II. Dying in Christ Jesus
1005
To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must "be away from the
body and at home with the Lord."562 In that "departure"
which is death the soul is separated from the body.563 It will be
reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead.564
Death
1006
"It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in
doubt."565 In a sense bodily death is natural, but for faith it is
in fact "the wages of sin."566 For those who die in Christ's
grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can also
share his Resurrection.567
1007
Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course
of which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death
seems like the normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our
lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited
time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment:
Remember also your Creator in
the days of your youth, . . . before the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.568
1008
Death is a consequence of sin. the Church's Magisterium, as authentic
interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death
entered the world on account of man's sin.569 Even though man's nature
is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the
plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of
sin.570 "Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had
he not sinned" is thus "the last enemy" of man left to be
conquered.571
1009
Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered
the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he
faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's
will.572 The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into
a blessing.573
The meaning
of Christian death
1010
Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: "For to me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain."574 "The saying is sure:
if we have died with him, we will also live with him.575 What is
essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian
has already "died with Christ" sacramentally, in order to live a new
life; and if we die in Christ's grace, physical death completes this
"dying with Christ" and so completes our incorporation into him in
his redeeming act:
It is better for me to die in
(eis) Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him it is I seek -
who died for us. Him it is I desire - who rose for us. I am on the point of
giving birth .... Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived there,
then shall I be a man.576
1011
In death, God calls man to himself. Therefore the Christian can experience a
desire for death like St. Paul's: "My desire is to depart and be with
Christ. "577 He can transform his own death into an act of
obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ:578
My earthly desire has been
crucified; . . . there is living water in me, water that murmurs and says
within me: Come to the Father.579
I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.580
I am not dying; I am entering life.581
1012
The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of
the Church:582
Lord, for your faithful people
life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death
we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.583
1013
Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy
which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the
divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When "the single course
of our earthly life" is completed,584 we shall not return to other
earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once."585
There is no "reincarnation" after death.
1014
The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the
litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: "From a sudden and
unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord";586 to ask the Mother of God
to intercede for us "at the hour of our death" in the Hail Mary; and
to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death.
Every action of yours, every
thought, should be those of one who expects to die before the day is out. Death
would have no great terrors for you if you had a quiet conscience .... Then why
not keep clear of sin instead of running away from death? If you aren't fit to
face death today, it's very unlikely you will be tomorrow ....587
Praised are you, my Lord, for our sister bodily Death,
from whom no living man can
escape.
Woe on those who will die in
mortal sin!
Blessed are they who will be
found in your most holy will,
for the second death will not
harm them.588
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