42. Death
Part I: The Last Things of Man
DEATH
The doctrine on man’s eternal destiny is especially relevant today. Materialistic trends, setting their goals in the goods of this life, can completely erase from our minds any thought of the afterlife: the fact that, after death, man is destined to reach his definitive, eternal destiny. After losing sight of God,1 the next step is usually the loss of the sense of sin, which puts man in danger of eternal perdition. The question of our eternal destiny forces us to face a tremendous reality: the extreme alternatives of eternal salvation and eternal damnation. For this reason, the Pope declares:
Nor can the Church omit, without serious mutilation of her essential message, a constant catechesis on what traditional Christian language calls the four last things of man: death, judgment (universal and particular), hell and heaven. In a culture that tends to imprison man in the earthly life at which he is more or less successful, the Pastors of the Church are asked to provide a catechesis that will reveal and illustrate with the certainties of faith what comes after the present life: beyond the mysterious gates of death, an eternity of joy in communion with God or the punishment of separation from him. Only in this eschatological vision can one realize the exact nature of sin and feel decisively moved to penance and reconciliation.2
2. Notion of Death
Death is a fact of experience.3 We see people dying everyday, yet the real nature of death escapes us. We can observe only that, after a given moment, a certain organism is no longer alive. It seems to lose its unifying vital principle, and decays. Philosophically speaking, death is defined as the separation of body and soul. This wider and deeper insight transcends the mere experimental and sensible evidence. Since the soul is the body’s vital principle and the substantial form of man, this separation brings about the disintegration or corruption of the body, the material organism that, up to then, had been animated by the soul.
In Sacred Scripture, to die is “to depart” or to “be away from the body” (Phil 1:23; 2 Cor 5:8). These and other analogous expressions suggest that death is the dissolution of the unity in man, or the moment in which the soul leaves the body. The decomposition of the body is evident, but simple beings (those that are not substantially composed) like pure spirits or the soul cannot be dissolved or decomposed.
Death, understood as the separation of body and soul, pertains to the doctrine of the faith since it is expressly affirmed in both the Old and the New Testaments (cf. Wis 3:2; 7:6; Eccl 12:6–7; Phil 1:21, 23; 2 Tm 4:6; 2 Cor 5:8–9).
It is absolutely necessary to assert the survival and subsistence of the soul after death. It is demonstrable by reason alone, and has been repeatedly taught by the Church. The whole of eschatology rests on this premise. The Fifth Lateran Council (a.d. 1513) solemnly defined the spirituality and the immortality of the soul. It expressly recalled the formula used by the General Council of Vienna (1311–1312) against the errors of Peter John Olivi.4
After the separation of body and soul, the body decays while the soul subsists by virtue of its spiritual nature. Later on, we will study in detail the situation of the separated soul.
Since each human has an individual soul, which is created at the moment of informing the body,5 a person dies only once. There is no more than one death. We can, of course, use death analogically to refer to sin, since it causes the loss of grace, and therefore, the loss of supernatural life.
Common experience also shows that one dies only once. Moreover, the epistle to the Hebrews clearly states that “it is appointed for men to die once” (Heb 9:27).
On the other hand, we know that our Lord resurrected people, as in the case of Lazarus (cf. Jn 11:41ff). These were not the final and definitive resurrections that we will consider later. The Magisterium has not said anything on this matter, but most theologians hold that these deaths were only provisional in nature. It was as such that God ordained them to happen, since these people were destined to live again by a miracle, and later on die once more. Obviously, these were completely extraordinary and exceptional cases.
3. Cause and Origin of Death
The first question to examine is the reason for death. Divine revelation teaches us in no uncertain terms that “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things that they might exist, and the generative forces [creatures] of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them; and the dominion of Hades is not on earth” (Wis 1:13–14).
When God created man, besides investing him with the supernatural gifts of grace, he gave him other privileges. These are known as the preternatural gifts since they perfected human nature within its own order, yet they were not strictly demanded by nature itself. One of these gifts was the bodily immortality that Adam was meant to pass on, with life itself, to his own descendants. Even though man possessed a mortal nature, God destined him not to die.6
Material beings, like the human body, are naturally corruptible. Adam and Eve, therefore, would have been naturally mortal before original sin had God not granted them immortality as an additional and gratuitous privilege.
