When We die! What's Next?

When We die!  What’s Next?

A question that leaves many in a stupor since we all know what happens the moment we take our last breath.  Really?  Well where in the bible can we find any assurance of what actually occurs to our soul or where does our spirit go at that instant?

Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming.  The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce duality into the soul.  “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.  (CCC 367).

The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God.  (CCC 368).

But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.  (Mt 27: 50).  When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.”  And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.  (Jn 19: 30).

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him away from their sight.  (Acts 1: 6 - 8).

Neither the two descriptions of the last words of Jesus just before he died nor the final teaching from Acts gives us any more of a hint of what happened to him or what will occur with each of us as we take our final breath.  

Separation of soul and body:  “To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  In that “departure” which is death the soul is separated from the body.  It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead. 

(CCC 1005).

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 limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment.  (CCC 1007).

By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible        life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul.  Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise on the last day.  (CCC 1016). 

Theologically we can derive what occurs when our earthly life ends, but what about the strange events that seem to plague our confusion when encountering visions and perhaps voices that do not belong within our normal understanding? 

When our son, Paul, passed away it wasn’t very long that we were awakened late at night by the window air-conditioner turning on.  It was not set to automatically start by setting the thermostat to function like that.  We felt that Paul was letting us know he was still around.  A former pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral retired to St. Bernard parish in Mt. Lebanon.  It was noted by office staff members that Fr. Vanyo appeared once in a while walking around in the office.  He had passed away just recently from before those incidents.

I wrote before about seeing someone at night looking at me at night as if to ask for prayers.  This was acknowledged by my wife also seeing someone at night as she got up to use the bathroom.  

In the book “Purgatory” there is a story about a priest who had passed away who was seen walking around the church and frightening parishioners who saw him.   When asked why he was still around he replied he needed masses to be said for him to release his person from purgatory.  

What is going on with Paul, Fr. Vanyo, and this particular pastor that is still here on our planet?  We cannot explain these events, but to be sure their excursions of either appearing or causing abnormal events to occur prove that there is more than just reaching heaven immediately after human death.  

There is more to death than meets the eye.   It is not a fearful event, but know that Christ is still our Savior and until we are ready for the Beatific Vision, belief in the life ahead is perfect with the grace of God, here and after our passing away. 

Ralph B. Hathaway