HEAVEN is what we want, even if we do not know what we want. It is useless to wonder whether there is this or that in heaven, whether we will enjoy this or that which we find so indispensable for happiness here on earth. In heaven we will be really happy. Our nature, never satisfied here on earth, will finally be satisfied there. We will have whatever we crave. We will have whatever will be good for us. We will be happy, without any trace of unhappiness, without any possibility of losing our happiness or of becoming even slightly unhappy.

The attempt to portray heaven in human terms has often resulted in presenting a thoroughly unsatisfactory picture of heaven. Many people have no desire at all to go to a heaven of that sort. A boy fond of sport and athletics, or one who can imagine nothing more blissful than an afternoon of fishing will not be attracted by the prospect of playing a harp or even a silver trumpet. 

We have to get away from too material a view of heaven. If there are pleasures on earth which we make much of—the innocent recreations of life, the refreshing dip into a cool pool, the satisfaction of a well-cooked meal, the varied pleasures and satisfactions of body and mind—we should not think heaven dull because maybe these specific things are not there. Rather look at it this way: If here on earth, in this valley of tears, there are so many partial pleasures and joys, what must be the happiness of heaven which surpasses all these beyond our power to imagine. Heaven is more than all the most intense pleasures of earthly life put together. And the happiness of heaven is not for isolated moments as on earth, but lasts forever. Heaven is precisely what we will most want. It is far better than anything we can even imagine now. The things we find so much fun now, will be as nothing compared with the undreamed of joys of heaven. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2, 9).

                                                             The Happiness of Heaven
The same God who made the pleasures of the body which we now experience, has prepared the infinitely greater joys of heaven. We need never worry that we will not like heaven. We definitely will like it. If we want to be technical we would say that the happiness of heaven consists in seeing, loving and enjoying God. God is, after all, all. Everything we have we owe to God. Everything that is, comes from God. All the beautiful and enjoyable things of life are but faint reflections of God who is all things in Himself. The world and all it contains is but borrowed beauty and borrowed enjoyment. It is God who is the source of all beauty and joy. God has put a little of His beauty and a little of His joy into the things of this world. But nothing less than God can be as beautiful and as joyful as God Himself, from whom all these things come.

In seeing God the soul beholds all beauty and all joy. But why should we worry our poor heads now in trying to imagine what the joys of heaven are? Isaias and St. Paul both assured us that no one has ever seen or heard or imagined anything so enjoyable as the things God has prepared for those who love Him. (Isaias 64, 4; 1 Corinthians 2, 9).

The happiness of heaven is without end. Moreover it cannot be lost once the soul is in heaven. In fact, heaven is certain for whoever dies in the state of sanctifying grace. Even those in purgatory and not yet in heaven are certain of entering heaven some day and of possessing its joys forever. To die in the state of grace is to be safe forever. Here on earth we experience much uneasiness at the thought of possibly losing a present joy. A holiday is marred somewhat by the gnawing knowledge that tomorrow we must go back to school or to work. A young person might be saddened by the thought that youth cannot last. Health may give way to sickness, wealth to poverty, beauty to deformity. But the supreme joys of heaven are joys forever.

                                                           Sin Impossible in Heaven
One in heaven cannot commit sin, cannot lose heaven. Here on earth a person is always haunted by the thought that he might fall from grace, and lose his soul. There is always the chance of doing just that. But in heaven one cannot commit sin, one cannot lose heaven. Everyone in heaven will be extremely happy. Some, however, will have more happiness than others. Each one will enjoy heaven according to his capacity for enjoying it. Just as a man with a larger basket can carry away more gifts, so too one who is capable of receiving more joy in heaven will receive more. But just as the man with a smaller basket has his basket filled, so too the soul of smaller capacity will be filled with joy. Or just as the boy of smaller appetite is fully satisfied by a smaller meal, so too the soul in heaven capable of receiving less joy will nevertheless be filled with joy. A boy of small appetite is just as filled by his small meal, as is the boy of larger appetite by his larger meal. And both desire no more. All such examples are terribly weak to describe conditions in heaven, but they do serve in some way to illustrate the point that not everyone in heaven will have an equal amount of happiness, although the greater happiness of some will not make others feel any less happy.

