Life ever after

People who die too young become angels, and all dogs go to Heaven.

We got the idea about the dogs from the Hollywood movie, but where did we get the idea about the angels?

Probably from Italian Renaissance art and illustrations in religious cards. Certainly not from mythology about Lucifer, the fallen angel of light, who was cast out of Heaven after leading a failed rebellion against God. Infants can’t stage rebellions.

Our idea of dead infants going straight to Heaven must have been influenced by Italian artists’ depictions of putti — infants, mostly male and naked, with wings, and often confused with cupids and cherubs, who are lower in the heavenly totem pole than seraphs.

Cherubs and seraphs, archangels and angels — I don’t remember anyone teaching me the difference in my religion classes in my Catholic school. We preferred to keep things simple so we lumped them all together as angels.

What I remember being taught was that adult angels were supposed to watch over me constantly, and infant angels played with children.

The dead infants who automatically became angels I would hear about much later, during the deaths of babies in the family. And although by that time I had long stopped believing in Santa Claus, it was an immense source of comfort to believe that dearly departed children were not only in Heaven singing and playing the harp but also watching over grieving relatives.

Certainly we would not think of a departed infant in the form of Lucifer, the Morning Star and most exalted of the angels before his fall, who was banished to Earth with a third of the rebellious heavenly host, here to await Judgment Day for their final voyage to Hell. Now you see why there is such violence and chaos on this planet.

Those who have lived a virtuous life are supposed to be greeted by an angel upon their death; sinners, on the other hand, are picked up by one of Lucifer’s minions, often depicted wearing a hooded black robe that barely conceals a skull.

The uncertainty of where the spirit of the dead goes — and whether a spirit lives on at all after the body is destroyed — aggravates grief over the death of a loved one, and leaves many people sleepless after watching a good horror movie.

Robots are exploring Mars and the boundaries of the universe are being charted, but mankind is nowhere near finding out what happens after death, and if there is an afterlife.

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Those who don’t like the idea of everything ending with ashes to ashes, dust to dust can actually find some comfort in ghost stories. The existence of ghosts indicates that there is some form of life, another dimension for souls that live forever.

Many people, myself included, have seen relatives near death who said they could see or talk with loved ones long dead.

In our culture, these supposed conversations with the dead are seen as sure signs that an ailing person is near death himself.

These days it could also be considered a symptom of a worsening case of Alzheimer’s. But for relatives of the very ill, there is some comfort in the thought that someone — even if invisible to those who are alive and well — is keeping an ailing loved one company in his suffering.

There is additional comfort in the thought that at the end of life, there is a welcoming committee of familiar faces on the other side.

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Without such comforting thoughts, a person can go nuts contemplating an eternity of nothing beyond that grave marker.

It can be particularly scary if you have seen dead bodies in various stages of deterioration. Remembering those ghastly images from my crime reporting days, I am making sure I will be cremated when my time comes.

Even the Catholic faith is no great comfort, except for those who have led a virtuous life. For many of the faithful who are sinners, the idea of going to Hell and being condemned to eternal damnation, or even atoning for one’s sins in Purgatory, is not an enticing prospect.

We deal with this fear through humor, telling each other that Heaven must be a lonely place since everyone is in Hell. Or people make movies about dead people having love affairs with the living.

Devout Hindus and Buddhists at least seem pretty sure not only about life after death, but also that spirits live forever, reincarnating over and over.

Where do they base this certainty? In nothing other than faith. It’s the same faith that sustains the Catholic belief in angels and souls.

People who are trying to study paranormal phenomena still do not enjoy the respect of much of the scientific community. They are placed in the same league as people who believe in UFOs and those who actually believe in the theories popularized by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code.

One day a special camera might be able to capture ghosts on video. Filipinos aren’t waiting around for that day. Many of us believe in ghosts. Though running into one will probably give us a fatal heart attack, believing in ghosts also means believing that we will live forever.

Though it’s a scary idea, it’s a source of comfort as we commune with the dead.