What happens to the Soul after death?

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What happens to our soul after we pass away? I’m confused because some say that Hell is state of being and some say that Hell is an actual place. Also, if we are to wait for His coming and the judging of the dead and alive, does this mean that no one is in Heaven now?
 
I think there is enough Scriptural evidence that something happens to our souls upon death before the final judgement. I was taught one can either: a) go straight to Hell upon death if in mortal sin, b) go to purgatory, or in rare cases, c) go straight to Heaven. It’s a good question. I think about Lazarus. He was dead three days and Jesus raised him from the dead. Of course Jesus is God and can do anything, but we can assume Lazarus’s soul was being held somewhere to be rejoined with his body. And we have the story of the rich man that died and went to hell - and the conversation he had with Abraham. He was quite permanently in hell - before the final judgement.
 
“Right now” has no meaning in the other life.

Collinear time is an effect of the entropy in our human bodies.

The other life lies in eternity. There is no waiting for restoration of life.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Been a long time since I have done anything other than lurk, but I could not resist. After years of reflection, spiritual reading, and prayers for discernment, here is a rough idea of how I think it works:

Yes, sadly, I believe some souls will be snatched off as soon as they leave their body, and be hurled into Hell. The rest will make their way to stand for judgement. That journey will be happy and triumphant for some, and rough and dreadful for others, depending on the condition of their soul and their spiritual preparations for that moment. In addition to the Rosary and other traditional forms of prayer, I believe the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Chaplet to Saint Michael the Archangel go a long way to prepare us for that journey. We are surrounded by both angels and demons, and the demons will be on us like a flock of seagulls after a French Fry, unless we have made prior arrangements for God’s protection, and also that of Blessed Mary and Saint Joseph, and hopefully our Litany and a whole bunch of angels.

Although I am certain that devout Christians, and especially devout Catholics, will be the best prepared for this, I believe anyone with a good heart who follows the Gospel, whether they know it or not (Hint: Conscience) will also have a chance to stand before our Lord Jesus, to recognize Him, and reach out to Him. Even a devout Muslim, Native American, etc., if they live the right life and have a good heart. I believe this is the moment when the words “No one comes to the Father but through Me” come into play. Whether or not we can recognize Him, and how clearly we can recognize Him will depend on the condition of our soul. If all we can see is a blur, especially if our heart is full of anger and resentment… I suspect it will not end well.

I urge everyone to read the book The Mystical City of God, and pay especial attention to the words of the Blessed Virgin to the author, which can be found at the end of most of the chapters. There is mention there of the ‘final combat’. There is also reference to this in the Chaplet to Saint Michael. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this book is valid.

All this life is, is just a little test. A chance for each of us to decide how we want to spend eternity. If only I had come to this realization sooner!

Find a way to bear fruit, and hopefully help to save souls.
 
Hell is a real place and people go there and never to get out. People we know are in hell right now and will never get out. At the time of our death, we will experience the Particular Judgement, just you and Jesus, no advocate, no lawyer, no excuses. Where we will be from that moment on and for eternity, heaven or hell, will be decided and there will be no second chance to change it. There are people in heaven right now. Canonized saints are declared by the Church as being in heaven, the only souls we know for sure where they are. At the Final Judgement, our souls will be reunited with our bodies and both will experience the pains of hell or the joy of heaven; there will be no further need for purgatory and it will cease to exist.
 
Catholic1954 said:
Hell is a real place and people go there and never to get out. People we know are in hell right now and will never get out. At the time of our death, we will experience the Particular Judgement, just you and Jesus, no advocate, no lawyer, no excuses. Where we will be from that moment on and for eternity, heaven or hell, will be decided and there will be no second chance to change it. There are people in heaven right now. Canonized saints are declared by the Church as being in heaven, the only souls we know for sure where they are. At the Final Judgement, our souls will be reunited with our bodies and both will experience the pains of hell or the joy of heaven; there will be no further need for purgatory and it will cease to exist.
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Does Catholic doctrine state that the bodies of the damned will be raised up as well?
 
Saphire said:
What happens to our soul after we pass away? I’m confused because some say that Hell is state of being and some say that Hell is an actual place. Also, if we are to wait for His coming and the judging of the dead and alive, does this mean that no one is in Heaven now?
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Here is the first part in a series about that - this first part on Purgatory, but some mention of Heaven also.
softvocation.org/2014/09/24/the-last-things-part-i/
Heaven will be in Part II
 
At the time of our death, we will experience the Particular Judgement, just you and Jesus, no advocate, no lawyer, no excuses.
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I don’t believe this to be accurate. Mary, for one, can be an advocate, as can others, such as the poor that we helped during this temporal life.
 
Vigilant said:
Does Catholic doctrine state that the bodies of the damned will be raised up as well?
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Yes, all the dead will rise, both the “just and unjust”.

From the Catechism:

V. THE LAST JUDGMENT

1038 **The resurrection of all the dead, “of both the just and the unjust,”**623 will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."624 Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."625

1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare.626 The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life:

All that the wicked do is recorded, and they do not know. When “our God comes, he does not keep silence.”. . . he will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . "I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would reach their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence."627

1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.628

1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation."629 It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the “blessed hope” of the Lord’s return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed."630​
 
If there is to be never any form of existence after we fall off our Perch,
Then we have a real problem Houston ,
 
Saphire said:
What happens to our soul after we pass away? I’m confused because some say that Hell is state of being and some say that Hell is an actual place. Also, if we are to wait for His coming and the judging of the dead and alive, does this mean that no one is in Heaven now?
Click to expand...
At death our soul leaves our body and goes up to heaven or down to hell or down to purgatory – all three are actual places and actual states of being. On the day of Final Judgment/General Judgment when every person ever created is summoned before God in each other’s company, all dead bodies will reunite with their souls and will go to the place judged by Christ for them. God bless you.
 
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