Paragraph 5. The Communion of Saints
946 After confessing "the holy catholic Church," the Apostles' Creed adds "the
communion of saints." In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the
preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?"[477] The
communion of saints is the Church.
947 "Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the
others.... We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the
Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head.... Therefore, the
riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments."[478]
"As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received
necessarily become a common fund."[479]
948 The term "communion of saints" therefore has two closely linked meanings:
communion in holy things (sancta)" and "among holy persons (sancti)." Sancta sancti's!
("God's holy gifts for God's holy people") is proclaimed by the celebrant in most
Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy Gifts before the distribution of
communion. The faithful (sancta) are fed by Christ's holy body and blood (sancta) to
grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit (koinonia) and to communicate it to the
world.
I. COMMUNION IN SPIRITUAL GOODS
949 In the primitive community of Jerusalem, the disciples "devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers."[480]
Communion in the faith. The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church, received
from the apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by being shared.
950 Communion of the sacraments. "The fruit of all the sacraments belongs to all the
faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the faithful with one another and
binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all Baptism, the gate by which we enter into the
Church. The communion of saints must be understood as the communion of the
sacraments.... The name 'communion' can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to
God.... But this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other, because it is
primarily the Eucharist that brings this communion about."[481]
951 Communion of charisms. Within the communion of the Church, the Holy Spirit
"distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank" for the building up of the
Church.[482] Now, "to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good."[483]
952 "They had everything in common."[484] "Everything the true Christian has is to be
regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone else. All Christians should be
ready and eager to come to the help of the needy . . . and of their neighbors in
want."[485] A Christian is a steward of the Lord's goods.[486]
953 Communion in charity. In the sanctorum communio, "None of us lives to himself,
and none of us dies to himself."[487] "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one
member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually
members of it."[488] "Charity does not insist on its own way."[489] In this solidarity
with all men, living or dead, which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of
our acts done in charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion.
II. THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH OF
HEAVEN AND EARTH
954 The three states of the Church. "When the Lord comes in glory, and all his angels
with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present
time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified,
while still others are in glory, contemplating 'in full light, God himself triune and one,
exactly as he is"':[490]
All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity
towards God and our neighbours, and we all sing the one hymn of glory to our God.
All, indeed, who are of Christ and who have his Spirit form one Church and in Christ
cleave together.[491]
955 "So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of
Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of
the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods."[492]
956 The intercession of the saints. "Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell
in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... They do not cease to intercede
with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through
the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.... So by their fraternal concern is
our weakness greatly helped."[493]
Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then
more effectively than during my life.[494]
I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.[495]
957 Communion with the saints. "It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish
the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of
fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened.
Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so
our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and
head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself"[496]:
We worship Christ as God's Son; we love the martyrs as the Lord's disciples and
imitators, and rightly so because of their matchless devotion towards their king and
master. May we also be their companions and fellow disciples![497]
958 Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole
Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest
days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead;
and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be
loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them."[498] Our prayer for them is
capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.
959 In the one family of God. "For if we continue to love one another and to join in
praising the Most Holy Trinity - all of us who are sons of God and form one family in
Christ - we will be faithful to the deepest vocation of the Church."[499]
IN BRIEF
960 The Church is a "communion of saints": this expression refers first to the "holy
things" (sancta), above all the Eucharist, by which "the unity of believers, who form one
body in Christ, is both represented and brought about" (LG 3).
961 The term "communion of saints" refers also to the communion of "holy persons"
(sancti) in Christ who "died for all," so that what each one does or suffers in and for
Christ bears fruit for all.
962 "We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims
on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together
forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God
and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers" (Paul VI, CPG # 30).
Paragraph 6. Mary - Mother of Christ, Mother of the
Church
963 Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated,
it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . .
is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer....
She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' ... since she has by her charity joined
in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its
head."[500] "Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church."[501]
I. MARY'S MOTHERHOOD WITH REGARD TO
THE CHURCH
Wholly united with her Son . . .
964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows
directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made
manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death";[502] it is made
manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in
her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan,
enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with
his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this
victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a
mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son."[503]
965 After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her
prayers."[504] In her association with the apostles and several women, "we also see Mary
by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the
Annunciation."[505]
. . . also in her Assumption
966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when
the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly
glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more
fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death."[506]
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's
Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world,
O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God
and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.[507]
. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace
967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to
every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and
charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church";
indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus)[508] of the Church.
