Death
A lifetime in the blink of an eye
Imagine living to be a hundred. You could remember your childhood kitchen, the day you fell in love, and the first time a grandchild took your hand. A century holds all those memories, yet it still has a last morning. Eternity has no last morning. Even after a million years, life with God would have no end. That is the sense in which our whole life here is like the blink of an eye.
Saint James compares our life to a mist that appears briefly and then lifts. He says this to people who have already decided where they will go and what they will earn next year. His question comes close to home. Is there someone I keep meaning to visit or forgive? Today I can make that call. James 4:13–17
What happens when we die?
Catholics believe that at death each person meets Christ, who judges the life we have lived. The Church calls this the particular judgment. A person who dies in friendship with God enters heaven immediately or after the final purification called purgatory. The Church also takes seriously our freedom to refuse God’s mercy to the end. Christians look forward to the resurrection of the body when Christ comes again. Catechism 1021–1022
When someone we love dies
At the tomb of his friend Lazarus, Jesus wept. He had already told Martha that those who believe in him will live. Grief and hope have stood together in the Christian family ever since. When we miss someone, we can speak their name in prayer and ask that Mass be offered for them. John 11:21–36 · Catechism 1032