Where Are We Choosing To Go After Death?

In the book of Wisdom we hear, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For God formed man to be imperishable.”

Ok, what do you want to hear first? The good news or the bad news? When we’re talking about the good news of Jesus and his Church, the reality is that it’s all good news. The issue is that, depending on our point of view or how we are living our life, we might at times consider some sacred scriptures, sacred traditions, or teachings of the Church, to be (maybe not so much good or bad) but you might say easier or more difficult to live out.

Here's something I think we all can agree is a very good gift from God. The first book of Wisdom points out that God did not make death; he formed us to be imperishable. I know we rarely think of life this way, but the fact is that from the moment we are conceived, we are eternal beings; we will never die.  

The Catechism puts it this way: “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 is separates from the body at physical death, and it will be reunited with the body at the Resurrection of the dead at the end of time.” Now, this isn’t something new to us, right? As Christians and especially as Catholic Christians, eternal life and the Resurrection of the Body is something we hear about at every Mass. Even if in our daily life we don’t think of it this way, it’s the way God made us. He made us immortal.

So, let’s talk for a minute about eternal life. Normally, eternal life is something we only talk about at funerals, but it is important that we understand that we are living eternal life right now! Of course, our physical bodies will die, there is no way around that, but God made humans to be body and soul, and while our bodies will pass away, our soul is eternal. That’s why our belief in the Resurrection of the Body (in which we will receive a glorified body for eternity) is so important and is an essential part of being a Christian.

For all of us, the loss of a loved one, especially a mother or father, a husband or wife, a son or daughter, or our grandparents, these losses are some of the most difficult ones we will ever have to deal with in life. But when we have a clear assurance, by the life of faith that they lived that our loved is on their way to heaven, we should really be joyful. And while we should be concerned about those loved ones who we fear did not die in the state of grace, we should still pray for them. We must remember that our merciful and all-loving God had done everything He can to repair that broken relationship before the moment of death, calling them to himself, remembering that through God all things are possible.
When mourning the loss of a loved one, in our pain we may say or do things that, without realizing it, may be opposed to our Christian faith or put a limit on the love and mercy of God. For example, when my son Justin died 18 years ago after suffering with cancer for ten years, even though we were heartbroken, and his loss is still felt today, we weren’t in despair. We knew that he was with the Lord in heaven. We knew this not because we thought Justin was a good person and had earned heaven, (which we can’t), or because we thought he deserved heaven because of the suffering he endured. We knew he was in heaven because of the assurances of Jesus and his Church and the grace he received through the sacraments. Justin was Baptized, Confirmed, received the Eucharist regularly, and received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick many times and most importantly just a few days before he passed away. In addition, before he passed away, my wife Carolyn and I were blessed to be able to talk to him about his faith in Jesus and when discussing the possibility that he would die, he said to me, “I’m not scared Dad.” I pray that I am as well prepared as Justin when my time comes.  

But going back to things we may do or say in times of grief that may be counterproductive to our faith, I wanted to share a short story. After Justin passed, for a long time we went to the cemetery almost every day. From the number of gifts left on his headstone, it was clear that many friends and family were visiting often as well. One day I noticed that a close family member had left a plaque there with a quote on it. The quote on the plaque said this: “If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane I would walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.” I had seen this quote before and didn’t think anything about it. But as I read this while standing at my son’s graveside, I thought to myself, NO! I would not bring him back from heaven. He is in heaven, the place we all hope to be one day. Why would I ever want him to leave heaven? He is in the very presence of God himself. Bringing someone who is heaven back to earth would be the most selfish thing we could ever do. Now, the person who gave us this plaque gave it out of love for Justin and our family and only had the best of intentions. It’s just an example of how when offering our condolences to someone we should be mindful of what we say and do. Often, just a simple, “I’m very sorry for your loss,” is best.  

So, we’ve talked about the good news, the incredible gift of immortality God gives all humans, but here’s where the bad news comes into the picture.  Reading on a little farther in the Book of Wisdom it says, “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it.” This harkens back to The Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden of which St. Paul refers to in Romans chapter 5, telling us, “Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all have sinned.” St. Paul is referring, of course, to physical death, but this issue of sin also creates a potentially eternal problem for all of us. Sin can’t kill our immortal soul; however, unrepentant mortal sin will lead our soul somewhere worse than death and that place of course is hell.

Now let’s make one thing clear:

God does not, never has, and never will, send anyone to hell, period. 

Going to hell is not about us breaking rules or not being good enough. If we end up in hell, it will be of our own free will; it will be our choice. Just like it’s our choice every day to grow closer to God or separate ourselves from him. God loves us so much that he won’t force us not to sin, he won’t force us to pray, he won’t force us to love Him. God won’t force us to do anything. He gives us the freedom to choose good or evil. It’s our choice, even if the lies of the devil often confuse us in this regard.

The gospels tell us that Jesus has already overcome spiritual death, meaning separation from God, which is going to hell. It says, “Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life to light through the gospel.” Jesus has already won. The devil has been defeated; he just doesn’t want us to believe that he’s has been defeated.
  
So, the question that our life should be framed around is not whether we are going to live or die, because we know 100% for sure that we will never die. Our souls are immortal, and even though our earthly bodies will die, we know our body and soul will be reunited at the Resurrection of the Dead.  

The question that should be in our mind every day, the question that should be a primary focus during our short life here on earth is, where am I going to live for eternity? Because we will be alive. That’s it, where am I going to live for eternity? Will it be with God in heaven or with the devil in hell? That question should drive everything we do in this life, even though the enemy and the world tell us different, that question is all that matters in life.  

With all the busyness, strife, controversy, joy, love, happiness, and everything else we experience in life, keeping that question in our mind in all we do is vitally important, but it’s hard. We are so easily tempted, distracted, disillusioned by "here and now" needs. But Jesus has defeated the devil and God doesn’t ask us to be perfect. It’s like Mother Teresa said, God does not call us to be successful, God calls us to be faithful. God knows we are going to mess up, God knows we are going to fail, God knows we are going to sin. But God’s desire is that instead of us justifying our sin, giving up, and believing the lie that we are no good or can never change, he just wants us to turn to him, be sorry for our sins, reconcile ourselves with him through the Sacrament of Confession and then keep striving and fighting against those things in our life that draw us away from Him.  

When Jesus started his earthly ministry, he made a very simple statement about how we should live. In the gospel of Matthew, he said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The gospel of Mark records it in a slightly different way saying, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.”  So, let’s just start there, repent and believe in the gospel, and every day make a conscious and deliberate decision to follow that instruction more fully and to grow in our relationship with Jesus.  

We must approach the Lord in all humility and basically just get over ourselves, get over our biases and opinions and surrender our lives to Jesus, body, mind, and soul each day. We see the fruits of this type of total surrender to God when Jesus heals both the woman suffering from hemorrhages and the synagogue official Jairus’s daughter who was near death. In both cases, total surrender and faith in Jesus brought healing and life. In both cases, Jesus commends the miracle he performed to their total faith in him. This is a great example to us to never give up on God, to keep reaching out for his cloak in prayer, to keep pleading for the gentle touch of Jesus no matter what we have done or what are going though. As Jesus told the synagogue official when the people said his daughter was dead: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Each day, let us cry out to the Lord as Psalm 119 says, “Teach me your way O Lord, instruct me in your statutes, give me discernment, lead me in the path of your commands, incline my heart to your decrees, turn away my eyes from seeing what is vain, for I long O Lord for your percepts, and in your justice give me life.” Amen