It stands to reason that those who were better on earth deserve a greater reward in heaven. God is just. He gives to everyone what he deserves. He rewards in the degree in which reward was earned. As for ourselves, since heaven lasts forever, and since the degree of happiness depends upon how we live our lives on earth, it is only good planning to live as good a life as possible so as to have as high a place as possible in heaven. It must be a great regret to lie on one's deathbed and look back over a wasted life. There was so much chance for merit. Now it is too late. How we will wish we had been more careful about avoiding the occasions of  sin! Those short cuts we took, those wasted hours of leisure now plague us. If only we had done things the hard way. How wise it would have been to suffer even intensely the whole of life on earth, since now the joyful reward would be eternal. Why did we sit down to rest so soon? Why did we not force ourselves on? Those who are willing to suffer more, to endure more, justly earn a greater reward in heaven.

In heaven there will be no sadness. We will be perfectly content with the joy that is justly ours. But the fact remains that we could have actually earned a higher degree of eternal joy, if only we had done so. As soon as the soul enters heaven it will be fully happy. When the soul receives back the body at the end of the world its happiness will flow into the body too. We will then be happy in soul and body, extremely so, and that forever and ever.

                                                               Other Joys of Heaven
Besides the main happiness of seeing God face to face, there are other secondary joys in heaven. The souls in heaven will have great knowledge. They will know many things they always wanted to know while on earth. Many of our present problems will be solved in heaven, to our great satisfaction. We will never know as much as God. That would be impossible. But we will know very much. And we will not be in error about anything that concerns us. It will be a great joy to speak with the other saints in heaven, to compare notes, as it were. Everyone in heaven is a saint. Perfect sinlessness is a condition for entering heaven. Those who die imperfect are made saints in purgatory before being admitted into heaven. We must remember that we human beings remain human even in heaven, and carry with us many of our ways of acting. We will enjoy the social atmosphere of heaven, and the superb company there.

There will be no evil in heaven, no sadness, no sorrow, no grief. Sometimes a person, while still on earth, wonders how a mother could be happy in heaven when she knows her son is being tormented in hell. Her son's damnation will cause her no grief in heaven. Seeing things as she does in heaven, she will understand that her son is being treated justly by God. Here on earth we are swayed by emotions, so that often we feel in place of thinking. In heaven we will not be misled by our emotions, we will think as God thinks, and what God thinks will be our will too. Since God punishes whoever must be punished, a mother will agree with God that her son must by all means be justly punished for his sins.
Sometimes people, while still on earth, see a difficulty in family relationships in heaven. They wonder how a man who had a second wife after his first wife's death will feel and act toward his two wives in heaven.

First of all, until the end of the world we will not have our bodies in heaven. So, any bodily difficulty just does not exist. Secondly, the glorified body after the resurrection at the end of the world will not be subject to the limitations and deficiencies it now labors under. Thirdly, as far as marriage is concerned, marriage ends at death. A couple when they are married make their promises "till death do us part." Our Lord Himself answered this very question when some of the Sadducees came to him and asked which one of seven husbands would a woman in heaven have, who had been married successively to seven different men. Our Lord told them very simply that at the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven. Again, it is difficult for people happily married to imagine themselves supremely happy without each other. But again we must remember that we definitely will be happy in heaven, more so than we can imagine. If we are happy now on earth with what we have, we will be much, much more happy in heaven. Or, take the case of a woman who had a drinking husband. They never got along together. He dies with benefit of the sacraments of the Church. She reflects that she could never be happy in heaven if he were there too. But she reasons falsely. Rather she does not reason. She lets feeling blind her. She should remember that before either he or she can enter heaven, each must first be made a saint. Saints do get along in heaven, and they enjoy each other's company immensely.

                                                          Our Friends in Heaven
Here on earth we often cannot be with those whom we love most. We often have to be content with a brief visit when we would willingly spend unending hours together, if only time and circumstances would permit. In heaven we will have eternal leisure in which to enjoy the companionship of our friends. How often older people wish that they could get along with all their relatives! There always seems to be some jealousy spoiling an otherwise good relationship. In heaven we will get along. We will enjoy all our relatives.

What a joy it will be, too, to converse with our favorite saints! While on earth, we prayed to this or that saint. We cultivated a friendship, but even so there was a great gap between us. But in heaven we can associate to our utter joy with the saints we so much admired during our life on earth.

No wonder writers and preachers have spoken of life on earth as an exile. We really belong in heaven. We were made for heaven. It is our true home. While we are on earth, we are out of our true element. We are exiles. What a joy it will be to return to the kind Father who awaits us in His and in our home.
We should ever keep before our minds the guiding thought that we are made for heaven and destined for heaven. While we live on earth, we should be constantly looking towards heaven where we belong and where we desire to be. Anything that would spoil our chance of getting there, we must avoid at any cost. What a failure indeed we wrould be, if we failed to reach what we were made for!

