Chapter 24 – Life after Death

Posted on 02/24/2019 by Dick Landkamer

Chapter 24: Life after Death

  1. Our Present State and Our Impending Death
    • Death: Separation of Body and Soul
      • In this life we are, at any given moment, in one of three possible states (336-2):
        • First: Our will is wholly united to the will of God by a habitual choosing of God over self (336-2).
        • Second: Our will is partially united to the will of God, but it also acts selfishly in pursuing its desires for some small matters that are contrary to God’s will (336-2).
          • For example, we may decide that we don’t have to abide by apparently “victimless” laws, such as copyright laws, or speed limit laws, or we may inordinately pursue pleasures that are morally lawful only in moderation.
        • Third: Our will is wholly separated from the will of God through our willful participation in a serious matter that is contrary to God’s law (e.g., murder, adultery) (336-2).
      • Eventually, the time will come “when the body can no longer respond to the life giving energy of the soul. That, precisely, is death” (336-2).
        • Recall that with the body and soul the movement of life is unidirectional and the origin of that life is in the soul. That is, the soul gives life to the body; the body does not give life to the soul.
      • As a result, death does not mean the end of life; rather, it means the body, a lifeless material thing on its own, can no longer respond to the life giving energy of the soul. At this point, the body and soul separate with the body eventually dissolving into the fundamental elements of which it consisted (336-3).
      • The soul, being a spirit, is immortal; its life continues after the separation of body and soul (336-3).
      • Recall that the intellect and will reside in the soul; thus, the separation of body and soul does not bring an end to the operations of the intellect and will (337-1).
      • The question, then, is what state does the soul find itself in after separation from the body?
        • The answer is that it finds itself in the same moral state that it possessed at the moment of death (337-1).
    • Excursus: A Closer Look at the Moment of Death
      • Note: The material in this section is taken largely from Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange’s “Life Everlasting.”
      • We read in Scripture: “If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie” (Eccles 11:3).
      • As stated earlier, death does not bring about the end of a person’s life, for the soul is immortal. But it does bring about a change in the operation of the intellect because the intellect has been freed from the limitations of the body. Consider the following:
        • Jesus concludes His discussion with the Sadducees regarding marriage in the afterlife by saying: “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30).
      • Since we will be like angels, it follows that our intellects will operate in the way that the intellects of angels operate because, at the moment of death, we become spirits without bodies.
        • Recall from chapter 13 that “the nature of [the angel’s] ideas, at once universal and concrete, make the angel’s knowledge intuitive, not in any way successive and discursive. He sees at a glance the particular in the universal, the conclusion in the principle, the means in the end” (LaGrange, “Reality,” c. 23, p. 167; also see Summa I, q. 58, a.3).
        • Thus, an angel, once presented with a sufficient degree of information on a particular topic, immediately arrives at a conclusion as well as a definitive orientation of the will regarding that topic.
          • In the absence of additional information, it is impossible for the angel to change the direction of his will on that topic, for there is no new information that would bring about such a change.
      • When a man dies, the soul begins to live in an angelic mode, for the man’s lifeless body is no longer united to the soul. At that moment, his intellect begins to operate in the angelic manner.
        • “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk 12:25).
      • Let us look at the two “sides” of the moment of death, the approaching side and the departing side. On the approaching side, a man has had his entire life to set the direction of his will. That direction is set, prior to the moment of death, but it is not fixed.
        • At the moment of death, with the separation of body and soul, the soul’s mode of operation immediately changes to an angel-like mode.
        • The intellect has already been provided with sufficient information regarding the salvation of the soul; there is nothing else with which to inform the will on that subject.
        • Hence, the direction of the will is fixed on the “departing” side of the moment of death in the direction it had been set on the “approaching” side of the moment of death.
      • Because the soul possessed, at the moment of death, all the information it needed to make a definitive choice either for God or for self, there can be no future information that could cause the will to make a different choice because the soul has entered the angelic mode.
        • Note that the intellect is influenced by the will and interprets knowledge presented to it according to that influence. In the case of two souls presented with the same information regarding salvation, it is possible for one to choose God and the other to choose self over God.
      • Joseph Pearce’s near-death experience:
  2. Death’s Formidable Finality
    • The End of Wavering
      • If we die wholly separated from God’s will, our lot is immediate condemnation to the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41, 337-2).
      • If we die wholly united to God’s will, then we shall immediately experience the Beatific Vision, which means we will be in heaven (337-2).
      • If we die with at least a flicker of the supernatural life in us, but are not wholly united to God’s will, we will immediately attain salvation.
        • However, we will not possess the Beatific Vision until the soul has been purified from whatever selfishness remains in it (337-2).
        • “If there still are elements of self unsurrendered, then there is first cleansing by the suffering of purgatory, so that life may take possession of every tiniest element in our being” (337-2).
          • “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
          • “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
      • It follows from this that death is an end, but it is not an end of life; it is the end of wavering (337-3).
    • Three Possible States
      • In this life, we are not fixed in any one of the three moral states in which we can find ourselves (337-3).
      • We can pass from any one of these states to another by an act of the will. There is a myriad of objects competing for the will’s attention at any one time, “and to [this] ordeal so continuously exacting, the will brings different energies of acceptance and resistance” (337-3).
      • These various objects are all reducible to two categories. Based on their relationship to God’s will, they are either for us or against us (338-1).
        • “Mere pleasure in satisfying a sensual appetite cannot be a sufficient reason to make an action praiseworthy but it is sufficient [i.e., morally acceptable] if the action is permissible” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, III, 39)
      • The will, in its reaction to these objects, is always choosing one of two things: God or self (338-1).
      • Choosing God results in an increase of being because the act is a participation in reality undiluted, whereas choosing self results in a diminution of being because the act mingles reality with illusion” (338-1).
        • Recall that a creature’s degree of being is determined by its degree of participation in God’s existence, which is to say its degree of participation in reality.
          • From the notes for chapter 3: “Creatures receive being as a participation of the divine being, their essences [i.e., natures] limiting the degree of this participation” (Maurer, “Thomas Aquinas on Being and Essence”, 9)
    • Mortal Sin and Venial Sin
      • If the choice of self over God is in the area of a small thing that does not involve the “deliberate assertion of self as against God,” the sin is venial.
      • If the choice involves “a great thing, chosen with deliberation, then we have mortal sin. It is a definite choice of self as against God; it breaks the bond of love, and so empties the soul of life” (338-1).
        • “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent” (CCC 1857).
