The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-02


Has 1t ever been proven in any way
that the soul lives after death; are the
body and soul again united; do we
thereafter live as we lived on earth?
The simplest and clearest proof oil
the Immortality of the soul is the
natural craving for perfect happiness
which exists in the heart of everyone
The loss of what we love causes sor'
row. Even the fear of losing what is
dear to us lessons our JOY in it's pres
ent possession. If the certainty OF
such loss existed, perfect happiness
would be an impossibility, even con
tradiction. The heart could not be
happy in the loss of what it most
loved. Death, eternal death, to cease
to be, even the fear of falling into
nothingness would make the craving
for lasting happiness a mockery. God,
the Creator of the human heart, the
Author of this desire for happiness
that is common to all, would appear
as a monster laughing at our destruc-
ton, a gross traitor to His own works,
grievously deceiving man into whose
face He breathed the breath of life.
All peoples attest to this desire for
everlasting life. Whence would come
this universal belief? This question
would be indeed an insoluble puzzle
were this life the end of all things.
Again, what sufficient motive would
there be for virtue, self-sacrifice; why
should one pay any attention to con-
science? Indeed, would not conscience
be great monster, exercising over us
a most unjust tyranny, if the soul
does not live after death to receive the
reward of its works?
Addison expresses beautifully in
words that are deep with meaning the
common belief in Immortality:
ct must be so: Plato, thou reasonest
we'll!
Else whence this pleasing hope, this
fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread and in
ward horror
Of falling into naught? Why shrinks
the soul
Back on herself and startles at de-
struction?
'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us;
IT'S heaven itself that points out an
hereafter.
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful
thought!
........ If there's power above us,
(And that there is, all nature cries
aloud
Through all her works. he must de-
light in virtue;
And that which he delights in must be
happy.
The soul secure in her existence,
smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its
point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun
himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in
years.
But thou shalt flourish in immortal
youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter and the crush of
worlds
The body by it's own nature is sub
iect to corruption and has no natural
claim to Immortality. God in the be-
ginning, however endowed mans body
with everlasting life. This was
favor, not necessary part of mans
nature. Even after sin had brought
death to man, and the body was to
suffer corruption, God through His
goodness raises again the body from
the grave and restores it to new life,
uniting it again with the soul from
which it had been separated by death.
Thereafter the body and soul shall as
a human person live forever either
happily with God or in misery away
from God, depending upon the friend
ship or enmity between the person and
God at the time of death. This truth
of the resurrection of the body is an
article of faith accepted, not only by
Catholics, but by everyone who calls
himself a Christian. 1t is not readily
proven by reason alone; but, we can at
least see a very natural fitness in the
doctrine that gives to the body share
in the happiness or misery of the soul,
because during life in this world they
were united in the works of virtue,
which merited happiness, or of sin
which brought just punishment both
to body and soul.
How can a person tell If an act is
SERIOUS matter" in regard to mortal
sin? Would 1t be mortal sin for
person with tuberculosis TO lick
stamp before putting It on an envelope
and send it to person?
Three things go to make UP a NOR
tai sin, the thing we do must be very
wrong, we must know that it is wrong
and we must do it of our own free
will; or, as the catechism puts it,
grievous matter, sufficient reflection
and full consent of the will. AS a
rule, it is not difficult to recognize
grievous matter when it exists. The
ten commandments of God and the
laws of the CHURCH are the great
guides. In any of these commands
except one, we may have lightness of
matter. The one exception is that of
the sixth commandment. As a rule
good conscience will readily distin-
guiSh as such something that is very