The Last Things: Heaven and hell

By Father Michael N. Lavallee
pastor, St. Peter Parish, Northbridge

In the last article, the topics of death and judgment were covered. In this, The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults was cited which explains: “Immediately after death, each person comes before God and is judged individually.” This individual judgment is properly called particular judgment. The US Catechism goes on to teach that after particular judgment, the soul “enters heaven, purgatory or hell.” But, what, according to Church teaching, is heaven? What is hell?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines heaven as “eternal life with God; communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the blessed. Heaven is the state of supreme and definitive happiness, the goal of the deepest longings of humanity.” It is getting to this joy-filled, wonderful reality after death which has motivated countless generations of Christians to live lives of holiness.

Who doesn’t want to go to heaven? The Church’s answer is that it is those who refuse the gift of faith and obstinately choose to remain in sin despite the efforts of God’s grace to convert them. Thus, The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines hell as “the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse, by their own free choice, to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives.”

In his book The Last Things, author Regis Martin quotes Origen, a church theologian “of the early third century” as he describes the self-imposed punishments of hell. Origen explains that hell takes place “in a soul that has accumulated all sorts of evil deeds and sins…this mixture catches fire and begins, in punishment of the soul, to burn. If, through God’s power, the spirit will have before its eyes the history of all the offenses committed by it in shame and godlessness, then its conscience will be stung by its own barbs; it will be its own accuser and witness… so the soul that finds itself outside of the order and harmony for which it was created by God will itself suffer the pain and punishment of its transgressions and inconstancies and disobedience.”

In comparison to hell’s endless loneliness, sadness and regret, heaven’s communion and intimacy with God, the angels and saints is indescribably awesome. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states heaven’s “mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast…the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem…’no eye has seen, nor ear heard…what God has prepared for those who love him.”

In Scripture, Jesus himself spoke about the existence of heaven and hell. In The Catholic Bible Dictionary, the authors explain “For the Christian, heaven is the reward and the true dwelling place where Christian citizenship is realized…For those who die in God’s grace, heaven is the perfect life with the holy Trinity, where one sees God as he is, face to face. Being in heaven means being with Christ forever.” As we reflect upon this explanation, we consider what it means to “die in God’s grace.”

Another, perhaps more familiar way of speaking of this, is to mention dying “in a state of grace.” The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults defines “state of grace” as “a condition in which our sins have been forgiven and we are reconciled with God.” The Catechism goes on to note, however that though this forgiveness and reconciliation has been given us through the sacrament of penance and absolution “purification from sin’s effects may still be needed.” This note reminds us of why some may need purgatory after death. This subject will be addressed in the next article.

Thus, the Church teaches us that in order to go to heaven, one must be in a state of grace at the moment of death. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end.” Thus, we learn that hell is a choice we make for ourselves by how we live. Matthew 25: 31-46 is clear concerning the criterion God uses to judge us. Here, Christ assures souls which will enter into blessedness “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” As much as here we learn that love shown God and neighbor during one’s lifetime is a major criteria of judgment we also hear Christ say, in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Thus, in addition to charity, we learn that how we live our moral lives also figures significantly into our eventual judgment. Our daily successes or failures to live by the Ten Commandments and other moral teachings of the Church prepare us for the kind of eternity we will have.
In Scripture, Jesus teaches us that, in a sense, heaven and hell begin now for us while we are on earth. In John 6:51, Jesus declares “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Through these words, Jesus explains that through our reception of the holy Eucharist, we begin to experience something of heaven now when we participate in the Mass. As the Eucharist unites us with Christ when we receive it in a state of grace, so heaven is an eternal amplification and perfection of this unity.

Similarly, our refusal of the sacraments now alienates us from God and hell is an eternal amplification and consummation of this alienation. As The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults explains “it is impossible for us to be united with God if we refuse to love him.” Thus, hell is a radical possibility of human freedom.

The Church’s saints are those blessed souls who now live in heaven and who lived exemplary lives of holiness while on earth. Some of the saints are officially recognized by the Church while others are known only to God. As part of the canonization process for the officially recognized saints, miracles attributed to their intercession are examined for their authenticity. When the miracles are verified as authentic through formal Church inquiry, the Church asserts that she knows that the saints dwell with God and are worthy of the faithful’s devotion. Though this may be said confidently of the saints, the Church asserts that we cannot know, objectively, whether certain deceased persons are in heaven, hell or purgatory.

This is why it is a good practice to pray for them all.

In St. Therese of Lisieux: In My Own Words, the authors include a moving quote from St. Therese concerning how all the faithful should aspire to true holiness so they might someday come to live in heaven. Therese observes “Our Lord has been pleased to create great saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose; but he has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at his feet, and whose mission is to gladden his divine eyes when he deigns to look down on them: the more joyfully they do his will, the greater is their perfection.” May the words of St. Therese help us to seek to do the will of God now so that, growing in spiritual perfection, heaven may someday be our forever home.