After sin, Adam lost the preternatural gift of immortality, together with all the other gratuitous gifts and privileges, both supernatural and preternatural. This loss affects his descendants as well. From then on, man had to die as a consequence of nature, since the body is naturally corruptible, and also as a penalty, part of the punishment involving the loss of the supernatural life and preternatural gifts or privileges enjoyed by our first parents.7
What followed from the soul’s rebelling against God was the rebellion and disorder of the appetites (fomes peccati) and the entry of death, the “wages of sin” (Rom 6:23), into a world that had been made for life. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” (cf. Wis 1:13; 2:23–24; Rom 5:21; 6:23; Jas 1:15),8 is thus the last enemy of man, which must be overcome (cf. 1 Cor 15:16).
The penal character of death is a dogma of faith that is solemnly defined by the Church when she condemned the following proposition: “Adam, the first man, was created mortal so that, whether he sinned or not, he would have died a bodily death, that is, he would have departed from the body, not as a punishment for sin, but by the necessity of his nature.”9
4. The Universality of Death
Death is universal; all men die, since they are descendants of Adam and Eve and, therefore, heirs of original sin.
This universality is seen in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom 5:12; cf. Gn 2:17; Wis 2:13–14; 1 Cor 15:22). The Council of Trent authoritatively interpreted the passages of Hebrews 2:14 and Romans 5:12, teaching that death is one of the consequences of original sin for the whole of mankind.10
The universal law of death—a consequence of original sin—does not have to be applied to the Blessed Virgin, who was conceived immaculate. The Church has always made an exception of Mary in the Magisterium regarding the consequences of original sin. Munificentissimus Deus, which defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, purposely left the question of her death unsolved. It affirms only that she was “immune to the corruption of the sepulcher,”11 but it does not say whether she died or not. Some theologians focus on her Immaculate Conception. Since the Blessed Virgin had no original sin and was full of grace from the moment she was conceived, she did not have to die. Others stress that, because of her singular union with Christ, she has an exceptional role in the work of Redemption; she is often called co-redemptrix. That close union would call for her to share also in Christ’s painful experience of death.
Moreover, St. Paul says that “we shall not all sleep” (1 Cor 15:51), and makes reference to some “who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord” (1 Thes 4:15). These expressions may mean that those who are alive at the end of time will not die. Among Bible scholars and theologians, however, “it is held with greater probability and more commonly that all those who are alive at the coming of our Lord, will die and rise again shortly after.… If, however, it be true … that they will never die the debt of death is nonetheless in them, and … the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since he can also forgive the punishment due for actual sins.”12
Seen as a consequence of original sin, death itself becomes meaningful. This eventually explains the baffling problem of the existence of evil in the world. Catholic faith teaches that God is not distant and arbitrary, but a God who comes down to earth to partake of the destiny of man—even death—in order to redeem him. Christ transformed death. Jesus, the Son of God, also suffered death—proper to human condition. In spite of being deeply distressed and troubled, Jesus took death upon himself as an act of total and free submission to the will of the Father. Jesus’ obedience transformed the curse of death into a blessing (cf. Rom 5:19–21).13
Christian death has a positive dimension. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Tm 2:11). In Baptism, a Christian “dies with Christ” sacramentally, to live a new life. If he dies in the grace of Christ, physical death completes his “dying with Christ” and perfects his incorporation into Christ in his redeeming action.
