The collaboration between the Shalom blog and His Excellency Bishop Raffaello Martinelli, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Frascati, continues.
His catechesis sheets accompany us during these days of prayer and reflection as we discover the meaning and significance of death.

Where does death originate?

“God did not create death” (Wis 1:13) as we experience it today. It entered the world as a consequence of the first sin of our forebears, Adam and Eve. It is therefore the “wages of sin” (Rom 6:23). “Death entered the world through the devil’s envy” (Wis 2:24).

What is the meaning of death?

Today there is a tendency to censor and remove this reality of human life. The mere thought of death causes anguish. By not thinking about it, people believe they can keep it away or overcome it. In reality, it comes inexorably, and it can come at any moment, at any age, and in whatever condition a person may be.
“We face a great challenge, especially in contemporary culture, which often tends to trivialize death until it becomes a mere fiction, or to hide it. Death, instead, must be faced and prepared for as a painful and unavoidable passage, yet one filled with meaning: that of the ultimate act of love toward the people who leave us and toward God, whom we are going to meet” (Pope Francis, Misericordia et misera, no. 15).

For every human being, death is:
• a sign of our being human: it belongs to the human condition;
• the end of earthly life;
• a door that closes one way of living in order to open another: it is not the end of everything;
• a reminder of the wisdom of living well within the time available to us;
• a way of bringing about a fundamental equality among all, beyond social affiliations, economic circumstances, and cultural abilities.

For Christians, death is illuminated by the Word of God, which offers us a light that enlightens and consoles. Death thus becomes:
• bringing an end to human life as a time open to accepting or rejecting the love of God in Christ;
• the beginning of eternal life, that is, the new and everlasting life that begins after this earthly life;
• an encounter with God, both Father and Judge;
• a possible way of expressing an act of obedience and love toward the Father, following Christ’s example.

It is precisely because of this Christian vision of death that Saint Francis of Assisi could exclaim in the Canticle of the Creatures: “Praised be You, my Lord, through our sister bodily death” (Franciscan Sources, 263).
Death is a kind of farewell. This word means: “To God… to entrust to God, to entrust to the Father… We must examine our conscience while thinking about our own departure from life. I too will have to say that word, farewell. To God I entrust my soul, my story, my loved ones; to God I entrust everything. Jesus, who died and rose again, send us the Holy Spirit so that we may learn to say that word existentially and with all our strength: farewell… Am I prepared to entrust all my loved ones to God? To entrust myself to God? To say that word which is the word of the son’s entrusting himself to the Father?… To God I entrust my soul; to God I entrust my story; to God I entrust my loved ones; to God I entrust everything” (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, May 19, 2015).
“This is our hope in the face of death. For those who believe, it is a door that opens completely wide; for those who doubt, it is a ray of light filtering through a door that has not quite closed all the way. But for all of us it will be a grace when this light, the light of the encounter with Jesus, enlightens us” (Pope Francis, General Audience, October 18, 2017).

What happens at death?

At death, the soul and body are separated. The human body falls into corruption, while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet God to be judged. It will be reunited with its body at the end of time.
“At death, the choice of life made by human beings becomes definitive: their life stands before the Judge” (Benedict XVI, Spe salvi, 45).
Pope Francis states: “The culture of life must look more seriously at the serious question of its ultimate destiny. This means shedding greater light on what directs human existence toward a horizon that surpasses it. We need to question more deeply the ultimate destiny of life, which is capable of restoring dignity and meaning to the mystery of its deepest and most sacred affections. Human life, beautiful enough to enchant and fragile enough to die, points beyond itself: we are infinitely more than what we can do for ourselves. Human life, however, is also incredibly tenacious, certainly because of a mysterious grace that comes from above, in the audacity of its invocation of a definitive justice and victory of love. It is even capable - hope against all hope - of sacrificing itself for this, to the very end. Recognizing and appreciating this fidelity and dedication to life awakens gratitude and responsibility in us, and encourages us to generously offer our knowledge and experience to the entire human community. Christian wisdom must reopen with passion and courage the reflection on humanity’s destiny to the life of God, who has promised to open to the love of life, beyond death, the infinite horizon of loving bodies of light, without tears” (Address to the participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, June 25, 2018).

What does it mean to die in God’s grace?

It means dying with the awareness that there is no mortal sin on one’s soul. It means dying at peace with God and with one’s neighbor. “This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him” (2 Tim 2:11).

How is it possible to die with Christ?

It is possible:
• by living as children of God during our earthly life;
• by frequently asking God for forgiveness for our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession);
• by receiving, if possible, the two Sacraments instituted by Christ for the seriously ill and for those who are about to pass from this life to the next: the Sacrament of the Eucharist as Viaticum and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

In his homily at Santa Marta (February 6, 2014), Pope Francis prayed to God to “grant all of us these three graces:
1) to die at home, that is, to die in the Church (at peace with God and with our neighbor);
2) to die in hope, with hope, that is, entrusting ourselves to God (in God’s grace, and therefore with the hope of enjoying the vision of God face to face);
3) to leave a beautiful inheritance, a human inheritance, an inheritance consisting of the witness of our Christian life.”
Pope Francis therefore urges us to leave our loved ones, at the end of our earthly journey, “as the best inheritance, faith: faith in this faithful God, this God who is always beside us, this God who is Father and never disappoints” (Homily at Santa Marta, February 4, 2016).
“Death is something that happens to everyone, sooner or later, but it comes… it reminds us that we are not masters of time… What inheritance will I leave as a testimony of life? It is a good question to ask ourselves. And so, we prepare ourselves, because all of us, none of us will remain as a relic. No, we will all go down this road. Death is also an advance remembrance: when I die, what would I have liked to do today in this decision that I have to make today, in the way I live today? It is an advance remembrance that illuminates today’s moment. To illuminate with the fact of death the decisions I have to make every day” (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, February 1, 2018).

How did Christ conquer death?

By destroying the cause of death, that is, sin, through his death on the cross and his Resurrection.
“The Church has always experienced this dramatic passage in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which opened the way to certainty of future life” (Pope Francis, Misericordia et misera, no. 15).

Tomorrow we will publish more interesting content on the subject of death on the blog, by His Excellency Bishop Raffaello Martinelli. Keep following us!
The material contained in this sheet is the property of Bishop Raffaello Martinelli, who generously allowed its free distribution through Editrice Shalom. All the content presented is taken from the collection “50+3 Current Topics - Fragments of Catholic Truth,” edited by Bishop Raffaello Martinelli.