unawares, but that I may have
time to confess my sins sacramentally and to bewail them
with a most perfect understanding and a most sincere and
perfect contrition, in order that I may breathe forth my soul
into the hands of Jesus and Mary. Amen