Page 12 - Perceptions papers

· Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the

divine grace manifested in Christ. (Para. 1021)

· Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his

death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the

blessedness of heaven -- through a purification or immediately, -- or immediate and

everlasting damnation. (para.1022)

· Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with

Christ … this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary,the

angles and all the blessed – is called “heaven.” (para. 1023)

· Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ. (para.

1026)

· All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed

assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to

achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. … The Church gives the name

Purgatory to this final purification of the elect. (para. 1030)

Christians do hold that we can choose to reject God in our lives. We can choose to neglect

the poor and the needy, and not choose justice in our everyday decisions. With each choice we

can turn away from Love, choosing greed and selfishness, becoming indifferent to God and

others in our pursuit of self. At death, our choices separate us from God, and if serious enough,

they separate us forever, hell being most clearly the absence from God for an eternity. “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. (para. 1037)

Is there salvation outside of the Church? Christians continue to struggle with that question,

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