941- The worry over death is highly vexing to many people. Why such worry if they have the whole future in front of them?
“It is wrong to have such apprehension, but what do you expect? Since early on, people have been persuaded that there is a hell and a heaven, and that they will most likely go to hell because they have been taught that whatever belongs to the realm of nature is a mortal sin for the soul.
Thus, when they grow up, and if they have any reason at all, they can no longer accept such a belief and become atheists or materialists. It is thus that they are led to believe that nothing exists beyond the present life. As for those who persist in their childhood belief, they fear the eternal fire that must burn them without destroying them.
“But death does not inspire any fear in the righteous, for faith gives them certainty about the future. Hope beckons them with a better life, and since they have practiced the law of charity, they have the assurance that in the world into which they will enter, they will not find anyone into whose eyes they will dread to look .” (See no. 730)
Carnal individuals are more connected to corporeal life than spiritual life, and while on earth they experience only its physical pains and pleasures. Their happiness consists in the fleeting satisfaction of all their desires. Their soul is constantly concerned with and affected by the vicissitudes of life, and hence it remains anxious and in constant torment. Death terrifies them because they have doubts about the future and because they believe that they must leave on earth all their affections and hopes.
Even while in this world, moral persons, who have raised themselves above the artificial needs created by the passions, experience pleasures unknown to materialistic persons. The moderation of their desires lends calmness and serenity to their spirit. Happy with the good they do, there are no disappointments, and vexations pass lightly over their soul without leaving any painful marks.
942- Won’t some people think that these counsels about happiness are a little banal? Won’t they see them as being commonplace or as platitudes, and won’t they say that the secret to happiness is to know how to bear up under misfortune?
“There are those who say that, and they are numerous. Many of them, however, are like ill persons for whom the doctor has prescribed a particular diet: they would like to be healed without any medications and continue to hand themselves over to indigestion.”
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