In this light, death acquires a new meaning: For man, to die in Christ is to participate in the Redemption (cf. Phil 2:7; Col 1:24).14
5. Death as End of the Time to Gain Merits
Death marks the end of the time to acquire merit; it is the end of the status viatoris, the time of trial. Right after death, one acquires the definitive state: eternal torment in hell, or eternal bliss in heaven—immediately or after a period of purification in purgatory. After death, there is no more time to change one’s mind, improve, or repent. The Profession of Faith proposed by Pope Clement IV to Michael Paleologus, who accepted it in the Second Council of Lyons (a.d. 1274), affirms: “If those who are truly penitent die in charity before they have done sufficient penance for their sins … their souls are cleansed after death in purgatorial or cleansing punishments [that is, in purgatory].… The souls of those who have not committed any sin at all … are promptly taken up into heaven. The souls of those who die in mortal sin … soon go down into hell.”15
Sacred Scripture illustrates this truth in many ways: the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19–31), that of the wise and the foolish virgins (cf. Mt 25:1–13), expressions like “Night [death] comes, when no one can work [win merits]” (Jn 9:4) or, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). This truth became especially clear on Calvary, when our Lord told the good thief: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).
After death, “there is no more space for repentance, no time for satisfaction. It is here where we lose or keep our life, where we gain our eternal salvation through the worship of God and the merit of faith. No one should feel that his sins or old age block the way back to salvation; as long as we are still in this world, it is never too late to repent. The doors of God’s pardon are always open, and entrance is easy for those who search for and come to understand the truth.”16 This aspect of death should impress a sense of urgency in our lives. We have only a limited time to accomplish our lives; thus, “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” (Eccl 12:1–7). The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death, to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us “at the hour of our death,” and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a good death.17
When the soul leaves the body, it permanently adheres to the object that is chosen as its last end at the moment of death. It cannot, and will not, change its choice any more. When death comes, the will becomes irrevocably fixed in good or in evil, in a state of conversion to God or rejection of him. Up to that very moment, one can choose between salvation or condemnation, though, ordinarily, a person’s final hour will be a consequence of what his life has been.
Sacred Scripture affirms in many places that, after having passed the frontiers of this life, no one can turn back (cf. Eccl 11:3; Mt 25:46; Lk 16:26; Gal 6:10; Jn 9:4). The Fathers of the Church also unanimously affirm this.
There is a theological explanation for this. The separated soul is a pure spirit; it no longer depends on the fickleness of the imagination and the senses. Consequently, it adheres to its chosen end in an unchangeable manner.
Theologians unanimously acknowledge that the ultimate reason why death ends the time of trial is that God himself has established it thus. His providence requires man to merit his last end. Neither the body alone nor the separated soul are meant to give moral actions a transcendent value; it is the whole human nature—body and soul—that performs meritorious actions. Consequently, it is reasonable for the time of trial—during which merit and sin are possible—to end when the body and the soul separate from each other.
Some people speak about reincarnation, meaning that, after death, the soul can inform a new body, starting a new existence on earth. This hypothesis is typical of non-Christian cultures. It openly contradicts the doctrine of faith, which teaches that the soul, being the substantial form of the body,18 can be the substantial form of only one subject. This means that each person has his own soul,19 which does not exist prior to its informing the body.20 Reincarnation or metempsychosis is an erroneous doctrine, since it maintains that a soul can successively animate several bodies. It also contradicts right reason, which shows the union between body and soul to be verifiable through experience. That unity cannot be founded on either body or soul alone, for this would imply that the body and the soul—both complete substances in themselves—are joined accidentally, and not substantially.
6. The Condition of the Separated Soul
Christians must firmly hold the two following essential points: On the one hand, they must believe in the fundamental continuity—thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit—between our present life in Christ and the future life; on the other hand, they must be clearly aware of the radical break between the present life and the future one, due to the fact that the economy of faith will be replaced by the economy of fullness of life. Our imagination may be incapable of reaching these heights, but our heart does so instinctively and completely.21
Within the limits of prudence, we are in a position to make some statements about the condition of the separated soul, since we know its nature and operations.
Since the soul is the substantial form of the body, their relationship can be reduced to the composition of act and potency. No longer limited by a potency (the body), the separated soul is, in a sense, in a more perfect condition. However, since the soul is meant to inform the body through which it had acted, in this sense it is incomplete and less perfect than it was before.
Being a spirit, the separated soul performs the operations that are proper to spirits, since operations follow being.22 Obviously, it cannot perform sensitive operations because it is separated from the body and its senses. Nevertheless, it keeps all the knowledge acquired in life and can establish relationships, combinations, and comparisons between known things. It knows itself, and can reflect on or contemplate its own spiritual essence, for this essence is in itself intelligible and adequate to the soul’s knowledge. In the same way, it knows other separated souls and the angels, though, in the latter case, the knowledge is imperfect, because the angel’s nature far exceeds human intelligence.
