|
WHY does the soul become immutably fixed, in good or in
evil, immediately after death? This mystery might be
studied after that of the particular judgment, because
it becomes more clear by what revelation tells us of
this judgment. Nevertheless, since the time of merit is
finished, we must study this immutability first.
Let us see what Scripture and tradition tell us of the
nature and immutability of the soul. Then we will
examine what theologians say in explanation and will
distinguish three different explanations of this
immutability. [87]
Immutability in Itself
We do not speak here of the question, studied by
physiologists and physicians: When does real death, not
merely apparent death, take place? It seems certain in
many cases, particularly in accidental and sudden
death, that latent life can remain many hours in the
organism which a moment before was perfectly sound. It
can last, it seems, at least a half-hour when death was
brought on by a malady which for a long time has
undermined the organism. We consider here only real
death, the moment when the soul is separated from the
body.
The ordinary magisterium of the Church teaches that the
human soul, immediately after death, undergoes judgment
on all the actions, good or bad, of its earthly
existence. This judgment supposes that the time of
merit has passed. This common doctrine has not been
solemnly defined, but it is based on Scripture and
tradition. There are no merits after death, contrary to
what many Protestants teach.
Already in the Old Testament [88] we read: "It is easy
before God in the day of death to reward everyone
according to his ways, . . . and in the end of a man is
the disclosing of his works." [89] According to the New
Testament [90] the last judgment is concerned solely
with the acts of the present life. In the Gospel
according to St. Luke [91] there is question of
particular judgment. The rich man and Lazarus are
judged, each on the acts of his life, and are judged
irrevocably. Abraham replies to the rich man: "Between
us and you there is fixed a great chaos."
Jesus said to the good thief: "This day thou shalt be
with Me in paradise." [92] We are urged to vigilance
and to penance, that we may not be surprised by death.
After the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, He
says: "Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day
nor the hour." [93] St. Paul is still more explicit:
"We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of
Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of
the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good
or evil." [94] Again: "Behold now is the acceptable
time, behold now is the day of salvation." [95] Again:
"Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to
all men." [96] And again: "I have a desire to be
dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the
better." [97] In the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Exhort
one another every day whilst it is called today: that
none of you be hardened." [98] And again: "It is
appointed unto men once to die, and after this the
judgment." [99] The following verse makes allusion to
the last judgment, but this last judgment also deals
exclusively with the acts of the present life.
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus says: "I must work the
work of Him that sent Me whilst it is day; the night
cometh, when no man can work." [100] The Fathers [101]
have often explained this text of St. John in this
sense, particularly Saints Cyprian, Hilary, John
Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Augustine, and Gregory
the Great. These Fathers teach that after death no one
can longer either merit or demerit.
This, too, is manifestly the doctrine of the ordinary
universal magistracy of the Church. Although there is
no solemn definition on this point, there are
declarations of the Church which are to be understood
in this sense. The Second Council of Lyons says: "The
souls of those who die in the state of mortal sin or
with original sin go down at once into hell, there to
suffer, though not all with equal pains." [102] We find
the same expression in the Council of Florence, [103]
and in the Constitution Benedictus Deus of Benedict
XII. [104] Leo X [105] condemns this proposition of
Luther: "The souls in purgatory are not certain of
their salvation, at least not all of them, and it
cannot be proved by Scripture nor by theological
reasoning that they can no longer merit or that they
cannot increase in charity." Lastly the Council of the
Vatican proposed to promulgate this dogmatic
definition: After death, which is the terminus of our
life's road, all of us must be made manifest before the
tribunal of Christ, [106] where each one is to give an
account of what he himself did in the body, either good
or evil. Nor does there remain after this mortal life
any place for penance that would lead to justification.
[107]
Immutability in Its Cause
Some theologians, notably Scotus and Suarez, [108]
think that obstinacy, immutability in evil, is
explained both for man and for demon by saying that God
no longer offers the grace of conversion, and that the
despair which follows confirms them in this state of
obstinacy. [109]
In this explanation we find a difficulty. A great
Thomistic theologian, Cardinal Cajetan, [110] sought to
explain the obstinacy of man in the same manner as St.