968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly
singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the
Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us
in the order of grace."[509]
969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the
consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without
wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to
heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues
to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the
Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."[510]
970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique
mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary
influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests
on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it."[511] "No
creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as
the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful,
and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so
also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a
manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."[512]
II. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin
is intrinsic to Christian worship."[513] The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin
with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored
with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers
and needs.... This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the adoration which is
given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly
fosters this adoration."[514] The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and
Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this
devotion to the Virgin Mary.[515]
III. MARY - ESCHATOLOGICAL ICON OF THE
CHURCH
972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better
way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church
already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the
homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and
Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints,"[516] the Church is awaited by
the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul
in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world
to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign
of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.[517]
IN BRIEF
973 By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the
Incarnation, Mary was al ready collaborating with the whole work her Son was to
accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body.
974 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed,
was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the
glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body.
975 "We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church,
continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ"
(Paul VI, CPG # 15).
ARTICLE 10 - "I BELIEVE IN THE
FORGIVENESS OF SINS"
976 The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in
the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was
when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his
own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."[518]
(Part Two of the catechism will deal explicitly with the forgiveness of sins through
Baptism, the sacrament of Penance, and the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
Here it will suffice to suggest some basic facts briefly.)
I. ONE BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF
SINS
977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: "Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be
saved."[519] Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it
unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that "we too
might walk in newness of life."[520]
978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that
cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there
remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses
committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate
them.... Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On
the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease
leading us into evil "[521]
979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful
enough to escape every wound of sin? "If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then
Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received
from Jesus Christ. The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even
if they should sin until the last moment of their lives."[522]
980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with
God and with the Church:
Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers "a laborious kind of baptism." This
sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after
Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been
reborn.[523]
II. THE POWER OF THE KEYS
981 After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness
of sins should be preached in his name to all nations."[524] The apostles and their
successors carry out this "ministry of reconciliation," not only by announcing to men
God's forgiveness merited for us by Christ, and calling them to conversion and faith; but
also by communicating to them the forgiveness of sins in Baptism, and reconciling them
with God and with the Church through the power of the keys, received from
Christ:[525]
[The Church] has received the keys of the Kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may
be forgiven through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit's action. In this Church, the soul
dead through sin comes back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved
us.[526]
982 There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. "There is no
one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness,
provided his repentance is honest.[527] Christ who died for all men desires that in his
Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from
sin.[528]
983 Catechesis strives to awaken and nourish in the faithful faith in the incomparable
greatness of the risen Christ's gift to his Church: the mission and the power to forgive
sins through the ministry of the apostles and their successors:
The Lord wills that his disciples possess a tremendous power: that his lowly servants
accomplish in his name all that he did when he was on earth.[529]
Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to
archangels .... God above confirms what priests do here below.[530]
Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to
come or eternal liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift.[531]
984 The Creed links "the forgiveness of sins" with its profession of faith in the Holy
Spirit, for the risen Christ entrusted to the apostles the power to forgive sins when he
gave them the Holy Spirit.
985 Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites us to
Christ, who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit.
986 By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized
and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance.
987 "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our
Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to
efface our sins and give us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).
ARTICLE 11 - "I BELIEVE IN THE
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY"
988 The Christian Creed - the profession of our faith in God, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, and in God's creative, saving, and sanctifying action - culminates in the
proclamation of the resurrection of the dead on the last day and in life everlasting.
989 We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead
and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and
he will raise them up on the last day.[532] Our resurrection, like his own, will be the
work of the Most Holy Trinity:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ
Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who
dwells in you.[533]
990 The term "flesh" refers to man in his state of weakness and mortality.[534] The
"resurrection of the flesh" (the literal formulation of the Apostles' Creed) means not
only that the immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our "mortal body" will
come to life again.[535]
991 Belief in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of the Christian
faith from its beginnings. "The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the dead;
believing this we live."[536]
How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.... But in fact Christ has been
raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.[537]
I. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND OURS
The progressive revelation of the Resurrection
992 God revealed the resurrection of the dead to his people progressively. Hope in the
bodily resurrection of the dead established itself as a consequence intrinsic to faith in
God as creator of the whole man, soul and body. The creator of heaven and earth is also
the one who faithfully maintains his covenant with Abraham and his posterity. It was in
this double perspective that faith in the resurrection came to be expressed. In their trials,
the Maccabean martyrs confessed: The King of the universe will raise us up to an
everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.[538] One cannot but
choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being
raised again by him.[539]
993 The Pharisees and many of the Lord's contemporaries hoped for the resurrection.
Jesus teaches it firmly. To the Sadducees who deny it he answers, "Is not this why you
are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?"[540] Faith in
the resurrection rests on faith in God who "is not God of the dead, but of the
living."[541]
994 But there is more. Jesus links faith in the resurrection to his own person: "I am the
Resurrection and the life."[542] It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up those
who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood.[543] Already
now in this present life he gives a sign and pledge of this by restoring some of the dead
to life,[544] announcing thereby his own Resurrection, though it was to be of another
order. He speaks of this unique event as the "sign of Jonah,"[545] the sign of the temple:
he announces that he will be put to death but rise thereafter on the third day.[546]
995 To be a witness to Christ is to be a "witness to his Resurrection," to "[have eaten
and drunk] with him after he rose from the dead."[547] Encounters with the risen Christ
characterize the Christian hope of resurrection. We shall rise like Christ, with him, and
through him.
