• Only God is eternal.
  • Only God is necessary in his own being. That is, only God has to exist.
  • Our relationship with God is eternal because God is eternal.
  • Our relationship with God is necessary for our being.
• The book starts with the statement that every reader of the book will die. This is true.
  • However, it lead to the question (in class), did Mary die?
    • Definitively, we do not know.
    • The Church teaches "at the end of her life" she was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.
    • Some church fathers believe and have argued that this statement means that she was assumed at the moment she would have died.
    • Other church fathers believe and have argued that this statement means that she was assumed just after she died.
    • The Church has refused to clarify this point. It definitively does not teach which set of church fathers is correct. This is a nearly unique situation. A matter of significant debate on a matter of faith for literally centuries is left entirely undefined.
  • Death means the separation of the body from the soul.
    • remember, we as human are created to be both body and soul.
    • Death comes to man because of sin.
    • Death is natural in that we are part of material creation
    • death is unnatural in that we have immortal souls
    • death is supernatural in that it is our path to eternal life.
    • to be properly understood, we must keep in mind all three
    • death is not extinction (atheism)
    • death is not reincarnation
    • at death we do not become angels.
• The resurrection of the body was slowly revealed
  • the further back you go in the Old Testament, the less clearly any Jews understood it.
  • Even in Jesus' time some important groups of Jews denied this concept. This is part of why the Jews expected the Messiah to be king here on Earth.
• The Christian attitude towards death is best summarized in the single word "readiness"
  • We are ready for God to call us to live longer here on Earth.
  • We are ready for God to call us to join Him in heaven at any time.
    • Now.
    • Tomorrow.
    • 100 years from now.
  • We work to avoid sin, particularly mortal sin(summarizing the books' summary of CCC 1014)
    • partly to maintain this readiness (fear of hell)
    • partly for love of God (the better we are, the more true this one is)
  • The Church encourages us to pray for deliverance from "a sudden and unforeseen death." (CCC 1014).
• after death comes Particular Judgment
  • you face God alone and are both judged and judge yourself. The two judgments will be identical. There is no denial or lying in the face of God.
  • as a result of this Judgment, you face heaven or hell.
    • your road to heaven may involve going through purgatory.
    • all who attain heaven do so because of God's mercy.
      • This mercy is experienced through the Church.
        • first through the grace of Baptism.
          • we did not discuss this this class.
        • secondly through the grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation
          • there was some discussion on this. It will be further discussed later in the year, in hopefully better clarity when I am not trying to focus on other things.
• at the end of time comes the "General Judgment"
  • everyone from all of history will stand before God and be, individually, judged a second time, this time publicly.
    • the results of this second judgment will in no way ever differ from the results of the first, particular, judgment.
    • This second judgment exists to meet the demands of Justice.
      • why do good things happen to bad people?
      • why do bad things happen to good people?
      • Why did God allow xyz to happen?
      • Justice demands these questions be answered definitively.
  • We will be reunited body and soul.
    • the good will be reunited with their bodies, to better experience heaven.
    • the bad will be reunited with their bodies to better experience hell (that is, to experience even more pain).
    • Our resurrected bodies will differ from our present bodies ( I draw on some material not available in the book here)
      • We are conformed to Christ.
      • We will be approximately the age Christ was at his Ascension.
      • Our bodies will be perfectly obedient to our will
        • we will not be clumsy
        • that does not mean we will have abilities we do not already have
        • we will not suffer temptation from disordered desire
      • We will be able to travel as Christ did between the Resurrection and the Ascension.
        • instantaneously over distance
        • through walls
      • We will be recognizable, but only if someone takes the time to really look, we will not look precisely like a photograph of us.
      • We will have an actual body, it will eat, it can be touched.
        • We are told in the bible that the idea of marriage will not make sense. Why it will not make sense is not explained.
• belief in the resurrection of the body is important
  • God created the body and called it "good"
  • God created us to be fully human - both body and soul, the top of the physical world. Our eternal life needs to reflect that.
  • Because our bodies are destined for eternity, both our own bodies, and those of others, are to be treated with respect.( CCC 1004)