why death?

from comment 9  http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2011/10/protestant-objections-to-the-catholic-doctrines-of-original-justice-and-original-sin/
I think the slam-dunk proof that has been frequently brought up for the Catholic view of nature and grace is the fact Adam was created immortal – but we know only God is immortal by nature. Since Adam was a creature, he should have aged and his body decayed at least a little every day, eventually leading to death (even if he lived to 900 years! Oh wait, he did). The only way Adam, a creature, could halt bodily decay and death is a special grace added to his nature. Another proof is the fact Adam needed divine gifts like faith to be able to believe and be in communion with God, otherwise there couldtn’t have been an initial intimate communion with God. Yet another proof is the fact Paul calls us “Temples of the Holy Spirit,” meaning the Holy Spirit is SUPPOSED to dwell in man, and thus had to have originally indwelt in Adam, else Christians have a human capacity that Adam lacked.

from comment 10 --a slight correction to the above statement

 angels are contingent beings, but they are immortal by nature, because they are spirits, not material beings. Otherwise immortality would be a supernatural gift, and not a preternatural gift.

from comment 12:

Of the four preternatural gifts (i.e. integrity, immortality, impassibility, and infused knowledge), Christ received integrity (i.e. absence of concupiscence) and infused knowledge. He did not receive the other two, because it was His mission to suffer and die for our redemption.

from  comment 19 http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2011/10/protestant-objections-to-the-catholic-doctrines-of-original-justice-and-original-sin/ :

As explained in “Nature, Grace, and Man’s Supernatural End: Feingold, Kline, and Clark” and “Lawrence Feingold on Original Justice and Original Sin,” according to a Catholic anthropology, human nature is distinguished from the four preternatural gifts (i.e. integrity, infused knowledge, impassibility, and immortality), and from the supernatural gifts of faith, hope, agape and sanctifying grace. When Adam sinned, he retained human nature intact, but he lost all four preternatural gifts, and he lost all the supernatural gifts. Because he lost the supernatural gifts, he was without the life of God, and dead in sin, living for himself in the curved-inwardness of Godless narcissism. Because he lost the preternatural gift of integrity, he acquired the disorder of concupiscence. Because he lost the preternatural gift of infused knowledge, he acquired the condition of ignorance. Because he lost the preternatural gift of impassibility, he became subject to suffering. And because he lost the preternatural gift of immortality he became subject to death. All his offspring likewise were born in this condition, i.e. with human nature intact, but without these preternatural and supernatural gifts. To be conceived and born without the supernatural gifts is to be conceived and born in what is called “original sin.”

from the same article:

in the Council of Carthage (AD 418) which was approved by Pope Zosimus:

Can. 1. All the bishops established in the sacred synod of the Carthaginian Church have decided that whoever says that Adam, the first man, was made mortal, so that, whether he sinned or whether he did not sin, he would die in body, that is he would go out of the body not because of the merit of sin but by reason of the necessity of nature, let him be anathema.

[note the same article stated that sinless Adam's body was mortal---so how this agrees with the Can 1 is stated by another comment 26:

The Canon is speaking of Adam as endowed with the preternatural gift of immortality; the second statement is referring to his body.

from Fr. Hardon here http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/God/God_013.htm

 The three gifts of bodily immortality, integrity and infused knowledge are called preternatural because they are not strictly due to human nature but do not, of themselves, surpass the capacities and exigencies of created nature as such. In other words, they are not entitatively supernatural.

Bodily immortality is the converse of mortality, i.e., the possibility of separation of soul from body. Adam was therefore capable of not dying. Yet the gift was conditional, provided he did not sin; it was gratuitous, since Adam's nature by itself did not postulate this prerogative but came from the divine bounty; and it was participated, since only God enjoys essential immortality.

and in this same document:

 Besides the Councils of XVI Carthage (DB 101) and orange (DB 174), the Council of Trent defined that "If anyone does not profess that the first man Adam… when he disobeyed the command of God in the Garden of Paradise…incurred the death with which God had previously threatened him…let him be anathema" (DB 788).