                                                             Special Honors in Heaven
In heaven certain persons will be given a special sign of honor, the aureola, as it is called. Virgins, martyrs, and doctors will receive this special crown of victory. They deserve it. Virgins have won a victory over the flesh. Martyrs have stood courageous even to death and have overcome external persecution. Doctors, learned writers and teachers and preachers as they were, have won a victory over the enemies of the faith.

Scripture itself makes reference to special honors given to virgins, martyrs and doctors. The Church, too, singles out these courageous souls for special mention. The aureola, although pertaining to the mind, will adorn by its brilliance also the resurrected body. Although all persons in heaven will have glorified bodies, the aureola of virgins, martyrs, and doctors will be over and above the ordinary splendor of the glorified body.

The Church has never said precisely where heaven is. It is, however, a real place. It is a place separate and distinct from hell and purgatory. We usually refer to heaven as above, and to hell as below. This is, of course, only a way of speaking. To those who live on the other side of the earth, their above is the same as our below, as far as direction is concerned.

However, one might consider all the space surrounding the earth as being above the earth, since from any point on the earth some of the outer space is above. But why should we worry about where heaven is? We would do better to make sure that we get there. Let us be content to know that it is a place, and that it is situated somewhere. As for the rest, let us be content to have God show us the way in His own good time.

At present Christ and His Blessed Mother have their bodies in heaven. Possibly also Enoch and Elias who, as we have already said, were taken up bodily into heaven.

Heaven is such a delightful and glorious place that the very thought of it should make us keep out of sin so that we will not run the risk of losing it. The fear of hell is a powerful motive to keep us out of sin. The desire of heaven is also a powerful motive. We ought to develop a real longing and yearning for the joys of heaven. No matter what we might have to suffer on earth, we ought to undergo it patiently. What matter is it to suffer however much when we know that the suffering will end and the joy that replaces it will be supreme and last forever?
                                               Source: Come The End, Imprimatur 1951

     AS SOON AS we die, we are judged. In the very instant of death we are judged by God, and His judgment is final and will not be changed.
     Immediately at death, the soul on leaving the body has to go somewhere. It has to be assigned to its proper place. Heaven, hell, or purgatory are the possible places. It is for God to decide where the soul deserves to go. While on earth we can use our free will to our heart's content. We can keep God's law, or break it. We can be better or worse as we choose. God gives us free rein. At death, however, the iron curtain falls. God's judgment is passed on what we, during life, chose freely to do and actually did do. God does the judging. We furnish Him with the material for His judgment. God, of course, knows all things. He knows at one glance our status or condition. He does not have to sift evidence and laboriously weigh the case, as would a human judge. As for ourselves, at the moment of death our whole life will flash before us in an instant and we will clearly see the good and the bad.
     God will not pronounce sentence by word of mouth. No, but He will light up our minds to see the verdict of salvation or damnation according as our souls are guilty or not. Now while on earth we often enough wonder just how bad a particular action was, whether we were really guilty or not. We know, of course, that however uncertain we are ourselves, God will never condemn us for an act that we performed in good faith. In examining our consciences, very often we end up in confusion and quite rightly recommend ourselves to the mercy of God to forgive us as He sees us guilty. But in the moment of death God will give us the light to see clearly exactly how we stand before Him. When the floodlights of God's judgment are turned full blast on the soul, how clearly then will every last fault show up! We will know our condition. And God will pass the unchangeable decision.

                                                      The Suddenness of Judgment
     The sentence will be executed without delay. Some poor suffering person might have lain on a bed of sickness and pain for many a month or many a year. Death was slow in coming. Gradually, gradually, the spectre of death crept up on its victim. Death may have been slow in coming. But its blow when it came was sudden. How quick the events rush on! In an instant death, judgment, and commitment to heaven, hell, or purgatory. It seemed that death would never come. But in an instant the soul is judged and swiftly wrapt up to heaven, or plunged into hell, or borne to the cleansing fires of purgatory.
     After the moment of death it is too late to to plead for mercy. The time for moving God is over. You should have implored His mercy long ago. Now He must judge you according as you lived.
     There is not much point in trying to determine where the particular judgment takes place. If it takes place immediately after death, it would seem to take place right at the body, as the soul leaves the body. This view gives striking meaning to a death-bed scene.
     To witness a death is to be present at a judgment, for Almighty God judges immediately the departing soul. What deep emotion should flood our souls as we stand in the presence of death and judgment, and meditate on a soul soaring heavenward, or plunging downward
into punishment!
     To see someone die is occasion for a meditation without equal. We can always be grateful that we of the living still have time in which to improve the condition of our souls. It is the judgment that makes death terrible or welcome. If death were mere inactivity, we could simply ignore it . But since death means immediate judgment and appointment to some kind of life, for good or for bad, then it must concern us. And it is indeed of particular concern to each one of us. For the particular judgment is for each one of us individually.
                                          Source:  Come The End, Imprimatur 1951