996 From the beginning, Christian faith in the resurrection has met with
incomprehension and opposition.[548] "On no point does the Christian faith encounter
more opposition than on the resurrection of the body."[549] It is very commonly
accepted that the life of the human person continues in a spiritual fashion after death.
But how can we believe that this body, so clearly mortal, could rise to everlasting life?
How do the dead rise?
997 What is "rising"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human
body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified
body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies
by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection.
998 Who will rise? All the dead will rise, "those who have done good, to the resurrection
of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."[550]
999 How? Christ is raised with his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I
myself";[551] but he did not return to an earthly life. So, in him, "all of them will rise
again with their own bodies which they now bear," but Christ "will change our lowly
body to be like his glorious body," into a "spiritual body":[552]
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what
you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel ....What is sown is perishable,
what is raised is imperishable.... The dead will be raised imperishable.... For this
perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on
immortality.[553]
1000 This "how" exceeds our imagination and understanding; it is accessible only to
faith. Yet our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's
transfiguration of our bodies:
Just as bread that comes from the earth, after God's blessing has been invoked upon it,
is no longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly and
the other heavenly: so too our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no longer
corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection.[554]
1001 When? Definitively "at the last day," "at the end of the world."[555] Indeed, the
resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's Parousia:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the
archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first.[556]
Risen with Christ
1002 Christ will raise us up "on the last day"; but it is also true that, in a certain way, we
have already risen with Christ. For, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian life is already
now on earth a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ:
And you were buried with him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead .... If then you have
been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the
right hand of God.[557]
1003 United with Christ by Baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly
life of the risen Christ, but this life remains "hidden with Christ in God."[558] The
Father has already "raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus."[559] Nourished with his body in the Eucharist, we already
belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last day we "also will appear with him
in glory."[560]
1004 In expectation of that day, the believer's body and soul already participate in the
dignity of belonging to Christ. This dignity entails the demand that he should treat with
respect his own body, but also the body of every other person, especially the suffering:
The body [is meant] for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord
and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members
of Christ? .... You are not your own; .... So glorify God in your body.[561]
II. DYING IN CHRIST JESUS
1005 To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must "be away from the body and
at home with the Lord."[562] In that "departure" which is death the soul is separated
from the body.[563] It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the
dead.[564]
Death
1006 "It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt."[565] In a
sense bodily death is natural, but for faith it is in fact "the wages of sin."[566] For those
who die in Christ's grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can
also share his Resurrection.[567]
1007 Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of
which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the
normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our
mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to
fulfillment:
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, . . . before the dust returns to
the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.[568]
1008 Death is a consequence of sin. The Church's Magisterium, as authentic interpreter
of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on
account of man's sin.[569] Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him
not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the
world as a consequence of sin.[570] "Bodily death, from which man would have been
immune had he not sinned" is thus "the last enemy" of man left to be conquered.[571]
1009 Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the
death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he
accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's will.[572] The
obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing.[573]
The meaning of Christian death
1010 Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: "For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain."[574] "The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also
live with him.[575] What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through
Baptism, the Christian has already "died with Christ" sacramentally, in order to live a
new life; and if we die in Christ's grace, physical death completes this "dying with Christ"
and so completes our incorporation into him in his redeeming act:
It is better for me to die in (eis) Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth.
Him it is I seek - who died for us. Him it is I desire - who rose for us. I am on the point
of giving birth .... Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived there, then shall I
be a man.[576]
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. "[577] He can
transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the
example of Christ:[578]
My earthly desire has been crucified; . . . there is living water in me, water that murmurs
and says within me: Come to the Father.[579]
I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.[580]
I am not dying; I am entering life.[581]
1012 The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the
Church:[582]
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.[583]
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,[584] we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die
once."[585] There is no "reincarnation" after death.
1014 The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the
ancient litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: "From a sudden and unforeseen
death, deliver us, O Lord";[586] 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 ....[587]
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.[588]
IN BRIEF
1015 "The flesh is the hinge of salvation" (Tertullian, De res. 8, 2: PL 2, 852). We believe
in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we
believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.
1016 By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life
to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us
will rise at the last day.
1017 "We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess" (Council of Lyons II: DS
854). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a "spiritual body"
(cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44).
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).
1019 Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of
God, his Father. By his death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all
men.
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