from: People For Peace
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2012
The fear of death and dying is nearly universal. It explains why some people cannot watch movies about death, while others are unable to visit cemeteries. Death is feared because it is tied into our religious beliefs, particularly if they happen to be going through a period of questioning.
[image]A priest blesses crosses during the memorial mass of some of the deceased in Siaya County. Part of Catholic belief in praying for the dead comes from a few verses in the Apocrypha, 2 Maccabees 12:39-40 says-“Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs/ Photo by Fr Omolo Ouko, AJ
2 Maccabees 12:38-45 states that when Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam, as the seventh day was approaching, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the Sabbath there.
On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his companions went to gather up the bodies of the fallen and bury them with their kindred in their ancestral tombs.
But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had fallen.
The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.
[image]Priests from left to right, Fr Frederick Odhimabo parish priest Ukwala parish, Nicholas Owino, Lyk community superior general and Frederick Otieno regional superior Kenya bless the grave of Mzee Leonard Thomas Okiyo, October 19, 2012 at Justice Chief Radido at Ukwala, Siaya County. Catholics believe it is an act of charity to pray for their dead when they are going through or are in “purgatory.” They don’t believe it’s all over once a person dies. If the deceased is a believer they conclude he or she is still alive – awaiting their resurrection bodies/ Photo by Fr Omolo Ouko, AJ
In Romans 14:7-9 St Paul tells his Christian communities not to fear death for none of us lives for ourselves alone and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Even Jesus had difficult time to explain to his disciples that we should not fear death. John 5:24-29 states: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned”.
Even some people who think they know what will happen after death worry that they may be wrong. Part of the fear is caused by how catechism was presented to us. We were told that if you sin you will go to hell where there is an everlasting fire.
If you died with venial sin you will be taken to purgatory, a place and state of temporary punishment in the next world. It means “cleansing” (or “purging”). Purgatory is a place where the soul is cleansed of unforgiven venial sin and/or the “debt” of sins already forgiven but not yet made up for.
Only people with mortal sin go to Hell, and on the other hand, no one can enter Heaven with even the smallest sin. Therefore, there must be a place in the next world where lesser sins can be taken off the soul.
People who die with Sanctifying Grace in their souls, but — who die with venial sin on their souls, or who have not completed (satisfied for) the punishment still due to their already forgiven sins.
Even though God forgives your sins, He still requires that you be punished for them (i.e. “pay” for them), either in this life or in the next. We read that Judas Machabeus, “sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifices to be offered for the sins of the dead.” (2 Machabees 12:43).
In the Bible, St. Paul gives us a list of grave sins. He states that anyone who commits these sins shall not enter the kingdom of God. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (Galatians 5:19-20).
In order to avoid everlasting fire therefore, mortal sins must be specifically confessed and named, giving details about the context of each sin: what sin, why, against what or whom, the number and type of occurrences, and any other factors when it may exacerbate or lessen one’s responsibility and culpability that the person confessing remembers.
Against the background the Roman Catholic teaching on mortal sin was called into question by some within the Church in the late 20th century after the Second Vatican Council. In response to these doubts, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the basic teaching in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor
Veritatis Splendor begins by asserting that there are indeed absolute truths accessible to all persons. Contrary to the philosophy of moral relativism, the encyclical insists that moral law is universal across people in varying cultures, and is in fact rooted in the human condition.
It is also maintained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.”
During this period the clergy were authorized by the Catholic Church to absolve penitents from the guilt of his sins and from punishment in the hellish inferno of the hereafter by sale of indulgences.
By making a monetary contribution to the church, a penitent would receive a partial indulgence not to commit further sins, while at the same time, diminishing the time period that he/she was to suffer in purgatory for remission of his sins.
Martin Luther is among reformist theologians who objected the sale of indulgences and the Holy See’s spiritual power to remit sins, which Luther vehemently opposed when he nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the formidable Castle Church at Wittenberg on November 1, 1517.
Luther saw this traffic in indulgences as an abuse that could mislead the clergy into relying simply on the indulgences themselves to the neglect of the confession, true repentance, and satisfactions.
Pope Leo X disregarded Luther as “a drunken German who wrote the Theses” who “when sober will change his mind. When he did not change his mind Luther was at variance with a papal bull, declared him a heretic. Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther on January 3, 1521 in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
It explains why a child’s fear of death can be devastating to the parent. This is because children generally lack the defense mechanisms, religious beliefs and understanding of death that help adults cope. They also do not fully understand time, making it difficult for them to accept that people sometimes leave and come back again.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Peaceful world is the greatest heritage
That this generation can give to the generations
To come- All of us have a role.