        • From chapter 14 notes: “Now sin comprises two things. First, there is the turning away from the immutable good, which is infinite, wherefore, in this respect, sin is infinite. Secondly, there is the inordinate turning to mutable good. In this respect sin is finite, both because the mutable good itself is finite, and because the movement of turning towards it is finite, since the acts of a creature cannot be infinite. Accordingly, in so far as sin consists in turning ‘away from something, its corresponding punishment is the ‘pain of loss,’ which also is infinite, because it is the loss of the infinite good, i.e. God. But in so far as sin turns inordinately to something, its corresponding punishment is the ‘pain of sense,’ which is also finite” (Summa I-II, q. 87, a. 4; also see article 5).
        • “A sin committed against God [i.e., a turning away from our last end] has a kind of infinity from the infinity of the Divine majesty, because the greater the person we offend the more grievous the offense” (Summa III, q. 1, a. 2, ad 2).
        • “Mortal sin is a turning away from our last end, is simply against the law, and is in itself irreparable, whereas venial sin is not a turning away from our last end, but a disorder in the use of means, and is rather beside the law than against it, halting us on our road to God. It is therefore reparable” (Garrigou-Lagrange, Reality, 290).
        • Note that guilt for the commission of an act that is objectively immoral is imputed to an individual only when the following conditions are met:
          • The act must be contrary to God’s law.
          • The individual must know the act is contrary to God’s law.
          • The act must be freely chosen by the individual.
      • It is not possible to define the precise point at which a sinful act (e.g., stealing) goes from being venial to mortal. But Sheed’s analogy makes the fact of the two types of sin clear (338-2):
        • One can passionately love his country but may still violate its laws by speeding or cheating on his income tax. These acts are clearly of a different magnitude than the act by which one goes over to the enemy in the time of war (338-2).
        • Similarly, there is a world of difference between the violation of God’s law in small matters and “the deliberate enthronement of self in God’s place” (338-2).
        • Nevertheless, we should not trivialize venial sins, for we put our souls at risk in doing so:
          • “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much” (Lk 16:10; also see Mt 25:21, Lk 19:17).
      • We may fall into mortal or venial sins, but we don’t necessarily remain in them (339-1).
        • Our venial sins can be forgiven by genuine contrition (339-1).
        • Our mortal sins can be forgiven by genuine contrition and the sacrament of Penance (339-1).
      • What this all comes down to is that the history of our lives is a series of oscillations that correspond to our falling into sin, venial or mortal, and being restored to grace (339-1).
      • Though the swings may be violent, there is a definite narrowing of the swing as one proceeds through life (339-1).
        • This is similar to the slowing down of a clock’s pendulum when there is no longer a force applied to the mechanism.
      • “The general movement [is] unmistakable” and by the time we reach the end of life, “[the] direction is generally fixed. [The will] loves God [at least to some extent]; or it loves self as against God” (339-1).
    • Death and the Particular Judgment
      • Sheed does not speak explicitly of the “Particular Judgment,” which takes place at the moment of death, but the concept is found in Scripture and it is a formal teaching of the Church, as can be seen from the following:
        • “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 [Purgatory] or immediately,—or immediate and everlasting damnation [Hell]” (CCC 1022).
          • “It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27).
        • “The soul begins to determine itself [with respect to its final destiny] by the last free act of the present life, and it attains this fixation immutably, in regard to its knowledge and its will, in the first instant after death. Thus, it immobilizes itself in its own choice” (Garrigou-LeGrange, “Life Everlasting,” 66).
  3. Hell – Everlasting Separation from God
    • The Existence of Hell
      • In the New Testament one can find three dozen references to hell using the following search terms: hell (or Gehenna), second death, eternal fire, unquenchable fire, furnace of fire, lake of fire, fire. There are many other references as well, using different forms of imagery.
        • “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Mt 25:41).
    • Death when the Will Is Exclusively Fixed on Self
      • Consider the case where the general direction of a person’s will has more and more tended toward the state where he exclusively loves self rather than God (339-2).
      • The absence of God in our lives on earth can be blunted by the various distractions and mind altering substances that are available to us (339-2).
        • “The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved” (Lk 8:12).
      • Because there are so many things to distract us in this life, it is possible for us to arrive at the end of life without having given serious thought to the fact that we have arrived at that unfortunate state (339-2).
      • “The mere multiplicity of life may have prevented the soul from seeing clearly either its own state or God’s majesty” (339-2).
      • “But once death comes, there is nothing to stand between the soul and its awareness both of itself and of God” (339-2).
      • The will that is fixed exclusively on love of self, necessarily sees God from that perspective. “Loving self totally, it can only hate God” (340-1).
      • The moment of death brings with it the moment of truth in which the will is fixed forever in the choice it has made during life on earth (340-2).
        • Heaven is closed to such a soul for two reasons:
          • First: It lacks sanctifying grace, which enables one to possess the Beatific Vision.
          • Second: Its perpetual hatred of God is a perpetual obstacle to the possession of sanctifying grace.
        • “In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin” (Sir 7:36).
    • Causes of Suffering in Hell
      • “In hell the soul is naked to its own insufficiency, with nothing to lull it or distract it. It is one aching need, turned resolutely and finally from the only Reality that could satisfy it” (340-2).
      • The soul’s definitive choice of self over God results in “vast suffering.” The reason being that “man was made for God, needs God therefore, and, in the absence of the God he needs with every fiber of his being, [he] must suffer as one always suffers from needs unsatisfied” (340-2).
      • The fourfold sufferings of hell:
        • Sufferings of the soul:
          • The soul experiences the perpetual loss of God. This is, by far, the primary suffering of hell. The only reality that can satisfy the soul is God; hence, the loss of God is the source of profound suffering for the soul (340-2).
          • The soul is tormented by an interior contradiction: The intense natural desire for God that is fully awakened at the moment of death is opposed by the soul’s horror of God that arises from its unrepented mortal sins.
          • The soul’s perpetual remorse. It regrets its sins because they are the source of its suffering, but there is no element of repentance in this regret.
        • Sufferings of the body:
          • The body experiences the pain of sense. It had a share in the soul’s sins, so it must have a share in its sufferings.
    • Hell: Not a Contradiction of God’s Love
      • “If we see [the reality of hell] only superficially, there is the illusion of nightmare – a sense of horror that God can treat man so cruelly” (341-1).
      • However, the reality is that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
      • Thus, “If Christ [‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8)] teaches hell, then hell is no contradiction of love” (341-1). God does not send either devils or men into hell. Rather, it is their own disordered free-will choice of self over God that deprives them of the Beatific Vision.
