155. Jesus I trust in you.

Jesus I trust in you.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 155

Ave Maria series

155  How does Christ help us at our death, if we trust in him?

Christ comes to meet us and lead us into eternal life.  “Not death, but God will take me” (St. Therese of Lisieux).  [1005-1014, 1016, 1019]

Jesus’ words to Saint Faustina Kowalska : “Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature: Jesus I trust in You.  I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.  I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death.  I Myself will defend it as My own glory.” –the above quotation may be found in St. Faustina’s “Diary,” sections 47 and 48. …..155

In view of Jesus’ suffering and death, death itself can become easier.  In an act of trust and love for the Father, we can say Yes, as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Such an attitude is called “spiritual sacrifice”: the dying person unites himself with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.  Someone who dies this way, trusting in God and at peace with men, and thus without serious sin, is on the way to communion with the risen Christ.  Our dying makes us fall no farther than into his hands.  A person who dies does not travel to nowhere but rather goes home into the love of God, who created him.  102

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  Romans 14:8

“I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.”  St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

“I am not dying; I am entering life.”  St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

[1005-1014, 1016, 1019]

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."(2 Corinthians 5:8)⁵⁶⁴  In that "departure" which is death the soul is separated from the body.(compare Philippians 1:23)⁵⁶⁵ It will be reunited with the body on the day of resurrection of the dead.(compare Paul VI, Credo of the People of God § 28)⁵⁶⁶ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Death

1006 "It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt."(Gaudium et spes 18)⁵⁶⁷  In a sense bodily death is natural, but for faith it is in fact "the wages of sin."(Romans 6:23; compare Genesis 2:17)⁵⁶⁸  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. (compare Romans 6:3-9; Philippians 3:10-11)⁵⁶⁹ –CCC

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: --CCC

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.( Ecclesiastes 12:1,7)⁵⁷⁰ –CCC

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.(compare Genesis 2:17; Gen 3:3; 3:19; Wisdom 1:13; Romans 5:12; Rom 6:23; Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1511)⁵⁷¹ 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.(compare Wisdom 2:23-24)⁵⁷²  "Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned" is thus "the last enemy" of man left to be conquered.(Gaudium et spes 18 § 2; compare 1 Corinthians 15:26)⁵⁷³ –CCC

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.(compare Mark 14:33-34; Hebrews 5:7-8)⁵⁷⁴ The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing.(compare Romans 5:19-21)⁵⁷⁵ –CCC

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."(Philippeans 1:21)⁵⁷⁶ "The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him.( 2 Timothy 2:11)⁵⁷⁷ 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: --CCC

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.( St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom.,6,1-2:Apostolic Fathers,II/2,217-220)⁵⁷⁸ --CCC

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. "(Philippians 1:23)⁵⁷⁹ He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ(compare Luke 23:46)⁵⁸⁰ –CCC

My earthly desire has been crucified; . . . there is living water in me, water that murmurs and says within me: Come to the Father.( St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom.,6,1-2:Apostolic Fathers,II/2,223-224)⁵⁸¹ --CCC

I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die.( St. Teresa of Avila, Life, chap. 1)⁵⁸² --CCC

I am not dying; I am entering life.( St. Therese of Lisieux, The Last Conversations)⁵⁸³ –CCC

1012 The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the Church(compare 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)⁵⁸⁴ --CCC

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.( Roman Missal, Preface of Christian Death I)⁵⁸⁵ –CCC

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,( Lumen gentium 48 § 3)⁵⁸⁶ we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once."(Hebrews 9:27)⁵⁸⁷ There is no "reincarnation" after death.—CCC

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";(Roman Missal, Litany of the Saints)⁵⁸⁸ 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. --CCC

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. . . .( The Imitation of Christ,1,23,1)⁵⁸⁹  --CCC

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.( St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures)⁵⁹⁰  --CCC

IN BRIEF

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. --CCC

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. –CCC

Divine Mercy Painting