Thomas explains the obstinacy of the demon. The
Cardinal says in substance: The human soul, in the
first instant of its separation from the body,
commences to judge in the same manner as do pure
spirits. But a pure spirit has a judgment that is
immutable, a judgment that resembles the judgment of
God. And why? For God the reason is clear: because from
all eternity God sees all that can happen, all that
will happen. God can learn nothing, nothing that could
change His eternal decrees. Now there is a proportional
truth for the pure spirit, the pure created spirit. We
on earth, living in time, see only successively the
different aspects of an object. Hence, after having
chosen, we can learn something new and thereby modify
our choice. The pure spirit, on the contrary, has a
knowledge entirely intuitive, sees simultaneously all
aspects, sees simultaneously what is for it and what is
against it, sees all that is to be considered. Having
thus freely chosen, it can learn nothing new, nothing
that could change its choice. From this moment its
choice remains immutable, and resembles God's decrees,
free but immutable. This follows from the perfection of
the intelligence which characterizes pure spirits.
Hence, according to the Cardinal, the soul separated
from its body, at the very instant when it begins its
life as a separated soul, chooses immutably that which
it wills by a last instantaneous act, meritorious or
demeritorious. At that moment it fixes itself in its
choice, and therefore understands why God, infinitely
good, no longer offers the grace of conversion to the
soul fixed in obstinacy.
This opinion of Cardinal Cajetan, however ingenious it
is, has not been accepted, at least not entirely, by
later Thomists or by other theologians. They have
replied: If it were so, then a sinner, dying in the
state of mortal sin, could reconcile himself at once
after death. Conversely, a just man, dying in the state
of grace, would lose himself by a sin committed
immediately after death, after the separation. But this
position seems contrary to the testimony of Scripture.
[111] Subsequent Thomists [112] answer Cajetan thus:
"According to Scripture, man cannot merit except before
death. This truth is expressed most clearly in the
words of our Savior: 'I must work the work of Him that
sent Me, whilst it is day; the night cometh, when no
man can work.'" [113] Thus these theologians admit, as
a common teaching, that one of the conditions of merit
is that man be still in the state of life, a viator, a
voyager, a traveler. Consequently it is man who merits,
not the soul separated from the body.
What, then, is the solution? It lies between the two
preceding solutions and above them. It is the golden
mean, and at the same time the summit which best
expresses the thought of St. Thomas. This view is thus
explained by the great theologian, Sylvester of
Ferrara: "Although the soul in the first instant of
separation from the body has a view, an apprehension,
intellectually immutable, and although it commences at
that moment to be obstinate either in evil or in good,
nevertheless at this same time it no longer has a
possibility of merit or demerit, whatever others say on
the matter, because merit or demerit belongs not to the
soul alone, but to the man, the viator, the traveler,
the man who still lives. But in the first instant of
separation man no longer exists, hence he can no longer
merit. Whence then comes obstinacy in evil? It is
caused, initially by the changeable apprehension of
such and such an end, during the time when the soul is
still united to the body. It is caused definitively by
the unchangeable apprehension of the soul from that
moment on when it is separated from the body. The same
truth holds good for immutable fixation in good." [114]
This seems indeed to be the thought of St. Thomas.
[115] And Scripture says in this sense: "If the tree
fall to the south or to the north, in what place soever
it shall fall, there shall it be." [116]
This notion, we say, seems to contain in a higher
synthesis what is true in the two preceding views.
First, obstinacy in evil or fixation in good are caused
initially by the last merit or demerit of the soul
united to the body. Secondly, they are caused in a
definitive fashion by the immovable apprehension or
intuition by the separated soul which adheres
henceforth immutably to that which it has chosen before
death. Briefly to repeat, the soul begins to determine
itself by the last free act of the present life, and it
attains this fixation immutably, in regard to its
knowledge and its will, in the first instant after
death. Thus it immobilizes itself in its own choice.