      • We should note that there is only one sin that can cause a person to go to hell. That sin is final impenitence, and “God, respecting the will’s freedom, can do nothing about it,” for the human will is inviolable by God’s design (341-1).
        • “‘Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.’ There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss” (CCC 1864).
      • Men go to hell because they desire a refuge away from God. Those who die in the state of final impenitence go to their place of refuge at the moment of death, as Judas apparently did:
        • “They prayed and said, ‘Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place’” (Acts 1:24-25).
    • Annihilation of the Reprobate Would Be Contrary to Justice
      • “If every mortal sin were punished by annihilation, all [mortal] sins would be equally punished” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 113), but this would be contrary to God’s justice, for some mortal sins are a greater offense than others.
      • “The obstinate sinner wishes his own annihilation, because annihilation would deliver him from God, the just judge. God would be thus constrained to undo what He has done, and that which He has made to last forever” (Ibid., quoting Lacordaire)
        • “[The Wisdom of God] reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and orders all things well” (Wis 8:1).
        • God created the soul with the property of immortality. If He were to annihilate condemned souls, He would be acting in a manner that would be contrary to the nature He gave them, for “there exists in everything the natural desire of preserving its own nature” (Summa I, q. 63, a. 3).
      • “Even on [the reprobate] mercy is still exercised, not to put an end to their sufferings, but to punish them less than their merits demand” (Ibid., quoting Thomas Aquinas).
  4. Purgatory
    • A spiritual “Law of Gravity”
      • “As a body, unless prevented, is borne to its place by its weight or lightness, so souls, when the bond of flesh by which they were held in the condition of this life is dissolved, immediately attain their reward or punishment, unless something intervenes” (341-2; Aquinas in IV Sent., dist. XLV, q. I).
        • Augustine speaks similarly using the idea of charity as a spiritual weight (341-2). However, this is counterintuitive because “weight” of charity is being equated to the absence of charity in the case of one who goes to hell, and an absence of something does not produce weight in the natural order.
        • A more intuitive metaphor equates weight to sins; the greater the number of one’s sins, the more one is weighed down. Thus the “heaviness” of one’s mortal sins can be seen as pulling a person down to hell, whereas the absence of sins can be seen as allowing a person to “float” up to heaven.
      • So the man who dies with his will definitively set against God’s will immediately finds his place in hell; on the other hand, the man who dies with his will definitively set in union with God’s will immediately finds his place in heaven (342-2).
      • There is a third case, and it takes us to the “something” that intervenes with the spiritual law of gravity: purgatory.
      • Those who die with their wills partially in union with God’s will have forever escaped the fires of hell. These are the souls who have some element of self unsurrendered to God (342-2).
        • They cannot, as of yet, enter heaven because “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
        • These souls are held back by unrepented venial sins, mortal sins for which one has not sufficiently repented, or disordered desires that have not been purified (342-2).
      • A person who is not in the transforming union at the time of death is assured of spending time in purgatory.
      • That there should be this punishment in purgatory is natural enough, for the “uncleanness” or defilement Revelation 21:27 refers to is that of assertion of self against God, and nothing more effectively heals self-assertion as “the acceptance of what the self shrinks from as it shrinks from suffering” (342-3; also see 437-3).
    • Eternal and Temporal Punishment
      • When one sins, he imposes upon himself temporal punishment, if the sin is venial, and both temporal punishment and eternal punishment, if the sin is mortal (CCC 1472).
        • In this life, sacramental confession takes away the guilt of mortal sin and the associated eternal punishment.
          • Mortal sin essentially does for the individual what it did for the human race. It creates an infinite debt to justice, and it creates an infinite breach between God and the sinner. Through the sacrament of Penance, the Redemption and Reconciliation brought about for the human race by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is applied to the sinner, so as to pay his debt and close the breach between the individual and God.
        • Temporal punishment can be taken away by prayer, penance, and charitable works.
        • Temporal punishment that has not been remitted prior to the moment of death will be taken away by the sufferings of purgatory.
        • The sufferings of purgatory are twofold (obviously, bodily suffering is excluded):
          • First, the suffering that results from the delay of the Beatific Vision, which is brought about by the soul’s full awakening to its intense natural desire for God at the moment of death.
          • Second, there is a “sense” pain experience by the “sensual” part of the soul.
    • The Experience of Purgatory:
      • “No happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise. And day by day this happiness grows” (St. Catherine of Genoa, “Fire of Love”, p. 23).
      • “The souls in Purgatory endure a pain so extreme that no tongue can be found to tell it” (St. Catherine of Genoa, “Fire of Love”, p. 24; “Life Everlasting,” p. 174).
      • “Suffering in purgatory is greater than all suffering on earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 166).
      • “This final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031). The Catechism says nothing about what this difference is.
        • The Catechism is apparently referring to the difference that has already been described:
          • The pains of loss, interior contradiction, perpetual remorse and sense that is experienced in hell is certainly different from the delay of the Beatific Vision and the “sense” pain in the “sensual” part of the soul that one experiences in purgatory.
        • In addition, there is no hope of an end to the sufferings of hell. In purgatory, one knows that the sufferings endured will result in possession of the Beatific Vision.
      • “[Souls in purgatory] understand that the Beatific Vision is not for them. They would suffer more from that vision than they suffer in purgatory” (Ibid., 193).
        • This is analogous to someone going into the bright sunlight after spending a long time in a dark room. The sunlight would be painful to one who has not been conditioned for it.
      • St. Catherine Ricci “suffered forty days to deliver a soul from purgatory. A novice, touching her hand, said: ‘But, my mother, you are burning.’ ‘Yes, my daughter,’ she replied, ‘this fire is not seen, but it consumes like a burning fever’” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 166, 174).
    • Purgatory in Scripture
      • The “perfect” reference (“locus classicus”) is found in Maccabees (see below), where it speaks of the appropriateness of prayer for the dead. The Book of Maccabees is not found in Protestant bibles for this very reason, that is, it directly contradicts the Protestant innovation that there is no place of purification prior to entry into heaven:
        • “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
        • “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
        • “He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (2 Mac 12:43-46).
          • The practice of praying for the dead in Judaism is so ancient that its origin cannot be established. Logically, there is no reason to pray for the dead if they are in the terminal states of heaven or hell.
          • Jesus knew of this teaching. If it were erroneous, He would have been at fault if He failed to correct it. The verses cited above (i.e., Mt 5:48, Rev 21:27) show that He didn’t correct it because there was nothing to correct.
        • “Whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Mt 12:32).
