In this article, Dr. Paul Chaloux discusses some of the themes in his new book Heaven’s Currency published by Sophia Institute Press.
Death is the necessary first step in the last Four things, the ending of life on earth. Death is the only one of the Last four things that the living have direct access to and therefore, its existence and inevitability are well documented. However it does not mean that everyone accepts its inevitability or that God is the lord of life. For instance, Sir Francis Bacon, an early proponent of the scientific method, set as its goal the preservation of life. This set up a parallel track were people turned to medicine for relieve rather than the promises of Christ when they face death. Virtually everyone, my included, seeks out a cure when they are ill but there comes a time when it becomes clear that there is not a proven medical answer to the problem. Despite the fabulous improvements in treatment technology, everyone still dies.
There are both philosophical and theological reasons for death. The universal design depends on death. A finite universe such as ours depends on death to supply resources for new life and even new growth of existing life. Without death, nothing would stop the population from exploding and all available resources to be consumed. This would create a paradox, since everyone has to eat to live and without death, eventually food would run out, causing death. Without death, there would be no gateway to judgment or to Heaven and hell, which motivates us to treat others with justice and love.
It is hard to think of a world without death, but it seems certain that it would be less enjoyable than the present earth and far short of the promises of Heaven. In fact, without death, it is easy to envision many different forms of dystopias, with less love, more crowds, and a greater stratification of society and widespread terror as the powerful accumulated the remaining resources and over time, there would be boredom as well as those in power ran out of things to interest them. Man would create his own Hell on earth, where he would live without God and all the benefits of Divine law and order.
In today’s secular society, the theological aspects of death are rarely, if ever, discussed. Although most people die in hospitals, the emphasis is clearly on finding a medical cure rather than preparing the dying for death. Yet, as death approaches people naturally become concerned with the particulars of their own deaths—when it will come, how it will feel, and what will happen after it.
From an individual’s standpoint, the timing of our deaths is managed by God’s plan and likely involves several factors. One is our readiness to enter Heaven. The Book of Wisdom states that some people die young after pleasing the Lord, thus sparing them from future temptation (Wisd. 4:7–10). In the same way, it makes sense that a loving God may extend some people’s lives until they find Him.
Our interaction with others may also play a role in the timing of our deaths. There may be situations where our death is impactful for His plan. Some people die memorable deaths that save souls, others die atrocious deaths that serve as a warning for others. Either way, death has a unique role in Divine Providence. For example, children with fatal disabilities live short lives because their mission in life is to teach their parents to love unconditionally and after they have completed their mission, they are called home by God, ending their suffering.
Some seek to control God or simply distrust His benevolence by taking their own lives, but this is regrettable because the act of suicide, when entered willingly and with full knowledge, separates us permanently from God. On the other hand, some people go to extraordinary lengths to stay alive, such as freezing their bodies in hopes of future technology reviving them. Technology will never save them; only Jesus can save them if they are willing to follow Him. Indeed, God remains the Lord of Life for all generations (CCC,1280).
If we trust in Christ and His Church, our mindset ought to be much different than those who do not know God. While others will lament their degradation and dependency, we can see them as signs of this world’s limitations and God’s promise of eternal life. We will be motivated to seek out the higher things, rather than wasting our time, energy, and resources on attaining material goods that will vanish with the existing world order on the Last Day (if they even last that long) (CCC, 1024).
We know that love is the eternal currency that cannot be lost or stolen, and it is the only thing you can take with you when you die. That gives us solace, ensuring us of the continued love from those we leave behind and the ones who died before us. But the greatest source of solace is seeing God face to face, which provides everything a human could desire (CCC, 2548). The hope of the Beatific Vision and the love of God is the reason we do not fear death. Without faith, hope, and charity, the theological virtues, fear abounds, as the best that exists without God is the unspeakable boredom of eternal nothingness.
Author Bio: Dr. Paul Chaloux
Paul Chaloux was born in Maine in 1960 to Paul and Dolly Chaloux, the oldest of 6 children. He grew up in Northern Virginia and attended public schools. After graduating with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Virginia in 1982, Paul worked for over 30 years as an engineer, manager, and strategist for IBM in upstate New York. While there, he also served as a catechist for 15 years at St. Columba Parish in Hopewell Junction, NY. In 2015, after earning a master’s degree in religious education from Fordham University and retiring from IBM, Paul was accepted into the PhD program at the Catholic University of America to study Catechetics, with the goal of teaching future catechists. However, his plans changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s Disease just after moving to Washington, DC for his studies. His new neurologist, after learning that Paul was studying theology, asked him why people suffer. He had no answer since it was not his intended field of study, but the question intrigued him enough to cause him to take up the subject. Five years later, having earned his PhD in moral theology, Dr. Chaloux wrote Why We Suffer for general audiences as a follow on to his dissertation, The Grace Concealed in Suffering: Developing Virtue and Beatitude, which he defended at CUA on March 5, 2020. Dr. Chaloux currently teaches theology as an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and serves as a catechist at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, Virginia. He has been married for over thirty years to his wife Sue and they have 4 adult children and 3 granddaughters.
