A Christian Should Not Fear Death
November - a remembrance
We are now into the month of November. In Ireland, November traditionally marks the first month of the winter season. We celebrate All Saints Day on the first day of the month; and on the second day, All Souls Day, we remember our Dead. Both days were traditionally big days for Catholics in Ireland; sadly, however, with the decline of the Faith in that country, this is no longer the case.
Death - a Christian view
We know (or ought to know) as Catholics, as Christians, that death only marks the beginning for us, our passing into the next life. Passing from this mortal life into eternal life: ‘when we have shuffled off this mortal coil’ as The Bard puts it on the lips of Prince Hamlet. This life is merely a preparation for the next one.
As we say, the next life is eternal: it will go on forever. This present world is passing. The next life will not be a ‘nothingness’. Neither will it be a continuation of this present world. For those who make it to Heaven, who die in God’s friendship, it will be continually beholding of the face of God. The Apostle Paul [2 Cor 12: 2-4] seems to have had a glimpse of Heaven: it was so stupendous that he can hardly describe it.
Most of us will probably have to pass through Purgatory on the way to Heaven, simply to purge us and to cleanse us. And, no, we won’t even mention the Other Place!
– friar Solanus Mary OFM Conv.
In Part two:
the portrayal of death in literature & Death – our hope.