On the other hand, the soul is capable of receiving intelligible species that are directly infused by God. These infused species allow the soul to acquire a knowledge that surpasses that attainable through the senses. This is especially true of the knowledge of God that is acquired with the help of the lumen gloriae.
The other operation that is proper to the spiritual nature is volition. Here, we have to distinguish between love for the end and love for the means. We have already seen that the separated soul adheres irrevocably to the object that is chosen as its last end at the moment of death; no further choice is possible. With respect to the means, however, the separated soul is still able to choose, but only between those means that lead to the last end that it has adhered to.
Lastly, the soul continues to be a subject of relations. Thus, it can establish relations with God, with the angels, and with the other separated souls. With the help of God or of the angels, it can also get in touch with those who are still living on earth, but always in accordance with the general laws of providence.23
Footnotes:
1. Cf. John Paul II, Ap. Ex. Reconciliatio et Poenitentia, 18.
2. Ibid., 26.
3. Cf. CCC, 1006–1019.
4. Cf. DS 902, 1440.
5. Cf. DS 403, 657, 1440.
6. Cf. CCC, 1008.
7. Cf. ST, II-II, q. 164, a. 1, ad 1.
8. GS, 18.
9. DS 222.
10. Cf. DS 1511–1512.
11. DS 3902.
12. ST, II-II, q. 81, a. 3 ad 1.
13. Cf. CCC, 1009.
14. Cf. Ibid., 1009–1012.
15. DS 856–858.
16. St. Cyprian, Ad Demetrianum, 25.
17. Cf. CCC, 1007; 1013–1014.
18. Cf. DS 902, 1440, 2828; CCC, 1013.
19. Cf. DS 657.
20. Cf. DS 403.
21. Cf. CCC, 366, 1005.
22. Cf. DS 3223.
23. Cf. ST, Suppl. q. 69, a. 3.
DEATH
The doctrine on man’s eternal destiny is especially relevant today. Materialistic trends, setting their goals in the goods of this life, can completely erase from our minds any thought of the afterlife: the fact that, after death, man is destined to reach his definitive, eternal destiny. After losing sight of God,1 the next step is usually the loss of the sense of sin, which puts man in danger of eternal perdition. The question of our eternal destiny forces us to face a tremendous reality: the extreme alternatives of eternal salvation and eternal damnation. For this reason, the Pope declares:
Nor can the Church omit, without serious mutilation of her essential message, a constant catechesis on what traditional Christian language calls the four last things of man: death, judgment (universal and particular), hell and heaven. In a culture that tends to imprison man in the earthly life at which he is more or less successful, the Pastors of the Church are asked to provide a catechesis that will reveal and illustrate with the certainties of faith what comes after the present life: beyond the mysterious gates of death, an eternity of joy in communion with God or the punishment of separation from him. Only in this eschatological vision can one realize the exact nature of sin and feel decisively moved to penance and reconciliation.2
2. Notion of Death
Death is a fact of experience.3 We see people dying everyday, yet the real nature of death escapes us. We can observe only that, after a given moment, a certain organism is no longer alive. It seems to lose its unifying vital principle, and decays. Philosophically speaking, death is defined as the separation of body and soul. This wider and deeper insight transcends the mere experimental and sensible evidence. Since the soul is the body’s vital principle and the substantial form of man, this separation brings about the disintegration or corruption of the body, the material organism that, up to then, had been animated by the soul.
In Sacred Scripture, to die is “to depart” or to “be away from the body” (Phil 1:23; 2 Cor 5:8). These and other analogous expressions suggest that death is the dissolution of the unity in man, or the moment in which the soul leaves the body. The decomposition of the body is evident, but simple beings (those that are not substantially composed) like pure spirits or the soul cannot be dissolved or decomposed.
