10/29/05
Dear Catholic Exchange:
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I am asking about what happens at the time of death from the Catholic way of teaching, and what Scripture do I use to support it.
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Melissa W. Sais
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Dear Ms. Sais,
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The human person is body and soul (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 362; Gen. 2:7). At death the body and soul are separated. This separation results in death to the body. Unlike the body, which can die and decay, the immaterial aspect of the human person lives on. After death, the person is in a temporary disembodied state awaiting the resurrection at the end of time. In this resurrection, even the body will ultimately be glorified and joined to the soul in a new way (Catechism, no. 366). (Please note that the Catechism provides many Scriptural references, pointing to those passages from which the Church gains much of Her understanding of these truths.)
At the moment of death each individual faces his own particular judgment. He is judged by God based upon the actions performed and the faith expressed during his life (cf. Catechism, nos. 1021-22).
Scriptural support for the Christian teaching of particular judgment can be found in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk. 16:19-31) and in Christ’s words to the good thief (cf. Lk. 23:43). Additional references include St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians in which he implies that death is the entrance to reward (2 Cor. 5:8, Phil. 1:23). Sirach 11:28-29 might also be read in light of a particular judgment, as can Acts 1:25 with the descent of Judas and Revelation 20:4-6, 12-14.
At the individual's particular judgment, he receives one of three different possible “sentences." First, if a person dies in friendship with God, he goes to share in the “communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed” in heaven (cf. Catechism, no. 1023-29). Secondly, if a person dies in God’s friendship, but still “imperfectly purified,” he undergoes purification in purgatory before entering heaven (cf. Catechism, no. 1030-32). Lastly, if a person dies in a state of mortal sin, having willfully rejected God, that soul descends into hell to suffer eternal punishment (cf. Catechism, no. 1033-37).
The Church teaches that at the end of time there will come the Last Judgment, in which all will be present and the “truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare” (Catechism, no. 1039; cf. 681-82, 1038, 1040-41).
The references to the particular judgment which all men undergo at death are few and far between compared to references of the final judgment and the Second Coming of Jesus — which very much lies at the center of the New Testament writers’ idea of salvation. In that day, Jesus Christ told us that He will gather together the sheep (the saved) and the goats (the damned) for the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-46).
The final judgment is really God’s final victory over His enemies, chief of which are sin and death and the devil who is the author of these. On this day, all those who belong to Christ will rise from the dead in resurrected bodies that can no longer die (cf. 1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4:16 ff.; Col. 3:4; Jn. 5:28, 6:44). Then will the reign of Christ and all his saints over a “new heavens and a new earth” will be consummated (1 Cor. 15:20-28; Rev. 5:9-10,21:1; 2 Tim. 2:11-12; Rom. 8:12-17). This final judgment, which theologians refer to as the eschaton, is really the hope of Old Testament Israel and is the thing to which all the Hebrew Scriptures pointed. Christ’s fulfillment of God’s promises to His people, seen provisionally in His own obedient death and resurrection, will on the day of the final judgment be perfectly realized in those who belong to Him. On that day, God will be all in all, and all the elect will see Him as He is.
For additional information, please refer to the following Faith Facts: Who Art in Heaven: The Dwelling Place of God, Purgatory, Hell: The Self-Exclusion From God, and Persevering to the End: The Biblical Reality of Mortal Sin. You may also wish to read from the related sections in the Catechism as noted in the text of this letter.
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United in the Faith,
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Kathleen Rohan
Information Specialist
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
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