Hence it is not a lack of God's mercy which fixes the
soul in obstinacy.
But, then, says an objector, the liberty of this second
act, at the precise instant following death, is
diminished by its conformity with the act which
preceded it in life. We must reply that the liberty of
the second act is indeed diminished, in the case of the
sinner who has not repented before death, because
"whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." [117]
But in the case of the just man who has died in the
state of grace, the liberty of the act which he makes
immediately after death is greater, because liberty,
which is a consequence of intelligence, grows greater
with the lucidity of that intelligence. Thus the
liberty of the angel, and consequently much more that
of God, is much greater than our liberty. Nevertheless
the choice of God, though it be sovereignly free, is
posited in an immutable fashion and does not change. It
will be the same with our free act posited immediately
after our death. It will no longer change.
When, at the last judgment, the soul again receives its
body, it will not change, because it is immobilized in
its own choice. Repossession of its body will not
change its choice of its last end.
This truth is easier to grasp for immutability in good,
but it holds good likewise for obstinacy in evil. Only
we must note that the mysteries of iniquity are more
obscure than the mysteries of grace, because the
mysteries of grace are in themselves sovereignly
luminous, whereas the others are darkness itself.
Entrance into the state of separation from the body
fixes forever the freely determined choice before
death, just as in winter frost fixes moisture on the
window in varied figures. But the best image is that of
Scripture: "If a tree fall to the south or to the
north, in what place soever it shall fall, there it
shall be."
We can complete this doctrine by what St. Thomas [118]
says in Contra Gentes. Every man judges according to
his inclination, especially according to the
inclination whereby he has chosen his last end. Thus
the ambitious man judges by his inclination to pride,
the humble, by his inclination to humility. Our
inclination to our last end can change as long as the
soul is united to the body (which has been given to it
as an instrument of tendency to its end), but this
inclination can no longer change after separation from
the body, because then the soul judges in an immutable
fashion, according to this last inclination, and thus
is fixed in its choice. The humble man will continue to
judge definitively according to the inclination to
virtue; the proud man will continue to judge according
to his pride, with a bitterness indeed that will never
end. His pride is now eternalized, hence his voluntary
choice, fixing himself in obstinacy, is forever
perverted, incapable of choosing the only road of
return, namely, humility and obedience. [119]
Let us listen to a second objection: Cannot the damned,
learning from their own suffering, change their mind,
and make a new choice?
Theology replies with St. Thomas: [120] The damned do
not learn, practically and effectively, from their
sufferings. Without doubt, they indeed wish not to
suffer, but they do not will for that reason to come
back to God, because the only road possible is that of
humility and obedience, and this they refuse. If the
Lord opened this road, they would not take it. They do
not regret their sins as guilt, says St. Thomas, [121]
but only as the cause of their sufferings. They do not
have the repentance which would lead them to ask
forgiveness. They have only remorse. And between
penance and remorse there is an abyss.
A third objection: But it is incredible that the demon
can prefer his proud isolation to supernatural
beatitude, to the vision of God, to a good infinitely
superior to the bitter joys of pride. Theology, [122]
resting on revelation, replies that the demon once for
all chose his own intellectual life, his own natural
beatitude, proud isolation rather than the other road
of tending toward God, rather than humility and
obedience. Supernatural beatitude he cannot receive
except by God's grace, which he would share in common
with men, so far inferior to himself. The
characteristic of the proud is to please themselves in
their own excellence, to the point of rejecting
everything that could restrain them in this
complacence.
Even among men, we find those whose pride in
mathematics, say, or rationalist philosophy, leads them
to reject the gospel, even to the point of denying all
the miracles which confirm the gospel and the Church.
Some persevere all their life in this negation. [123]
Others, like Lamennais, abandon the Church, because
they wish to defend her in their own manner, not in her
manner. They think their own wisdom higher than hers.