Later on, when Baianism was condemned by the Church, among the rejected propositions was, the claim that "The immortality of the first man was not a gift of grace, but his natural condition" (DB 1078). This corresponds to another condemned proposition of Baius, to the effect that "The integrity found in first creation was not a gratuitous elevation of human nature, but its natural condition" (DB 1026).

and

Patristic Evidence

The Fathers unanimously taught as a matter of faith that man in his primeval condition was gifted with immortality of body and soul. Thus Theophilus of Antioch explained that God made man neither mortal nor immortal, but capable of either, depending on whether Adam would sin or not (RJ 184). Tatian describes the Word of God “making man a sharer in His own divine immortality" (RJ 156). According to St. Cyprian, with the advent of the first sin there disappeared both man's integrity of body and immortality, which were a special grace of God (RJ 566). St. Athanasius taught that men who are by nature mortal would have been immortal, had they not sinned, thus rising superior to the powers of nature by the power of the Word of God (RJ 750). St. Ambrose says that God did not make death, but imposed it upon man as a penalty for sin, so that now he must return to the earth from which he came (RJ 1325). And St. Augustine held that man was mortal because he was able to die, immortal because he was able not to die, so that he was mortal conditionenaturae and immortal beneficio Dei (RJ 1699).

A Protestant answer found here http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/why-do-christians-die/

'There are many answers to this question. First, while the penalty for the sin of Christians has been paid, the Lord has not yet removed the presence and effects of sin from creation. Creation is groaning, waiting for the adoption of God’s children, which will be plain to all when our bodies are raised from the grave (Rom. 8:18–23). The full benefits of Christ’s work will not be consummated until He returns to bring the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21). We will suffer the results of sin until then, but we should be glad God did not wrap up His plan two thousand years ago. If He had done so, you and I would never have existed or seen His glorious grace.

Our deaths, as the Heidelberg Catechism states, do not pay the debt for our sins. Instead, they mark the point at which we enter directly into the presence of Christ (Phil. 1:21–23). The death of Christians is holy and precious to God. When we die, He receives us into heaven, where we rest before Him until the final resurrection.

And there is this:

Westminster Larger Catechism of 1647:

Q. 85. Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?

A. The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God’s love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon.

In this post is a partial answer http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/07/the-gospel-and-the-meaning-of-life/  below:

And yet He left in them certain effects of sin, the disorder of their lower appetites, and the susceptibility of their bodies to suffering and death. Why did He do that? To help them see that their true end is not this world, and to give them an opportunity for greater merit.¹⁰ The greater the trial, the greater the merit of the obedience through that trial.

Through the sin of Adam we all are born in a state of what is called “original sin.” That means that we are born deprived of the life and righteousness of God, darkened and separated from that for which we were originally made, i.e. fellowship with God. We are born without sanctifying grace.¹¹

So how do we receive sanctifying grace? Through Baptism, and subsequently through the Eucharist and the other five sacraments. Why through the sacraments? Because Christ, by His atonement on the cross, has merited this grace for us, and has established the sacraments as the means by which His grace would be given to us, in His Mystical Body, the Church. That is why we baptize babies, for through baptism they receive the sanctifying grace (i.e. participation in the divine life) that was merited for them by Christ on the cross, and thus their original sin is removed. This grace which is the participation in the divine nature, is absolutely essential for us to attain the Beatific Vision.

The message of the gospel is that through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the way to the Beatific Vision is open to all, by the grace that is given to all who believe and are baptized. Through Christ, the purpose for which we were created and our final ultimate end (i.e. the Beatific Vision) is opened up to us as a gracious gift.¹²

