 |
 |
 |
 |
Q:My question is about reincarnation. This thought occurred to me as I was saying my prayers one day, and was brought about because of all the fighting, wars, and starvation going on in the world today. Would I be so wrong to think that maybe we have been reincarnated, and that for those that are suffering so badly in this world, this is their hell on earth? Why is it that we in Canada and the United States seem to have so much more than others around the world? And why is there so much suffering that there is nothing anyone could do to help? My niece brought up a point "that God is either all-loving or all-powerful". I said that he is both but she says that it cannot be. If he were all-loving there would be no suffering (this is where I thought that maybe our punishment from a past life might come in). Also, if he were all-powerful he would end all suffering.
(Daphne)
Dear Daphne:
The topic of reincarnation seems to come up quite frequently these days, possibly due to the influence on our culture of Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism , and possibly because the media, the entertainment industry in particular, seem drawn to stories about the afterlife, and to things like spiritualism and 'channelling'.
Your question leads us into a branch of theology known as 'eschatology', which is the doctrine concerning the last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. According to Catholic teaching, and the teaching of many other Christian Churches, the eternal destiny of each soul is determined by God immediately after death in what is known as the 'particular' judgment. "Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified" enter heaven immediately and experience the glory of the beatific vision. (Catechism: 1023). Souls that leave the body in a state of grace but which still require purification are assured of salvation, though they must first undergo a cleansing in purgatory until they achieve the holiness necessary for heaven. (The latter is exclusively a Catholic teaching) Finally, those who die in mortal sin without repentance are excluded from communion with God in a place or state known as hell.
You will notice above that we speak of the 'eternal' destiny of each soul, and make no mention at all of any resumption of a temporal existence back here on earth, as described in various theories of reincarnation, all of which are incompatible with Catholic teaching. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When 'the single course of our earthly life' is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: 'It is appointed for men to die once.' There is no 'reincarnation' after death." (1013)
The New Testament "repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith." (Catechism: 1021) The disparity between the rich and the poor worldwide, which quite properly concerns you, can be seen in the light of this last judgment as a heavy responsibility on all of us, but especially those who have been blessed with abundance, for the Lord has told us quite clearly that "to whom much is given, much will be expected" (Luke 12:48). One of the problems with belief in reincarnation, as you describe it, is that it would seem to encourage a kind of passivity when it comes to helping others. If someone is suffering, it would be all too easy to dismiss the affliction as a deserved punishment for some transgression in a past life, and do nothing. In contrast, Christ tells us that 'love your neighbour' is one of the greatest commandments (Mk 12: 28-32), and that after death we will all be held to account for our treatment of the less fortunate.
"Then he will say to those on his left hand, in their turn, Go far from me, you that are accursed, into that eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you never gave me food, I was thirsty and you never gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you did not bring me home, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison, and you did not care for me. Whereupon they, in their turn, will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? And he will answer them, Believe me, when you refused it to one of the least of my brethren here, you refused it to me." (Matthew 25: 41-46)
As to the mystery of suffering, we must always try to see it through the eyes of faith, difficult as that may be at times, especially when we personally experience it or witness it. Even Christ himself "grew dismayed and distressed" (Mark 14: 33-34) in the Garden of Gethsemani at the prospect of his own impending suffering , but he did not invoke his all-powerful divine nature to save himself:
"...though he was in the form of God, (he) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2: 6-9)
Just as Christ 'emptied himself' to become like us in suffering, so we can be filled with Christ when we unite ourselves to him in our own sufferings:
Those who share in Christ's sufferings have before their eyes the Paschal Mystery of the Cross and Resurrection, in which Christ descends, in a first phase, to the ultimate limits of human weakness and impotence: indeed, he dies nailed to the Cross. But if at the same time in this weakness there is accomplished his lifting up, confirmed by the power of the Resurrection, then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ's Cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man's weakness and emptying of self, and he wishes to make his power known precisely in this weakness and emptying of self. This also explains the exhortation in the First Letter of Peter: "Yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God"(75). (Pope John Paul II: On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, 1984)
God bless,
Father Norbert