Death, understood as the separation of body and soul, pertains to the doctrine of the faith since it is expressly affirmed in both the Old and the New Testaments (cf. Wis 3:2; 7:6; Eccl 12:6–7; Phil 1:21, 23; 2 Tm 4:6; 2 Cor 5:8–9).
It is absolutely necessary to assert the survival and subsistence of the soul after death. It is demonstrable by reason alone, and has been repeatedly taught by the Church. The whole of eschatology rests on this premise. The Fifth Lateran Council (a.d. 1513) solemnly defined the spirituality and the immortality of the soul. It expressly recalled the formula used by the General Council of Vienna (1311–1312) against the errors of Peter John Olivi.4
After the separation of body and soul, the body decays while the soul subsists by virtue of its spiritual nature. Later on, we will study in detail the situation of the separated soul.
Since each human has an individual soul, which is created at the moment of informing the body,5 a person dies only once. There is no more than one death. We can, of course, use death analogically to refer to sin, since it causes the loss of grace, and therefore, the loss of supernatural life.
Common experience also shows that one dies only once. Moreover, the epistle to the Hebrews clearly states that “it is appointed for men to die once” (Heb 9:27).
On the other hand, we know that our Lord resurrected people, as in the case of Lazarus (cf. Jn 11:41ff). These were not the final and definitive resurrections that we will consider later. The Magisterium has not said anything on this matter, but most theologians hold that these deaths were only provisional in nature. It was as such that God ordained them to happen, since these people were destined to live again by a miracle, and later on die once more. Obviously, these were completely extraordinary and exceptional cases.
3. Cause and Origin of Death
The first question to examine is the reason for death. Divine revelation teaches us in no uncertain terms that “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things that they might exist, and the generative forces [creatures] of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them; and the dominion of Hades is not on earth” (Wis 1:13–14).
When God created man, besides investing him with the supernatural gifts of grace, he gave him other privileges. These are known as the preternatural gifts since they perfected human nature within its own order, yet they were not strictly demanded by nature itself. One of these gifts was the bodily immortality that Adam was meant to pass on, with life itself, to his own descendants. Even though man possessed a mortal nature, God destined him not to die.6
Material beings, like the human body, are naturally corruptible. Adam and Eve, therefore, would have been naturally mortal before original sin had God not granted them immortality as an additional and gratuitous privilege.
After sin, Adam lost the preternatural gift of immortality, together with all the other gratuitous gifts and privileges, both supernatural and preternatural. This loss affects his descendants as well. From then on, man had to die as a consequence of nature, since the body is naturally corruptible, and also as a penalty, part of the punishment involving the loss of the supernatural life and preternatural gifts or privileges enjoyed by our first parents.7
What followed from the soul’s rebelling against God was the rebellion and disorder of the appetites (fomes peccati) and the entry of death, the “wages of sin” (Rom 6:23), into a world that had been made for life. “Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned” (cf. Wis 1:13; 2:23–24; Rom 5:21; 6:23; Jas 1:15),8 is thus the last enemy of man, which must be overcome (cf. 1 Cor 15:16).
The penal character of death is a dogma of faith that is solemnly defined by the Church when she condemned the following proposition: “Adam, the first man, was created mortal so that, whether he sinned or not, he would have died a bodily death, that is, he would have departed from the body, not as a punishment for sin, but by the necessity of his nature.”9
4. The Universality of Death
Death is universal; all men die, since they are descendants of Adam and Eve and, therefore, heirs of original sin.
This universality is seen in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom 5:12; cf. Gn 2:17; Wis 2:13–14; 1 Cor 15:22). The Council of Trent authoritatively interpreted the passages of Hebrews 2:14 and Romans 5:12, teaching that death is one of the consequences of original sin for the whole of mankind.10
The universal law of death—a consequence of original sin—does not have to be applied to the Blessed Virgin, who was conceived immaculate. The Church has always made an exception of Mary in the Magisterium regarding the consequences of original sin. Munificentissimus Deus, which defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, purposely left the question of her death unsolved. It affirms only that she was “immune to the corruption of the sepulcher,”11 but it does not say whether she died or not. Some theologians focus on her Immaculate Conception. Since the Blessed Virgin had no original sin and was full of grace from the moment she was conceived, she did not have to die. Others stress that, because of her singular union with Christ, she has an exceptional role in the work of Redemption; she is often called co-redemptrix. That close union would call for her to share also in Christ’s painful experience of death.