Exalted, they fall by pride, as did the demon, whom
they imitate.
What shall be our practical conclusion? It is this:
that it is sovereignly important not to delay
conversion. We can be surprised by death, and our last
free act decides our eternity, happy or unhappy.
Likewise, we must pray for those who seem to be
departing from God. Benedict XV urges us to have Masses
celebrated for them for the grace of a good death.
I knew a man who had been reared as a good Christian,
but who had wandered away from God. After having lost
his wife and his only son, the son being an angel of
piety, he was assailed by a terrible temptation to
despair, a temptation which lasted many months. He
determined to kill himself. On the day when he went to
do so, at the instant when, in Tulle, he was about to
throw himself into a ravine, his sister and the
Carmelite nuns were praying ardently for him. At the
very moment our Lord appeared to him, sad and
sorrowful, and called him by his baptismal name:
"Joseph." After this view of the mercy of God, Joseph
Maisonneuve, [124] that was his name, understood that
the redemption was meant also for him. He was converted
completely. He became sweet and humble of heart. He
expiated his sins by severe penance up to his last
hour, dying in the odor of sanctity. He is called the
holy man of Tulle. Many wonderful cures were wrought by
his intercession. Even during life his prayer worked
wonders. In his own village he had a friend who led a
bad life. The saint prayed nightly, his arms in the
form of a cross, and he performed severe penances to
obtain this grace. One day he learned that his friend
had shot himself, but that he was not yet dead. The
saint at once went to him. The dying man had twenty-
four hours to live. Joseph Maisonneuve exhorted him so
well that he repented and died a most Christian death.
The important thing is to die well. For this end we
must remember our Savior's words: "He that is not with
Me is against Me." [125] But it is also true to say,
and Jesus said it to His apostles: "He that is not
against you is for you." [126] Those who seek sincerely
for religious truth are already replying to the actual
grace which carries them on to good. In these souls we
see the beginning of that interior word, understood by
St. Bernard and repeated by Pascal: "Thou wouldst not
search for Me if thou hadst not already found Me." Let
us recall again the word of St. John of the Cross: "In
the evening of our life we will be judged by love, by
the sincerity of our love for God."
An Addition
Do all men perceive before death a sweeping view of
their past life? And would this view serve as
sufficient grace for conversion? People who have been
on the point of drowning declare that they have
received this intuition.
To this question we must answer that the manner of
death varies widely, from the death of saints where
possibly a revelation at times announces the day and
the hour, to the death of the Pharisees to whom our
Lord said: "You will die in your sin."
The immobility of the soul, whether in good or in evil,
commences freely in the present life, and is completed
by a free act comformable to the preceding act at the
first instant of separation from the body. This truth
clarifies the question which occupies us now.
Obstinacy can begin long before death. Hardened sinners
can be surprised by a sudden death, in which case they
certainly do not have a global view of their past life,
nor time to be converted. Such is the punishment of
this special sin, which consists in continual delay of
conversion, or, possibly, in the will not to be
converted at all.
Sinners who are not hardened receive actual graces more
frequently, and among these graces there may be that of
a full view of their past life. If so, it is a special
effect of divine mercy, to hinder them from becoming
obstinate.
Others live indeed in the state of grace, but they are
feeble. God, in mercy, often grants them a global view
of their past life. to encourage them to persevere.
God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be
converted. Here we might cite those texts of Scripture
[127] which express the universality of God's salvific
will, whereby His Son gave Himself for all on the
cross. This reply is in harmony with many private
revelations, and with the experience of many who barely
escaped sudden death.
Nevertheless, to put off conversion would be
presumption. We must not forget that God, infinitely
merciful, is also sovereignly just. He must render to
each according to his works. Most certainly, God's
providence is irreproachable, and no sinner was ever
lost because he lacked divine succor. [128] The
judgments of God are always right, perfectly just, and
justice does not manifest severity except where souls
have abused mercy.
|
|