206. What does it mean to die in Christ Jesus? (part 3 continuation)
(Comp
206 repetition) Dying in Christ Jesus means to die in the state of God's grace
without any mortal sin. A believer in Christ, following his example, is thus
able to transform his own death into an act of obedience and love for the
Father. “This saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with
him” (2 Timothy 2:11).
“In brief”
(CCC 1018) As a consequence of original sin, man must suffer
"bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not
sinned" (GS § 18).
To deepen and explain
CCC 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" (Phil 1:23). He can transform his own death
into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of
Christ (Cf. Lk 23:46): My earthly desire has been crucified;… there is living
water in me, water that murmurs and says within me: Come to the Father (St.
Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom., 6, 1-
2: Apostolic Fathers, II/2, 223-224).
I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die (St. Teresa of Avila, Life, chap. 1). I am not dying; I am
entering life (St. Therese of Lisieux, The
Last Conversations). (CCC 1012) The Christian vision of death receives
privileged expression in the liturgy of the Church (Cf. 1 Thess 4:13-14): 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 (Roman Missal, Preface of Christian Death I).
On reflection
(CCC 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 (LG 48 § 3), we
shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once" (Heb 9:27). There is no
"reincarnation" after death. (CCC 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" (Roman Missal,
Litany of the Saints); 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.... (The Imitation of Christ,
1, 23, 1). 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 (St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of
the Creatures). [END]
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