With the coming of Advent, only four weeks away, Holy Mother Church brings to our mind the end of the world as we prepare for the coming of Christ once again.  We thought we would share a book a little at a time called, "Come The End."  It is instructions for young people on the last things.

                                                                                Introduction
     IN ALL THY WORKS remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin" is the advice of Sacred Scripture (Ecclesiasticus 7, 40). This present book is written to help you remember your last end, and hence to help you live a better life. It is written mainly for you young people, teen-age boys and girls, young men and young women, who I am sure would welcome some simple thoughts on this important subject of the last things.
     The things I say in this book are the age-old teachings of the Church. It is my aim to present these teachings in simple language which you can easily understand. Much has been written about this subject, but not much has been written specially for young people. This book is for you young people. Surely if you listen to the advice of Sacred Scripture and remember your last end, you will find it easier to keep out of sin and consequently be more sure of saving your souls. But just how can you remember your last end if you do not know very much about it? This little book will explain many things about the last things that you no doubt have often wondered about.
     Do not be upset if all your doubts are not settled by reading this book. Many things about the life after death are shrouded in mystery and darkness. God wants us to rely on faith. He has seen fit to leave us in the dark about many things of the next life. God has, however, revealed some facts about the next world. These truths are both terrifying and consoling, and when thought about seriously help us to keep God's law. I want to pass on to you these truths, lest you forget your last end and run the risk of meeting death unprepared.
     You older people will also find this book useful. Although written for the purpose of giving teen-agers and other young people clear and correct views on the last things, it will serve equally well for older readers who may wish to refresh their knowledge on the subject, or even at this late hour, to learn some of these truths for the first time.
     In writing this book I relied heavily upon the Manuale Theologiae Dogmaticae of J. M. Herve as my guide and authority. I am in debted also to the Theologiae Dogmaticae Compendium of H . Hurter, S.J., to A Companion to Scripture Studies by John E. Steinmueller, to the text and notes of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine revision of the New Testament, to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, to A Companion to The Summa by Walter Farrell, O. P., and to various other works. The doctrine contained in this present book is, of course, to be found largely in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, to whom we all owe acknowledgement and thanks.
     May this little book be of service to your soul. May it help you live a better life. And may we all meet in the next world as fellow citizens with the saints to enjoy our God, who has prepared such glorious things for those who love Him. Come, Lord Jesus!
                                                                                    I
                                                                               Death

     WE ARE ALL interested in the next world. We ought to be. It concerns each one of us. It is moreover very mysterious. A dark cloud hangs over that region beyond the grave. There are many things in this present life that are baffling enough, but when we begin to ponder the life after death, we are thrice bewildered.
     None of us can escape death. Each one of us will have to enter the mysterious world of the great beyond. Death and what follows must then be of vital and personal concern to each one of us.
     Death is the entrance into the next world. Death is the separation of soul and body, the disintegration or coming apart of a human being in such a way that the visible part of man, the body, lies helpless and dead, while the spiritual part of man, the thinking, knowing, feeling, conscious soul passes on, still alive, into the shadows of life's night.
     How often we have paid our respects to the departed! You probably have stood before a
casket and gazed thoughtfully on a face of death. A face that once was lit by a human smile, now wears a mask of death. Those features, once so supple and vibrant, are now cold and rigid as if carved from eternal rock. A face that once responded to our every word and emotion now lies there motionless and cold. If we touch the immobile features, a cold chill runs through our veins. We stand in the presence of death.
     No one doubts the reality of death. It is a fact so certain as to convince one sceptical of almost everything else. A scoffer might reject a life after death, might even question the reality of this present life, but in the presence of death he can do little else but admit it .
     It is Catholic doctrine that in death the human body and soul are separated. As long as both are united, the person lives. As soon as they are separated, the person is dead. The Moment of Death Priests and medical men rightly wonder at what precise moment the soul leaves the body. It is difficult to say. Motion is a pretty sure sign of life. Putrefaction or decay is a sure sign of death. But in between evident motion and putrefaction there may be quite a span of time in which actual and complete death is reasonably doubtful.
     A person whose heart has ceased to beat and whose breath can no longer be discerned is apparently dead. There are the recognized signs of death: lack of pulse, no breath, dilation of the pupils, no reflex action when the eyeball is touched. The physician may pronounce him dead. No means at present known to science can revive him. He will before long be actually dead. But in the meantime the soul may still be lingering in the body. That is why a priest called to a Catholic seemingly dead will give conditional absolution and conditional Extreme Unction. If the person is not yet fully dead and if, before losing consciousness, he has been rightly disposed, the sacraments will aid him. If death has already taken place, the sacraments cannot touch the soul which is already far off in eternity, beyond the reach of the sacraments,  which are for wayfarers on earth.
     A priest might administer the sacraments conditionally to one apparently dead a half hour after he seemed to die, or even two hours after, if death was sudden. When one wastes away by sickness, actual death probably comes soon after apparent death. But when a man, say, in vigorous and robust condition is suddenly knocked down in an accident, the soul may linger on in his body for quite some time.
                                                                              