          • This verse implies some sins will be forgiven in the age to come, that is, after this life, as in purgatory.
        • “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (I Cor 3:10-15).
        • “For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Sir 2:5).
        • “Like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them” (Wis 3:6)
  5. Heaven
    • The Beatific Vision
      • On entry into heaven the soul will immediately have the direct vision of the Blessed Trinity, which is man’s purpose, and will forever be in union with God (343-1).
        • This entry will occur immediately following the moment of death, for those few who attain the transforming union prior to death. For the rest, it will occur after the purifying fires of purgatory.
      • This direct and everlasting experience is called the Beatific Vision by which “we shall see Him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2).
        • The Beatific Vision is a direct intellectual knowledge of God; it is not a knowing by way of ideas, as is all knowing in this life. In the Beatific Vision, “God takes the place of the idea of God” that we have in this life (343-2; also see 176).
        • “For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. . . . For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor 13:9-10, 12).
          • The difference between a concept and the reality behind the concept is analogous to the difference between standing in front of a life-size picture of a lion and standing in front of the lion itself.
      • This ineffable experience of God immediately brings about a complete absorption of the will, which will is irresistibly drawn to God (but not coerced), seeing Him as He is. And “every power of the soul [is] utterly fulfilled in [this never-ending] contact [with God]” (343-2).
    • Totality of Happiness according to Self-Determined Capacity
      • The happiness experienced in heaven will be total for everyone, but that totality will be according to each person’s capacity as determined by our co-operation with grace in this life (344-2).
        • For all in heaven, the “will and intellect will be working at their highest, with no element in them unused or unfed” (344-2).
      • In terms of potential capacity for the Beatific Vision, Catholics have a distinct advantage over Christians who have abandoned the Magisterium and the sacramental system, due to our access to the fullness of Truth and our access to the supernatural Life principle of the soul via the sacraments (344-2).
        • However, this does not mean that the full development of one’s capacity will take place automatically, and it does not mean that a given Catholic will develop a greater capacity than a given non-Catholic (344-2).
        • The full development of one’s capacity typically takes decades of effort, and most resist making the effort required for growth to full maturity (i.e., the transforming union):
          • “Most people strongly resist growing from ordinary to heroic sanctity” (SSD, p. 268).
      • “But great or small, we shall all be filled. In our total contact with God, we shall be wholly happy and imperishably happy” (344-3).
    • Two Possible Misconceptions
      • There are two possible misconceptions about this being “be wholly happy and imperishably happy” (344-3):
        • First, one may feel that knowledge and love of God will not provide us with a genuinely substantial sort of happiness.
        • Second, one may feel that perpetuity is too long a time for us.
      • Regarding the first misconception, “the joys of heaven seem noble, of course, but definitely thin” in substance (344-4).
        • This may be likened to the small child who finds his toys to be an absolute delight and far superior to the adult occupation with poetry, science, mathematics, etc. (344-4).
        • Here the imagination plays a trick on us. Whatever the degree of reality that exists in the things that we enjoy in this life, it is a reality “borrowed” from God, who is the source of reality (345-2).
          • Recall that the reality of created things is a reality mixed with the nothingness from which all things were made.
        • In God, who is Reality and the source of all reality found in created things, the reality we will know by way of the Beatific Vision will not be mixed with nothingness; it will necessarily be immeasurably superior to any created reality (345-2).
          • A man who has spent his life drinking from a muddy stream might think that clear water seems a little thin – until he tastes it (345-2).
      • Regarding the second misconception, “One may feel that [perpetuity] is too long for us.”
        • “[This] error arises from a profound sense of the emptiness of life upon earth, combined with a notion of [perpetuity] as time that does not end” (345-3).
        • Regarding the “sense of emptiness of life upon earth:
          • The man who limits his concerns to selfish pursuits will have the experience, but not the realization, that genuine satisfaction is not to be found in selfish pursuits.
          • His continued pursuit of satisfaction in created things combined with his inability to find genuine satisfaction in them leads him to the frustrated conclusion that this world is void of any real satisfaction, and therefore void of purpose.
          • He leads himself to a state of ennui.
        • The erroneous notion of perpetuity arises from a failure to recognize that aeviternity, which is neither time nor eternity but something “in between,” is the proper duration of created spirit (whether in heaven, purgatory, or hell).
          • In this life “the body imposes its subjection to time so forcefully upon the soul that we have almost forgotten that the soul has a proper duration of its own” (345-4).
          • Such will not be the case in heaven. With the separation of body and soul at the moment of death, aeviternity will become our proper realm, even after the resurrection of the body, for we shall be “like angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30).
            • “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44).
            • A spiritual body has the properties of brightness, impassibility, agility, subtility (spirituality) (MCF, p. 171).
          • In the aeviternity of heaven:
            • There is no “distracting awareness of moments flowing away” (345-4).
            • This is no “weariness from needs or powers unsatisfied to make [the spirit] restless for change” (345-4).
            • “The soul’s . . . contemplation of the Blessed Trinity will be the dominating reality: its relations with the body . . . will not diminish [this contemplation] but [will] somehow fall within it,” as will its relations with angels and other souls in heaven (346-1).
    • Our Heavenly Companions
      • The soul living in direct contact with God via the Beatific Vision is not merged with God. It retains its own unique identity while, at the same time, being completely immersed in God (346-1).
        • We know from the lives of the saints that, even in this world, a person who is totally devoted to God does not, for that reason, become negligent of his earthly neighbor. In fact the opposite is true (346-1).
        • It follows, then, that the deep immersion of God resulting from the Beatific Vision “flows naturally into an awareness of all those other beings who are in the same loving contact [with Him]” (346-2).
        • In other words, in heaven we will be “linked together with the company of the angels . . . and we shall be with one another” (346-2).
      • We can only speculate on what these relationships will be like. What is more important is to grasp that we already have a true companionship with them here and now, for the souls in heaven and purgatory are still members of the Mystical Body and will be forever (347-1).
        • “They are not less with us for being in heaven, but more, because they are more profoundly in Christ, in whom we also are” (347-1).
        • This is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, which speaks of the Church Triumphant (the souls in heaven), the Church Suffering (the souls in purgatory), and the Church Militant (those of us who are still on earth).
      • “It was noted earlier that we do not join the Church for the company, but for the gifts Christ gives through it. But if we do not join the Church for the company, we do find ourselves in pretty remarkable company all the same” (347-1).