And yet this present life remains for us. Why? If the Beatific Vision is that for which we were created and that which we seek, then why are we here now? For the very same reason that Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden. This present life is for us a period of testing. If this present life were not a period of testing, then there would be no reason for us to be here, rather than in Heaven.¹³ But grace perfects nature; grace does not destroy nature. And so the grace that comes to us from Christ does not rob us of the gift and opportunity to participate in freely choosing and contributing to our own eternal end. This is the same gift given to Adam and Eve, and it is not lost in the New Covenant established by the Second Adam. The grace that comes to us from Christ, through the sacraments He has instituted in the New Covenant, vivifies and strengthens us, enabling us to be victorious through the test, in the midst of the trials and temptations and sufferings of this life.
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Not everyone in heaven is equally happy. Some are more blessed (i.e. happier) than others. Does that mean that some people in heaven are unhappy? No. Everyone in heaven is perfectly happy. As an illustration, consider a series of cups on a table. Each cup is a different size and thus is capable of containing a different volume, and each cup is filled completely to the brim. Are they all perfectly full? Yes. Do they each contain the same amount? No. Some contain more than others. Likewise, in heaven while all souls will be perfectly happy (i.e. filled ‘to the brim’ with love for God), some souls will have a greater capacity to love God, and since the degree of happiness depends upon the degree of love, therefore those who have a greater capacity to love God are happier than those who capacity to love God is less. How does that relate to our present life? Our capacity to love God in heaven is directly related to our choices here on earth. The more we love Him (and love others for His sake) here during this life, the more we will be capable of loving Him in heaven, and thus the happier we will be in heaven eternally.¹⁵ When we are in a state of grace, our acts done out of love for God merit more grace (i.e. a greater participation in the divine nature), and thus greater charity. And in this way, those who in grace live lives of loving obedience and sacrifice to God as Father, merit a greater eternal happiness.
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This relation between our present life and the life to come is the condition for the meaningfulness of our sufferings in this present life. The gospel shows us that suffering is an opportunity given to us to participate in our future blessedness by offering our present sufferings, in union with Christ’s sufferings, to God in self-giving sacrifice. Our suffering then takes on a whole different dimension, transformed from the occasion of a fist-shaking interrogation of God or cause for doubting His goodness or existence into the greatest opportunity to show Him trust and self-donation, without the least futility, knowing that it will be repaid a hundred fold.¹⁶This is why the Christian martyrs rejoiced when they were chosen for martydom, and why after being flogged the Apostles went away “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”¹⁷ Apart from the Gospel, much of our suffering seems gratuitous and even sinister. But in the light of the Gospel we see that our suffering is a gift, a gift of the same sort as this present life, but even greater. It is the gift of an opportunity to give ourselves entirely to God in the greatest possible expression of love, i.e. sacrifice: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”¹⁸
.......
Likewise, not only does everything we do have meaning, every thing that we do out of loving obedience to God increases the perfect happiness that we will have in beholding God in the Beatific Vision. Every day is an opportunity, among the limited opportunity that is our short life on earth, to serve God in loving sacrifice and obedience. Every day is a gift from God to participate in the preparation of our own eternal state, by giving ourselves to God freely and lovingly. In this way the Eternal Life manifested in the gospel makes every choice and decision in our present life eternally meaningful. The Gospel not only saves us from hell by opening to us the perfect happiness of the Beatific Vision; through the gospel our every choice and every sacrifice have eternal significance.

also here: http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/08/a-catholic-reflection-on-the-meaning-of-suffering/

this deals with why we are allowed to suffer--for example point 4 in this:

(4) To give us an opportunity to love God, to give God glory, to merit glory, and to participate in His work of redemption

With respect to suffering and evil, Christianity turns the atheistic position on its head. While the atheist sees suffering as evidence that God does not exist, the Christian sees suffering as a great gift from God. It is a gift of mercy by which we are being led to repentance and eternal life.³¹ It is also a gift by which we know that God is working some great good in us. In addition, it is another sort of divine gift, an opportunity to give something great to God, just as Christ did in accepting His sufferings. Finally, for a Catholic, suffering is an opportunity to participate in Christ’s sufferings, sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings.


also on this same post:

Contrast the Catholic perspective on suffering with that of what is called the “Health and Wealth” gospel. According to that position, since Christ on the cross paid the full price for the salvation of our soul and body, therefore, all Christians should be wealthy and healthy in this life. There is no point to suffering, because Christ has already suffered for us. All suffering must therefore be of the devil, due to a lack of faith. This is a logical extension of the error of monergism. The monergistic idea is that since Christ suffered for us, therefore we do not need to suffer. And since Christ’s suffering was redemptive, therefore our suffering is not redemptive. This position fails to recognize that in our suffering we are given the great gift, through our union with Christ, of participating in Christ’s own sufferings. Our suffering is not meaningless, but meaningful precisely because it is joined to Christ’s own sufferings, as a sharing in His suffering.

