Life after death
S omebody once said, “There are two things we cannot escape in this life — paying of taxes and death.” The truth about the first is doubtful because there are tax evaders, but with death, that’s a 100 percent certainty. No wonder, one funeral undertaker always closes his greeting cards thus: “Eventually yours”!
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying and Dr. Raymund A. Moody Jr., who published Life After Life, gained international renown for their remarkable study of near-death experiences.
Their findings relate a core experience of many patients who were close to death or clinically dead.
They recounted how they were outside of their bodies, communicating with deceased loved ones, and gliding down a dark tunnel toward a lustrous light. They didn’t want to return to earth anymore—not because they had enemies or unpaid debts—but because they experienced indescribable bliss, peace and serenity. Although there are variations in the accounts, the responses were always similar.
Life after death and immortality are bedrock of Christian faith based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
In the conversation between Jesus and Martha on the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus declares: “Your brother will rise to life.” (John 11,23). Martha replies: “I know he will rise on the last day.”
The Lord continues: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will live” (vv. 25-26).
To further bolster belief in life after death, Jesus said at the Last Supper: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions... I am going to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14,2). (By “mansions,” Jesus didn’t mean, of course, the ill-gotten mansions of quick-rich people).
EXISTENCE OF PURGATORY. The Catholic belief of praying for the dead on All Souls’ Day automatically includes belief in the existence of purgatory. It would be useless to pray and make sacrifices for the dead because saints in heaven need no help, and those in hell are beyond deliverance.
The belief in purgatory, which is specifically a Catholic teaching and included in the Catholic Creed, says that those who die in friendship and grace with God but who are not perfectly purified are detained and purified there. This particular teaching has solid Biblical basis. In 2 Maccabees 12, we read of Judas’ act of collecting money to provide for a sin offering for his fallen men.
In his letter, St. John writes, “Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin is deadly (1 Jn 5,17).
Reason and common sense demand belief in the existence of purgatory. For instance, stealing P10 from an ordinary teacher is not as grave as stealing P50,000 from her.
HEAVENLY TREASURES. Our Lord said, “Store up treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth can consume.”
You can do this by sharing your blessings with the seminarians under our “Adopt-A-Seminarian” scholarship program and the sick indigents we are supporting.
GOD BLESS – the latest donors to our Adopt-A-Seminarian scholarship program: JO VALENCIA, BERNIE JENNY CHUA, MULTI-PURPOSE COOP. Mla. City Hall.
Those who wish to help may e-mail me at: belsvd@gmail.com.
THE LIGHTER SIDE. A lady tells a friend: “When I die, I want my remains cremated and my ashes scattered at the mall.”
Puzzled, the friend asks: “Isn’t that weird? Why did you say that?”
The lady replies: “So my children will always visit me.” (They always frequent the mall but seldom visit their mother).