                                                                            Death's Finality

     Death is an absolute thing. A person is either alive or dead. There is no such thing as being half-dead. However, we can think of a person dying by inches, so to speak. In much the same way as we think of life departing from an amputated arm or leg, so we can conceive of life as receding from the extremities of the body, while lingering still in its more vital parts.
     Death is the most important event in the life of a Christian. For as we die, so we will remain forever. As long as body and soul are together we can always change one way or the other. We can fall into sin, or repent. We can get better or worse. Death, however, falls with a terrific finality. It fixes us forever in the condition of soul which we happen to be in at that all - important moment.
     No wonder then that the Church has us say in the Hail Mary: "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." If we obtain Mary's help to live a good life now, we will have less reason to fear the hour of death; for as we live, so we shall die.
     As long as we are alive and in the state of sanctifying grace, we gain merit by every good action that we perform, even by the ordinary daily actions of life that do not seem to be very important. But death stops all that. Merit ends at death. And as we have lived here on earth, so we will be rewarded. The time of work is over. The night has come in which no man can work. The separated soul leaves its companion, the body. It is immediately judged and assigned to its proper place. But just what can it do or move?
      As a matter of fact, it can do all those things, because the soul is a spirit, and a spirit has understanding and will.
     The body is, after all, a kind of burden. A spirit does very well without a body. God the Father has no body. Yet He is perfection itself. The Holy Spirit guides and sanctifies the Church without employing a body. The angels have no bodies. But we human beings do have bodies. Our bodies are meant to be united to our souls. And after the resurrection our bodies will be reunited with our souls. Man, since he is made up of body and soul, is incomplete without the body. But even so, the soul as a spirit can live without the body, as it actually does for the interval—who knows how long it will be? — between death and the final resurrection.

                                                                        The Soul After Death

     The separated soul knows what it learned when in the body; it knows also what God chooses to let it know after death. It can communicate with other separated souls in the same way as angels communicate with one another. The separated soul does not know everything. But it can know facts about people living on earth, either by speaking with other souls lately come from earth, or by speaking with angels, or even by listening to the voice of God.
     The separated soul will never cease to be. Strictly speaking, God could annihilate a soul. He could make it cease to be, just as he once made it begin to be. But He does not. Once He has created a soul, He keeps it in existence forever. God Himself never had a beginning, and He will never have an end. We have had a beginning at some definite point in time; but once put in existence, we continue on without end.
     Death which seems such a final thing to us is not final at all. It is but one episode in our complete life. In death, as in life and as in eternity, the soul lives on. Once in existence it stays in existence forever. Death then has reference to the body. It is the body that is left behind cold and helpless. The soul continues to live on. Even the body is destined for resurrection. Death, then, is the temporary separation of body and soul, while the soul maintains its undying life without the body for a time. All men will die. Death is a punishment for sin. It is the common lot of all men to die. According to God's original plan, man was to live here on earth for a time and was then to be taken alive into heaven. Freedom from death was one of the special gifts given to our first parents. By their sin they lost this privilege for themselves. Adam lost this privilege for all his descendants. Now we must die the death.
     There are two interesting characters in the Bible who were taken to heaven alive, Enoch and Elias. Some of the Fathers of the Church hold that these two men will never die. Others, however, think that they will die at the end of the world. As for all the rest of us, we are certain that we shall all die. We cannot expect to be translated to paradise like Enoch, or to be taken up in a fiery chariot like Elias. It is certain that we will die.

