In this powerful reflection on death and eternity, we are reminded that for the faithful, death is not to be feared but embraced as the gateway to rest, peace, and eternal joy. While the wicked face terror and torment, the just are welcomed by angels into paradise, where unimaginable happiness awaits. Truly, “blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”
The Blessings and Gifts to Come
What, I ask you, is there in this present existence which could possibly compare to the blessings and gifts which God shall offer us in the future? A little reflection will show that there is nothing amongst the good things of this present life which remotely approaches the magnitude and splendor of the joys which the blessed souls possess in heaven.
The beginning of our future life coincides with the end of our present life—and both of these coincide with the moment of physical death. Does not nature itself seem to abhor death? Is there any living creature which does not fear it in some way or another? For if we look at any of the animals, they will take to flight or conceal themselves in some hiding place whenever some danger which puts their life in peril approaches them. They will try to avoid death in such ways and a thousand others!
Death Should Be Joyfully Anticipated
But you, O my soul, if you find this earthly life to be a time of labor and trial, if you know the burdens and anxieties of earthly cares, or if you have experienced the many pains and discomforts of this mortal flesh—should you not rather regard death as a blessing, or at least not a thing to be dreaded? For the moment of death brings with it a cessation of all earthly cares. It relieves the heart of all burdens and puts to rest all the discomfort and pains of the mortal body. In this respect, is it not more desirable than all earthly honors and riches, and more pleasing than all pleasures and joys?
If you have a serene and untroubled conscience and if you have certain hope of the future life, you will not fear death in the least. This is the experience most of all for those who, whilst straining under the servitude of this mortal life, find their minds often raised up in contemplation to the glories of heaven. These times of celestial contemplation are the sweet preludes of the future beatitude of paradise. Through such preludes and foretastes of the bliss of our celestial homeland, faith is able to overcome one’s natural and instinctive fear of death. Hope conquers this fear, and a clean conscience puts it to flight.
For a soul who is armed with such faith, hope, and serenity of conscience, death appears as the beginning of alonged-for rest and the happy termination of the time of labor. Thus it is written, “Blessed are the dead, who have died in the Lord.”
The Death of the Wicked vs. the Death of the Just
But the prophet Isaiah makes a very clear distinction between the death of the wicked (which is a source of horror to them) and the death of the just (which is a source of peace and consolation). He declares, “All kings shall go to their merited resting place and each soul shall go to dwell in its fitting home. But you wicked shall be cast from your tombs like unfruitful branches, polluted and twisted!”
Those whose death is commended by a good conscience will go to rest in glory, for “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful.” They shall indeed sleep in blessedness. Hosts of angels will be present at their passing from this life. The saints will rush to greet them. All of these, the angels and saints, shall become their fellow citizens in the heavenly city. These angels and saints shall comfort and defend the soul of the just and faithful person in his hour of death. They shall fight against the multitude of demons who attempt to seize upon each soul as it passes from the tenement of its mortal body. They shall refute the wicked spirits who accuse it, and will thus lead it to the bosom of holy Abraham and guide it into the celestial kingdom of everlasting peace.
But, alas, it shall not be thus for the wicked! Rather, at the time of mortal death, their souls shall go forth from their bodies like a foul stench issuing from an open grave. Diabolical spirits will hasten to seize it with their infernal instruments of torture, and the soul itself will be found to be polluted and befouled with hidden lusts and wicked desires. In its realm of torment, hellish birds shall tear at it, and the fetid gales and oppressive miasmas of the underworld shall suffocate it. Truly, “the inheritance of the just is joy, but the hopes of the wicked shall perish.”
An Unimaginable Joy Awaits
No words are able to express the nature and quality of that eternal rest, of that perfect peace, of the infinite joy in the bosom of Abraham, which is promised to those who depart from this world in true faith. It exceeds anything we have ever experienced, and anything we can imagine. All the souls of the blessed shall be united with their loved ones in paradise, joyfully awaiting the Day of Final Judgment, when they are to be united once more with their bodies and clothed with the radiant garments of immortality and glory.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Glories of Heaven by Saint Anselm of Canterbury which is available from TAN Books.
