Got the ashes cleaned off your forehead yet? Me too.

Those ashes made me think of recent funerals, and of my husband's aunt. She died a while back and we were unable to attend the funeral. Sadly, she was a woman I have only met once in thirty years.

That's a common problem in modern families, separated by the large geographical distances. Sometimes circumstances never bring us together. Yet a few of Auntie's long-distance relatives made the cross-country trek to attend her wake and Mass of Christian Burial.

I did not have the opportunity to know this woman beyond mere acquaintance in this life, but as a Catholic I have hope that, one day, I may be delighted by her presence in the reality of heaven.

This may sound like a bold claim, and it is. It is precisely one of the boldest claims of our Catholic Faith.

The twelfth article of the Creed proclaims the radical hope that we believe in everlasting life. Our funeral liturgy attests to it.

Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven. (Preface of Christian Death I, Roman Missal)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has so much to say about eternal life, and what lies beyond the threshold of death.

The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life. When the Church for the last time speaks Christ's words of pardon and absolution over the dying Christian, seals him for the last time with a strengthening anointing, and gives him Christ in viaticum [a final Eucharist] as nourishment for the journey, she speaks with gentle assurance [in this Prayer of Commendation]:

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the almighty Father,
who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out upon you.
Go forth, faithful Christian!
May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God in Zion,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph, and all the angels and saints. . . .
May you return to [your Creator]
who formed you from the dust of the earth.
May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints
come to meet you as you go forth from this life. . . .
May you see your Redeemer face to face.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1020)

Everything we believe about death being "a step toward Christ" and a holy "going forth" is encapsulated in that text.

Our society doesn't like to think much about death. Yet, there is much to be gained, as a Christian, by reflecting on our death, and about our final destiny. This idea of uniting our death with the death of Jesus is the key to facing our own death with hope and, even, joy and peace.

The saints show us the way.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who died of disease as a young woman in her twenties, said this: "I am not dying. I am entering eternal life."

Note the boldness of her statement. Was St. Thérèse being merely sentimental or foolish? No! She saw the truth of this reality, and saw the opportunity to remind her loved ones of that fact. Recall that the Church underscores such truth by making Thérèse a Doctor of the Church. Her statement is found in the Catechism (Cf. CCC 1011).

St. Thérèse, and other saints like her, had a rich and vivid faith in the promise of everlasting life that we must strive to imitate. Death is only a threshold; it is not an end.

St. Teresa of Avila is another great example. She, too, is matter of fact: "I want to see God and, in order to see him, I must die." (Cf. CCC 1011)

If you read St. Paul's epistles, you will again encounter this lively faith in Christ that gives positive meaning to Christian death: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21):

In death, God calls man to himself. Therefore the Christian can experience a desire for death like St. Paul's: ‘My desire is to depart and be with Christ.' (Phil. 1:23.) He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par 1011)

The reality is that the seed of eternity lies within each one of us. But for it to sprout, we must die.

And that brings me back to Auntie, and all the rest we mourn. We say to you what the Church dares to pray: Go forth, Christian soul, in the name of God . . . May you see your Redeemer face to face! And wait for us, dear one, wait for us. We are still taking our steps toward Christ, until we, like you, take the Final Step.

May we approach that day, as our Church beckons, with the confidence of the saints.