Chapter 24: Life after Death

  1. Our Present State and Our Impending Death
    • Death: Separation of Body and Soul
      • In this life we are, at any given moment, in one of three possible states (336-2):
        • First: Our will is wholly united to the will of God by a habitual choosing of God over self (336-2).
        • Second: Our will is partially united to the will of God, but it also acts selfishly in pursuing its desires for some small matters that are contrary to God’s will (336-2).
          • For example, we may decide that we don’t have to abide by apparently “victimless” laws, such as copyright laws, or speed limit laws, or we may inordinately pursue pleasures that are morally lawful only in moderation.
        • Third: Our will is wholly separated from the will of God through our willful participation in a serious matter that is contrary to God’s law (e.g., murder, adultery) (336-2).
      • Eventually, the time will come “when the body can no longer respond to the life giving energy of the soul. That, precisely, is death” (336-2).
        • Recall that with the body and soul the movement of life is unidirectional and the origin of that life is in the soul. That is, the soul gives life to the body; the body does not give life to the soul.
      • As a result, death does not mean the end of life; rather, it means the body, a lifeless material thing on its own, can no longer respond to the life giving energy of the soul. At this point, the body and soul separate with the body eventually dissolving into the fundamental elements of which it consisted (336-3).
      • The soul, being a spirit, is immortal; its life continues after the separation of body and soul (336-3).
      • Recall that the intellect and will reside in the soul; thus, the separation of body and soul does not bring an end to the operations of the intellect and will (337-1).
      • The question, then, is what state does the soul find itself in after separation from the body?
        • The answer is that it finds itself in the same moral state that it possessed at the moment of death (337-1).
    • Excursus: A Closer Look at the Moment of Death
      • Note: The material in this section is taken largely from Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange’s “Life Everlasting.”
      • We read in Scripture: “If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie” (Eccles 11:3).
      • As stated earlier, death does not bring about the end of a person’s life, for the soul is immortal. But it does bring about a change in the operation of the intellect because the intellect has been freed from the limitations of the body. Consider the following:
        • Jesus concludes His discussion with the Sadducees regarding marriage in the afterlife by saying: “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30).
      • Since we will be like angels, it follows that our intellects will operate in the way that the intellects of angels operate because, at the moment of death, we become spirits without bodies.
        • Recall from chapter 13 that “the nature of [the angel’s] ideas, at once universal and concrete, make the angel’s knowledge intuitive, not in any way successive and discursive. He sees at a glance the particular in the universal, the conclusion in the principle, the means in the end” (LaGrange, “Reality,” c. 23, p. 167; also see Summa I, q. 58, a.3).
        • Thus, an angel, once presented with a sufficient degree of information on a particular topic, immediately arrives at a conclusion as well as a definitive orientation of the will regarding that topic.
          • In the absence of additional information, it is impossible for the angel to change the direction of his will on that topic, for there is no new information that would bring about such a change.
      • When a man dies, the soul begins to live in an angelic mode, for the man’s lifeless body is no longer united to the soul. At that moment, his intellect begins to operate in the angelic manner.
        • “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk 12:25).
      • Let us look at the two “sides” of the moment of death, the approaching side and the departing side. On the approaching side, a man has had his entire life to set the direction of his will. That direction is set, prior to the moment of death, but it is not fixed.
        • At the moment of death, with the separation of body and soul, the soul’s mode of operation immediately changes to an angel-like mode.
        • The intellect has already been provided with sufficient information regarding the salvation of the soul; there is nothing else with which to inform the will on that subject.
        • Hence, the direction of the will is fixed on the “departing” side of the moment of death in the direction it had been set on the “approaching” side of the moment of death.
      • Because the soul possessed, at the moment of death, all the information it needed to make a definitive choice either for God or for self, there can be no future information that could cause the will to make a different choice because the soul has entered the angelic mode.
        • Note that the intellect is influenced by the will and interprets knowledge presented to it according to that influence. In the case of two souls presented with the same information regarding salvation, it is possible for one to choose God and the other to choose self over God.
      • Joseph Pearce’s near-death experience:
  2. Death’s Formidable Finality
    • The End of Wavering
      • If we die wholly separated from God’s will, our lot is immediate condemnation to the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41, 337-2).
      • If we die wholly united to God’s will, then we shall immediately experience the Beatific Vision, which means we will be in heaven (337-2).
      • If we die with at least a flicker of the supernatural life in us, but are not wholly united to God’s will, we will immediately attain salvation.
        • However, we will not possess the Beatific Vision until the soul has been purified from whatever selfishness remains in it (337-2).
        • “If there still are elements of self unsurrendered, then there is first cleansing by the suffering of purgatory, so that life may take possession of every tiniest element in our being” (337-2).
          • “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
          • “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
      • It follows from this that death is an end, but it is not an end of life; it is the end of wavering (337-3).
    • Three Possible States
      • In this life, we are not fixed in any one of the three moral states in which we can find ourselves (337-3).
      • We can pass from any one of these states to another by an act of the will. There is a myriad of objects competing for the will’s attention at any one time, “and to [this] ordeal so continuously exacting, the will brings different energies of acceptance and resistance” (337-3).
      • These various objects are all reducible to two categories. Based on their relationship to God’s will, they are either for us or against us (338-1).
        • “Mere pleasure in satisfying a sensual appetite cannot be a sufficient reason to make an action praiseworthy but it is sufficient [i.e., morally acceptable] if the action is permissible” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, III, 39)
      • The will, in its reaction to these objects, is always choosing one of two things: God or self (338-1).
      • Choosing God results in an increase of being because the act is a participation in reality undiluted, whereas choosing self results in a diminution of being because the act mingles reality with illusion” (338-1).
        • Recall that a creature’s degree of being is determined by its degree of participation in God’s existence, which is to say its degree of participation in reality.
          • From the notes for chapter 3: “Creatures receive being as a participation of the divine being, their essences [i.e., natures] limiting the degree of this participation” (Maurer, “Thomas Aquinas on Being and Essence”, 9)
    • Mortal Sin and Venial Sin
      • If the choice of self over God is in the area of a small thing that does not involve the “deliberate assertion of self as against God,” the sin is venial.
      • If the choice involves “a great thing, chosen with deliberation, then we have mortal sin. It is a definite choice of self as against God; it breaks the bond of love, and so empties the soul of life” (338-1).
        • “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent” (CCC 1857).