                                                                        Death's Uncertainty

     But what remains most uncertain is the time of our death. Our Lord says that death will come like a thief in the night. The only wise way to live, then, is to be ready always to die. And as we live, so we shall die. As we die, so we shall remain forever. Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
     When we live in a pagan atmosphere, we tend to imitate the ways of pagans. We get paganistic in our own outlook. This is particularly true regarding the subject of death. People who have no correct view of death, who have no real faith in the reality of life after death, take the attitude that death is something gruesome, something to be ignored as long as possible. When it must be met, let it be met, but let us cloak its reality in a mantle of make-believe. So the pagans think, and so they act. We have to be on our guard lest we think as they think.
     First of all, death, though a profoundly moving thing, is not properly gruesome. It is not something to run away from or even just ignore. Rather it is a beautiful and consoling subject on which to meditate. We ought to think often about death. Our concern is not to forget it , but to keep it continually in mind. If we forget about death, we will live for the present only, indulging in all the excesses to which human nature is prone. But if we are constantly mindful of death, we will live the present well so asto enjoy the future all the more. We ought by all means to cure ourselves of the "gruesome fear" attitude toward death, and develop the "wholesome-fear" attitude towards it.
     The wild, neurotic fear of graveyards and ghosts is a state of mind unworthy of a stable personality, and especially unworthy of a good Christian who places his trust in God. A cringing superstitious fear of death is foolish. We should, however, fear death to the extent that we have reason to fear that, at the hour of death, we might not be found worthy of heaven.
     Therefore, we will see to it that our lives become better and that our salvation is consequently rendered more secure. A fear that would make us run from death is bad. A fear that makes us keep God's law and that enables us to meet and face death with courage is good.

                                                                 Attitudes Toward Death

     The exaggerated grief of persons without faith, who without restraint wail at the supposedly utter and final loss of a dear one, is most un-Christian. Why be hysterical at the loss of one who is not lost at all, but safe in the arms of God? Why feel that we have lost one forever, when as a matter of fact the parting is but temporary? Excessive grief comes from lack of faith in the life after death.
     Or consider the stoic, rational sort of pagan, who sees no need to be sad, when sadness cannot alter the fate of one who has ceased to be. Total lack of grief also bespeaks a pagan mind. Christian sorrow at the passing of a dear one lies between these two extremes. We are sad at the temporary loss of one we love. We are borne up by the faith that we will meet again. We remain bound together by mutual ties of love and affection. Our sorrow is tempered by joy; our joy is tinged with sorrow.
      Often at a wedding the bride's mother cries. She is both glad and sad. She rejoices that her daughter is entering the happy state of matrimony. She is sad to lose her child. Death is
something like that. It is a partial loss, a partial gain.
     Pagans cloak over the reality of death. They try to make it seem other than it really is. With a kind of irrational logic they act as if the person were only sleeping, whereas they believe he is dead with the finality of annihilation. They dress up a corpse in make-believe.  In nice-sounding language they carefully avoid all mention of or reference to death. Yet they believe in no after-life. They speak of sleep, but they mean death.
     By striking contrast, we Catholics speak of death, but we mean sleep. We are not nearly so concerned with covering up the fact of death. We openly admit that the person is dead, yet we firmly believe that the soul lives on and is destined to be reunited with the body. Every time we gaze on the face of a departed brother, we can borrow the words of our Lord to the effect that this person is not dead but sleeping, as once our Lord said of the girl in the gospel, "The girl is asleep, not dead" (Mark 5, 40).
     The very word "cemetery" means a sleeping place or dormitory, as if the departed were merely resting for a night. The dawn of resurrection will dispel this night of death. Our dear departed are, in fact, merely resting until the resurrection. Quite aptly do we use the word cemetery to designate their resting place. It was, and still is, a practice of the Church to bury persons facing the East, where the sun rises. They are, as it were, in position to greet Christ the Orient, Christ the Rising Sun, when He breaks forth over the hills on resurrection morn. As the body of the deceased is laid in the earth, the canticle Benedictus is sung. The final words of that inspired poem speak of Christ rising from on high to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
     How can we be prostrate with excessive grief, or yet be cold and unmoved, when we lovingly lay to rest our departed brother? For we tenderly await with him the splendor of Christ's coming when we will all be reunited in God's own home where shines perpetual light. "Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon him."
                                                                                         Source:  Come The End, Imprimatur 1951