Moreover, St. Paul says that “we shall not all sleep” (1 Cor 15:51), and makes reference to some “who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord” (1 Thes 4:15). These expressions may mean that those who are alive at the end of time will not die. Among Bible scholars and theologians, however, “it is held with greater probability and more commonly that all those who are alive at the coming of our Lord, will die and rise again shortly after.… If, however, it be true … that they will never die the debt of death is nonetheless in them, and … the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since he can also forgive the punishment due for actual sins.”12
Seen as a consequence of original sin, death itself becomes meaningful. This eventually explains the baffling problem of the existence of evil in the world. Catholic faith teaches that God is not distant and arbitrary, but a God who comes down to earth to partake of the destiny of man—even death—in order to redeem him. Christ transformed death. Jesus, the Son of God, also suffered death—proper to human condition. In spite of being deeply distressed and troubled, Jesus took death upon himself as an act of total and free submission to the will of the Father. Jesus’ obedience transformed the curse of death into a blessing (cf. Rom 5:19–21).13
Christian death has a positive dimension. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Tm 2:11). In Baptism, a Christian “dies with Christ” sacramentally, to live a new life. If he dies in the grace of Christ, physical death completes his “dying with Christ” and perfects his incorporation into Christ in his redeeming action.
In this light, death acquires a new meaning: For man, to die in Christ is to participate in the Redemption (cf. Phil 2:7; Col 1:24).14
5. Death as End of the Time to Gain Merits
Death marks the end of the time to acquire merit; it is the end of the status viatoris, the time of trial. Right after death, one acquires the definitive state: eternal torment in hell, or eternal bliss in heaven—immediately or after a period of purification in purgatory. After death, there is no more time to change one’s mind, improve, or repent. The Profession of Faith proposed by Pope Clement IV to Michael Paleologus, who accepted it in the Second Council of Lyons (a.d. 1274), affirms: “If those who are truly penitent die in charity before they have done sufficient penance for their sins … their souls are cleansed after death in purgatorial or cleansing punishments [that is, in purgatory].… The souls of those who have not committed any sin at all … are promptly taken up into heaven. The souls of those who die in mortal sin … soon go down into hell.”15
Sacred Scripture illustrates this truth in many ways: the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19–31), that of the wise and the foolish virgins (cf. Mt 25:1–13), expressions like “Night [death] comes, when no one can work [win merits]” (Jn 9:4) or, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). This truth became especially clear on Calvary, when our Lord told the good thief: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).
After death, “there is no more space for repentance, no time for satisfaction. It is here where we lose or keep our life, where we gain our eternal salvation through the worship of God and the merit of faith. No one should feel that his sins or old age block the way back to salvation; as long as we are still in this world, it is never too late to repent. The doors of God’s pardon are always open, and entrance is easy for those who search for and come to understand the truth.”16 This aspect of death should impress a sense of urgency in our lives. We have only a limited time to accomplish our lives; thus, “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” (Eccl 12:1–7). The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death, to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us “at the hour of our death,” and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a good death.17
When the soul leaves the body, it permanently adheres to the object that is chosen as its last end at the moment of death. It cannot, and will not, change its choice any more. When death comes, the will becomes irrevocably fixed in good or in evil, in a state of conversion to God or rejection of him. Up to that very moment, one can choose between salvation or condemnation, though, ordinarily, a person’s final hour will be a consequence of what his life has been.
Sacred Scripture affirms in many places that, after having passed the frontiers of this life, no one can turn back (cf. Eccl 11:3; Mt 25:46; Lk 16:26; Gal 6:10; Jn 9:4). The Fathers of the Church also unanimously affirm this.
There is a theological explanation for this. The separated soul is a pure spirit; it no longer depends on the fickleness of the imagination and the senses. Consequently, it adheres to its chosen end in an unchangeable manner.