        • From chapter 14 notes: “Now sin comprises two things. First, there is the turning away from the immutable good, which is infinite, wherefore, in this respect, sin is infinite. Secondly, there is the inordinate turning to mutable good. In this respect sin is finite, both because the mutable good itself is finite, and because the movement of turning towards it is finite, since the acts of a creature cannot be infinite. Accordingly, in so far as sin consists in turning ‘away from something, its corresponding punishment is the ‘pain of loss,’ which also is infinite, because it is the loss of the infinite good, i.e. God. But in so far as sin turns inordinately to something, its corresponding punishment is the ‘pain of sense,’ which is also finite” (Summa I-II, q. 87, a. 4; also see article 5).
        • “A sin committed against God [i.e., a turning away from our last end] has a kind of infinity from the infinity of the Divine majesty, because the greater the person we offend the more grievous the offense” (Summa III, q. 1, a. 2, ad 2).
        • “Mortal sin is a turning away from our last end, is simply against the law, and is in itself irreparable, whereas venial sin is not a turning away from our last end, but a disorder in the use of means, and is rather beside the law than against it, halting us on our road to God. It is therefore reparable” (Garrigou-Lagrange, Reality, 290).
        • Note that guilt for the commission of an act that is objectively immoral is imputed to an individual only when the following conditions are met:
          • The act must be contrary to God’s law.
          • The individual must know the act is contrary to God’s law.
          • The act must be freely chosen by the individual.
      • It is not possible to define the precise point at which a sinful act (e.g., stealing) goes from being venial to mortal. But Sheed’s analogy makes the fact of the two types of sin clear (338-2):
        • One can passionately love his country but may still violate its laws by speeding or cheating on his income tax. These acts are clearly of a different magnitude than the act by which one goes over to the enemy in the time of war (338-2).
        • Similarly, there is a world of difference between the violation of God’s law in small matters and “the deliberate enthronement of self in God’s place” (338-2).
        • Nevertheless, we should not trivialize venial sins, for we put our souls at risk in doing so:
          • “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much” (Lk 16:10; also see Mt 25:21, Lk 19:17).
      • We may fall into mortal or venial sins, but we don’t necessarily remain in them (339-1).
        • Our venial sins can be forgiven by genuine contrition (339-1).
        • Our mortal sins can be forgiven by genuine contrition and the sacrament of Penance (339-1).
      • What this all comes down to is that the history of our lives is a series of oscillations that correspond to our falling into sin, venial or mortal, and being restored to grace (339-1).
      • Though the swings may be violent, there is a definite narrowing of the swing as one proceeds through life (339-1).
        • This is similar to the slowing down of a clock’s pendulum when there is no longer a force applied to the mechanism.
      • “The general movement [is] unmistakable” and by the time we reach the end of life, “[the] direction is generally fixed. [The will] loves God [at least to some extent]; or it loves self as against God” (339-1).
    • Death and the Particular Judgment
      • Sheed does not speak explicitly of the “Particular Judgment,” which takes place at the moment of death, but the concept is found in Scripture and it is a formal teaching of the Church, as can be seen from the following:
        • “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 [Purgatory] or immediately,—or immediate and everlasting damnation [Hell]” (CCC 1022).
          • “It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27).
        • “The soul begins to determine itself [with respect to its final destiny] by the last free act of the present life, and it attains this fixation immutably, in regard to its knowledge and its will, in the first instant after death. Thus, it immobilizes itself in its own choice” (Garrigou-LeGrange, “Life Everlasting,” 66).
  3. Hell – Everlasting Separation from God
    • The Existence of Hell
      • In the New Testament one can find three dozen references to hell using the following search terms: hell (or Gehenna), second death, eternal fire, unquenchable fire, furnace of fire, lake of fire, fire. There are many other references as well, using different forms of imagery.
        • “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Mt 25:41).
    • Death when the Will Is Exclusively Fixed on Self
      • Consider the case where the general direction of a person’s will has more and more tended toward the state where he exclusively loves self rather than God (339-2).
      • The absence of God in our lives on earth can be blunted by the various distractions and mind altering substances that are available to us (339-2).
        • “The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved” (Lk 8:12).
      • Because there are so many things to distract us in this life, it is possible for us to arrive at the end of life without having given serious thought to the fact that we have arrived at that unfortunate state (339-2).
      • “The mere multiplicity of life may have prevented the soul from seeing clearly either its own state or God’s majesty” (339-2).
      • “But once death comes, there is nothing to stand between the soul and its awareness both of itself and of God” (339-2).
      • The will that is fixed exclusively on love of self, necessarily sees God from that perspective. “Loving self totally, it can only hate God” (340-1).
      • The moment of death brings with it the moment of truth in which the will is fixed forever in the choice it has made during life on earth (340-2).
        • Heaven is closed to such a soul for two reasons:
          • First: It lacks sanctifying grace, which enables one to possess the Beatific Vision.
          • Second: Its perpetual hatred of God is a perpetual obstacle to the possession of sanctifying grace.
        • “In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin” (Sir 7:36).
    • Causes of Suffering in Hell
      • “In hell the soul is naked to its own insufficiency, with nothing to lull it or distract it. It is one aching need, turned resolutely and finally from the only Reality that could satisfy it” (340-2).
      • The soul’s definitive choice of self over God results in “vast suffering.” The reason being that “man was made for God, needs God therefore, and, in the absence of the God he needs with every fiber of his being, [he] must suffer as one always suffers from needs unsatisfied” (340-2).
      • The fourfold sufferings of hell:
        • Sufferings of the soul:
          • The soul experiences the perpetual loss of God. This is, by far, the primary suffering of hell. The only reality that can satisfy the soul is God; hence, the loss of God is the source of profound suffering for the soul (340-2).
          • The soul is tormented by an interior contradiction: The intense natural desire for God that is fully awakened at the moment of death is opposed by the soul’s horror of God that arises from its unrepented mortal sins.
          • The soul’s perpetual remorse. It regrets its sins because they are the source of its suffering, but there is no element of repentance in this regret.
        • Sufferings of the body:
          • The body experiences the pain of sense. It had a share in the soul’s sins, so it must have a share in its sufferings.
    • Hell: Not a Contradiction of God’s Love
      • “If we see [the reality of hell] only superficially, there is the illusion of nightmare – a sense of horror that God can treat man so cruelly” (341-1).
      • However, the reality is that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
      • Thus, “If Christ [‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8)] teaches hell, then hell is no contradiction of love” (341-1). God does not send either devils or men into hell. Rather, it is their own disordered free-will choice of self over God that deprives them of the Beatific Vision.
      • We should note that there is only one sin that can cause a person to go to hell. That sin is final impenitence, and “God, respecting the will’s freedom, can do nothing about it,” for the human will is inviolable by God’s design (341-1).
