Excerpts from

The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma

by Dr. Ludwig Ott

1. Book 5: God the Consumator
   1. Section 1: The Doctrine of the Last Things
      1. Chapter 1: The Eschatology of the Individual Human Being
         1. Death
            1. The Origin of Death
               1. In the present order of salvation death is a punishment for sin. (De fide.)
               2. The Council of Trent teaches in the Decree on Original Sin, that Adam became subject to sin by the transgression of the Divine commandment, that God had previously threatened him with death, and that he transmitted death to the whole of mankind.
               3. St. Paul teaches in the most definite manner that death is a consequence of Adam’s sin.
               4. “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12)
               5. St. Augustine defends the clear teaching of Revelation against the Pelagians, who denied the gifts of the original state, and, therefore, regarded death as arising exclusively from the natural decomposition of the human being.
               6. In the case of those justified by grace, death loses its penal character and becomes a mere consequence of sin (poenalitas). For Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Mother Mary, on account of their freedom from original sin, death was neither a punishment for sin nor a mere consequence of sin. In view of the constitution of human nature, death for them was, however, natural.
            2. Generality of Death
               1. All human beings subject to original sin are subject to the law of death. (De fide.)
               2. St. Paul bases the universality of death on the universality of original sin (Rom. 5:12).
               3. “It is appointed to men once to die.” (Hebr. 9:27)
               4. Individual human beings can, however, by special privilege, be preserved from death.
               5. Holy Writ says of Henoch that he was translated without seeing death … (Hebr. 5; cf. Gn. 5:24; Ecclus. 44:16),
               6. and of Elias, that he drove up to Heaven in a whirlwind (4 Kings 2:11; 1 Macc 2:58).
               7. St. Paul teaches that those of the just who are living when Christ comes again will not “fall asleep” (= die), but will be immediately transformed. (Cor. 15:51)
               8. “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep; but we shall all be changed.” (Thess. 4:15)
            3. Significance of Death
               1. With death the possibility of merit or demerit or conversion ceases. (Sent. certa.)
               2. It is a fundamental teaching of Holy Writ that the reward in the next world is proportional to the merits or demerits of life on earth. According to Mt. 25:34 et seq., the Judge of the World makes His sentence dependent on the performance or neglect of good works on earth. The rich reveller and the poor Lazarus are separated from each other in the other world by an unfathomable abyss (Luke 16:26). The period of earthly life is the “Day,” the time for work, the period after death is the “Night, when no man can work” (John 9:4).
               3. St. Paul teaches: “All must be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath done (on earth), whether it be good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:10.)
               4. Thus he enjoins us to do good, “whilst we have time” (Gal. 6:10). Cf. Apoc. 2:10. The Fathers …teach that the time for penance and conversion is limited to life on earth:
               5. St. Cyprian declares: “If one is departed from thence, then there is no longer any possibility of penance, and expiation has no effect. It is here below that life is either lost or won”

References