Theologians unanimously acknowledge that the ultimate reason why death ends the time of trial is that God himself has established it thus. His providence requires man to merit his last end. Neither the body alone nor the separated soul are meant to give moral actions a transcendent value; it is the whole human nature—body and soul—that performs meritorious actions. Consequently, it is reasonable for the time of trial—during which merit and sin are possible—to end when the body and the soul separate from each other.
Some people speak about reincarnation, meaning that, after death, the soul can inform a new body, starting a new existence on earth. This hypothesis is typical of non-Christian cultures. It openly contradicts the doctrine of faith, which teaches that the soul, being the substantial form of the body,18 can be the substantial form of only one subject. This means that each person has his own soul,19 which does not exist prior to its informing the body.20 Reincarnation or metempsychosis is an erroneous doctrine, since it maintains that a soul can successively animate several bodies. It also contradicts right reason, which shows the union between body and soul to be verifiable through experience. That unity cannot be founded on either body or soul alone, for this would imply that the body and the soul—both complete substances in themselves—are joined accidentally, and not substantially.
6. The Condition of the Separated Soul
Christians must firmly hold the two following essential points: On the one hand, they must believe in the fundamental continuity—thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit—between our present life in Christ and the future life; on the other hand, they must be clearly aware of the radical break between the present life and the future one, due to the fact that the economy of faith will be replaced by the economy of fullness of life. Our imagination may be incapable of reaching these heights, but our heart does so instinctively and completely.21
Within the limits of prudence, we are in a position to make some statements about the condition of the separated soul, since we know its nature and operations.
Since the soul is the substantial form of the body, their relationship can be reduced to the composition of act and potency. No longer limited by a potency (the body), the separated soul is, in a sense, in a more perfect condition. However, since the soul is meant to inform the body through which it had acted, in this sense it is incomplete and less perfect than it was before.
Being a spirit, the separated soul performs the operations that are proper to spirits, since operations follow being.22 Obviously, it cannot perform sensitive operations because it is separated from the body and its senses. Nevertheless, it keeps all the knowledge acquired in life and can establish relationships, combinations, and comparisons between known things. It knows itself, and can reflect on or contemplate its own spiritual essence, for this essence is in itself intelligible and adequate to the soul’s knowledge. In the same way, it knows other separated souls and the angels, though, in the latter case, the knowledge is imperfect, because the angel’s nature far exceeds human intelligence.
On the other hand, the soul is capable of receiving intelligible species that are directly infused by God. These infused species allow the soul to acquire a knowledge that surpasses that attainable through the senses. This is especially true of the knowledge of God that is acquired with the help of the lumen gloriae.
The other operation that is proper to the spiritual nature is volition. Here, we have to distinguish between love for the end and love for the means. We have already seen that the separated soul adheres irrevocably to the object that is chosen as its last end at the moment of death; no further choice is possible. With respect to the means, however, the separated soul is still able to choose, but only between those means that lead to the last end that it has adhered to.
Lastly, the soul continues to be a subject of relations. Thus, it can establish relations with God, with the angels, and with the other separated souls. With the help of God or of the angels, it can also get in touch with those who are still living on earth, but always in accordance with the general laws of providence.23
Footnotes:
1. Cf. John Paul II, Ap. Ex. Reconciliatio et Poenitentia, 18.
2. Ibid., 26.
3. Cf. CCC, 1006–1019.
4. Cf. DS 902, 1440.
5. Cf. DS 403, 657, 1440.
6. Cf. CCC, 1008.
7. Cf. ST, II-II, q. 164, a. 1, ad 1.
8. GS, 18.
9. DS 222.
10. Cf. DS 1511–1512.
11. DS 3902.
12. ST, II-II, q. 81, a. 3 ad 1.
13. Cf. CCC, 1009.
14. Cf. Ibid., 1009–1012.
15. DS 856–858.
16. St. Cyprian, Ad Demetrianum, 25.
17. Cf. CCC, 1007; 1013–1014.
18. Cf. DS 902, 1440, 2828; CCC, 1013.
19. Cf. DS 657.
20. Cf. DS 403.
21. Cf. CCC, 366, 1005.
22. Cf. DS 3223.
23. Cf. ST, Suppl. q. 69, a. 3.