        • “‘Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.’ There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss” (CCC 1864).
      • Men go to hell because they desire a refuge away from God. Those who die in the state of final impenitence go to their place of refuge at the moment of death, as Judas apparently did:
        • “They prayed and said, ‘Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place’” (Acts 1:24-25).
    • Annihilation of the Reprobate Would Be Contrary to Justice
      • “If every mortal sin were punished by annihilation, all [mortal] sins would be equally punished” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 113), but this would be contrary to God’s justice, for some mortal sins are a greater offense than others.
      • “The obstinate sinner wishes his own annihilation, because annihilation would deliver him from God, the just judge. God would be thus constrained to undo what He has done, and that which He has made to last forever” (Ibid., quoting Lacordaire)
        • “[The Wisdom of God] reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and orders all things well” (Wis 8:1).
        • God created the soul with the property of immortality. If He were to annihilate condemned souls, He would be acting in a manner that would be contrary to the nature He gave them, for “there exists in everything the natural desire of preserving its own nature” (Summa I, q. 63, a. 3).
      • “Even on [the reprobate] mercy is still exercised, not to put an end to their sufferings, but to punish them less than their merits demand” (Ibid., quoting Thomas Aquinas).
  4. Purgatory
    • A spiritual “Law of Gravity”
      • “As a body, unless prevented, is borne to its place by its weight or lightness, so souls, when the bond of flesh by which they were held in the condition of this life is dissolved, immediately attain their reward or punishment, unless something intervenes” (341-2; Aquinas in IV Sent., dist. XLV, q. I).
        • Augustine speaks similarly using the idea of charity as a spiritual weight (341-2). However, this is counterintuitive because “weight” of charity is being equated to the absence of charity in the case of one who goes to hell, and an absence of something does not produce weight in the natural order.
        • A more intuitive metaphor equates weight to sins; the greater the number of one’s sins, the more one is weighed down. Thus the “heaviness” of one’s mortal sins can be seen as pulling a person down to hell, whereas the absence of sins can be seen as allowing a person to “float” up to heaven.
      • So the man who dies with his will definitively set against God’s will immediately finds his place in hell; on the other hand, the man who dies with his will definitively set in union with God’s will immediately finds his place in heaven (342-2).
      • There is a third case, and it takes us to the “something” that intervenes with the spiritual law of gravity: purgatory.
      • Those who die with their wills partially in union with God’s will have forever escaped the fires of hell. These are the souls who have some element of self unsurrendered to God (342-2).
        • They cannot, as of yet, enter heaven because “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
        • These souls are held back by unrepented venial sins, mortal sins for which one has not sufficiently repented, or disordered desires that have not been purified (342-2).
      • A person who is not in the transforming union at the time of death is assured of spending time in purgatory.
      • That there should be this punishment in purgatory is natural enough, for the “uncleanness” or defilement Revelation 21:27 refers to is that of assertion of self against God, and nothing more effectively heals self-assertion as “the acceptance of what the self shrinks from as it shrinks from suffering” (342-3; also see 437-3).
    • Eternal and Temporal Punishment
      • When one sins, he imposes upon himself temporal punishment, if the sin is venial, and both temporal punishment and eternal punishment, if the sin is mortal (CCC 1472).
        • In this life, sacramental confession takes away the guilt of mortal sin and the associated eternal punishment.
          • Mortal sin essentially does for the individual what it did for the human race. It creates an infinite debt to justice, and it creates an infinite breach between God and the sinner. Through the sacrament of Penance, the Redemption and Reconciliation brought about for the human race by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is applied to the sinner, so as to pay his debt and close the breach between the individual and God.
        • Temporal punishment can be taken away by prayer, penance, and charitable works.
        • Temporal punishment that has not been remitted prior to the moment of death will be taken away by the sufferings of purgatory.
        • The sufferings of purgatory are twofold (obviously, bodily suffering is excluded):
          • First, the suffering that results from the delay of the Beatific Vision, which is brought about by the soul’s full awakening to its intense natural desire for God at the moment of death.
          • Second, there is a “sense” pain experience by the “sensual” part of the soul.
    • The Experience of Purgatory:
      • “No happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise. And day by day this happiness grows” (St. Catherine of Genoa, “Fire of Love”, p. 23).
      • “The souls in Purgatory endure a pain so extreme that no tongue can be found to tell it” (St. Catherine of Genoa, “Fire of Love”, p. 24; “Life Everlasting,” p. 174).
      • “Suffering in purgatory is greater than all suffering on earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 166).
      • “This final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031). The Catechism says nothing about what this difference is.
        • The Catechism is apparently referring to the difference that has already been described:
          • The pains of loss, interior contradiction, perpetual remorse and sense that is experienced in hell is certainly different from the delay of the Beatific Vision and the “sense” pain in the “sensual” part of the soul that one experiences in purgatory.
        • In addition, there is no hope of an end to the sufferings of hell. In purgatory, one knows that the sufferings endured will result in possession of the Beatific Vision.
      • “[Souls in purgatory] understand that the Beatific Vision is not for them. They would suffer more from that vision than they suffer in purgatory” (Ibid., 193).
        • This is analogous to someone going into the bright sunlight after spending a long time in a dark room. The sunlight would be painful to one who has not been conditioned for it.
      • St. Catherine Ricci “suffered forty days to deliver a soul from purgatory. A novice, touching her hand, said: ‘But, my mother, you are burning.’ ‘Yes, my daughter,’ she replied, ‘this fire is not seen, but it consumes like a burning fever’” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Life Everlasting,” p. 166, 174).
    • Purgatory in Scripture
      • The “perfect” reference (“locus classicus”) is found in Maccabees (see below), where it speaks of the appropriateness of prayer for the dead. The Book of Maccabees is not found in Protestant bibles for this very reason, that is, it directly contradicts the Protestant innovation that there is no place of purification prior to entry into heaven:
        • “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
        • “Nothing unclean shall enter [the heavenly Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:27).
        • “He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (2 Mac 12:43-46).
          • The practice of praying for the dead in Judaism is so ancient that its origin cannot be established. Logically, there is no reason to pray for the dead if they are in the terminal states of heaven or hell.
          • Jesus knew of this teaching. If it were erroneous, He would have been at fault if He failed to correct it. The verses cited above (i.e., Mt 5:48, Rev 21:27) show that He didn’t correct it because there was nothing to correct.
        • “Whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Mt 12:32).
          • This verse implies some sins will be forgiven in the age to come, that is, after this life, as in purgatory.
        • “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (I Cor 3:10-15).
        • “For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Sir 2:5).
        • “Like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them” (Wis 3:6)
  5. Heaven
    • The Beatific Vision
      • On entry into heaven the soul will immediately have the direct vision of the Blessed Trinity, which is man’s purpose, and will forever be in union with God (343-1).
        • This entry will occur immediately following the moment of death, for those few who attain the transforming union prior to death. For the rest, it will occur after the purifying fires of purgatory.
      • This direct and everlasting experience is called the Beatific Vision by which “we shall see Him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2).
        • The Beatific Vision is a direct intellectual knowledge of God; it is not a knowing by way of ideas, as is all knowing in this life. In the Beatific Vision, “God takes the place of the idea of God” that we have in this life (343-2; also see 176).
        • “For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. . . . For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor 13:9-10, 12).
          • The difference between a concept and the reality behind the concept is analogous to the difference between standing in front of a life-size picture of a lion and standing in front of the lion itself.
      • This ineffable experience of God immediately brings about a complete absorption of the will, which will is irresistibly drawn to God (but not coerced), seeing Him as He is. And “every power of the soul [is] utterly fulfilled in [this never-ending] contact [with God]” (343-2).
    • Totality of Happiness according to Self-Determined Capacity
      • The happiness experienced in heaven will be total for everyone, but that totality will be according to each person’s capacity as determined by our co-operation with grace in this life (344-2).
        • For all in heaven, the “will and intellect will be working at their highest, with no element in them unused or unfed” (344-2).
      • In terms of potential capacity for the Beatific Vision, Catholics have a distinct advantage over Christians who have abandoned the Magisterium and the sacramental system, due to our access to the fullness of Truth and our access to the supernatural Life principle of the soul via the sacraments (344-2).
        • However, this does not mean that the full development of one’s capacity will take place automatically, and it does not mean that a given Catholic will develop a greater capacity than a given non-Catholic (344-2).
        • The full development of one’s capacity typically takes decades of effort, and most resist making the effort required for growth to full maturity (i.e., the transforming union):
          • “Most people strongly resist growing from ordinary to heroic sanctity” (SSD, p. 268).
      • “But great or small, we shall all be filled. In our total contact with God, we shall be wholly happy and imperishably happy” (344-3).
    • Two Possible Misconceptions
      • There are two possible misconceptions about this being “be wholly happy and imperishably happy” (344-3):
        • First, one may feel that knowledge and love of God will not provide us with a genuinely substantial sort of happiness.
        • Second, one may feel that perpetuity is too long a time for us.
      • Regarding the first misconception, “the joys of heaven seem noble, of course, but definitely thin” in substance (344-4).
        • This may be likened to the small child who finds his toys to be an absolute delight and far superior to the adult occupation with poetry, science, mathematics, etc. (344-4).
        • Here the imagination plays a trick on us. Whatever the degree of reality that exists in the things that we enjoy in this life, it is a reality “borrowed” from God, who is the source of reality (345-2).
          • Recall that the reality of created things is a reality mixed with the nothingness from which all things were made.
        • In God, who is Reality and the source of all reality found in created things, the reality we will know by way of the Beatific Vision will not be mixed with nothingness; it will necessarily be immeasurably superior to any created reality (345-2).
          • A man who has spent his life drinking from a muddy stream might think that clear water seems a little thin – until he tastes it (345-2).
      • Regarding the second misconception, “One may feel that [perpetuity] is too long for us.”
        • “[This] error arises from a profound sense of the emptiness of life upon earth, combined with a notion of [perpetuity] as time that does not end” (345-3).
        • Regarding the “sense of emptiness of life upon earth:
          • The man who limits his concerns to selfish pursuits will have the experience, but not the realization, that genuine satisfaction is not to be found in selfish pursuits.
          • His continued pursuit of satisfaction in created things combined with his inability to find genuine satisfaction in them leads him to the frustrated conclusion that this world is void of any real satisfaction, and therefore void of purpose.
          • He leads himself to a state of ennui.
        • The erroneous notion of perpetuity arises from a failure to recognize that aeviternity, which is neither time nor eternity but something “in between,” is the proper duration of created spirit (whether in heaven, purgatory, or hell).
          • In this life “the body imposes its subjection to time so forcefully upon the soul that we have almost forgotten that the soul has a proper duration of its own” (345-4).
          • Such will not be the case in heaven. With the separation of body and soul at the moment of death, aeviternity will become our proper realm, even after the resurrection of the body, for we shall be “like angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30).
            • “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44).
            • A spiritual body has the properties of brightness, impassibility, agility, subtility (spirituality) (MCF, p. 171).
          • In the aeviternity of heaven:
            • There is no “distracting awareness of moments flowing away” (345-4).
            • This is no “weariness from needs or powers unsatisfied to make [the spirit] restless for change” (345-4).
            • “The soul’s . . . contemplation of the Blessed Trinity will be the dominating reality: its relations with the body . . . will not diminish [this contemplation] but [will] somehow fall within it,” as will its relations with angels and other souls in heaven (346-1).
    • Our Heavenly Companions
      • The soul living in direct contact with God via the Beatific Vision is not merged with God. It retains its own unique identity while, at the same time, being completely immersed in God (346-1).
        • We know from the lives of the saints that, even in this world, a person who is totally devoted to God does not, for that reason, become negligent of his earthly neighbor. In fact the opposite is true (346-1).
        • It follows, then, that the deep immersion of God resulting from the Beatific Vision “flows naturally into an awareness of all those other beings who are in the same loving contact [with Him]” (346-2).
        • In other words, in heaven we will be “linked together with the company of the angels . . . and we shall be with one another” (346-2).
      • We can only speculate on what these relationships will be like. What is more important is to grasp that we already have a true companionship with them here and now, for the souls in heaven and purgatory are still members of the Mystical Body and will be forever (347-1).
        • “They are not less with us for being in heaven, but more, because they are more profoundly in Christ, in whom we also are” (347-1).
        • This is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, which speaks of the Church Triumphant (the souls in heaven), the Church Suffering (the souls in purgatory), and the Church Militant (those of us who are still on earth).
      • “It was noted earlier that we do not join the Church for the company, but for the gifts Christ gives through it. But if we do not join the Church for the company, we do find ourselves in pretty remarkable company all the same” (347-1).
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About Dick Landkamer

In my day job, I'm an IT Analyst (BSEE, University of Nebraska) for Catholic Charities of Wichita. Outside of my regular job, I have a passion for theology (MA Theology, Newman University), sacred music, traditional church architecture, logic, philosophy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and a host of other related things.
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