In Romans 8, St. Paul writes:

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.³⁴

This is the gospel; it is a gospel of suffering. “If any man would come after me… let him take up his cross daily.”³⁵ Elsewhere Jesus says, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”³⁶Only when we take up our cross can we begin to understand the meaning of redemptive suffering. We cannot see its meaning in the stance of resistance or distrust. And this is why the atheist cannot see it. Only from the stance of humble trust does the possibility of its meaning come into our field of vision.

For a Catholic, suffering is even an opportunity for merit. What do we mean by ‘merit’? Aquinas writes,

“Merit implies a certain equality of justice: hence the Apostle says (Romans 4:4): “Now to him that worketh, the reward is reckoned according to debt.” But when anyone by reason of his unjust will ascribes to himself something beyond his due, it is only just that he be deprived of something else which is his due; thus, “when a man steals a sheep he shall pay back four” (Exodus 22:1). And he is said to deserve it, inasmuch as his unjust will is chastised thereby. So likewise when any man through his just will has stripped himself of what he ought to have, he deserves that something further be granted to him as the reward of his just will. And hence it is written (Luke 14:11): “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”³⁷

In this way, by embracing the cross of suffering given to us in this life, those in a state of grace may merit an eternal reward. In 2 Thessalonians St. Paul says,

“We ourselves boast of you… for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you are suffering”³⁸

..................................

 According to the Church, one reason Christ does not remove concupiscence from us at baptism is precisely to allow us a greater opportunity for merit. By manfully resisting our disordered lower appetites, out of love for God, we merit a greater reward than would those without concupiscence.

........................

III. How do we participate in Christ’s Sufferings?

Because we are joined to Him, as members of His Body. Pope Pius XII wrote:

Because Christ the Head holds such an eminent position, one must not think that he does not require the help of the Body. What Paul said of the human organism is to be applied likewise to the Mystical Body: “The head cannot say to the feet: I have no need of you.” It is manifestly clear that the faithful need the help of the Divine Redeemer, for He has said: “Without me you can do nothing,” and according to the teaching of the Apostle every advance of this Mystical Body towards its perfection derives from Christ the Head. Yet this, also, must be held, marvelous though it may seem: Christ has need of His members. First, because the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff, who in turn must call on others to share much of his solicitude lest he be overwhelmed by the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by the prayers of the Church. Moreover as our Savior does not rule the Church directly in a visible manner, He wills to be helped by the members of His Body in carrying out the work of redemption. That is not because He is indigent and weak, but rather because He has so willed it for the greater glory of His spotless Spouse. Dying on the Cross He left to His Church the immense treasury of the Redemption, towards which she contributed nothing. But when those graces come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of sanctification with His Church, but He wills that in some way it be due to her action. This is a deep mystery, and an inexhaustible subject of meditation, that the salvation of many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the cooperation of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of families, a cooperation which they must offer to our Divine Savior as though they were His associates.⁴²

Because we are joined to Christ, our suffering is joined with His, and participates in the Redemption He accomplished. The New Testament authors teach this same thing.

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”⁴³

“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”⁴⁴

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh …. knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus.”⁴⁵

“That I may know him (Christ) and the power of his Resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”⁴⁶

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.⁴⁷

Does that mean that Christ’s work was insufficient? No, Christ’s work was sufficient for its purpose. But God has graciously allowed us to participate in Christ’s work of redeeming the world, the greatest of all God’s works"

and

"Offering it up

Spend enough time with Catholics, and you will hear the phrase, “Offer it up.” The phrase is typically heard as a reply to a list of personal woes. So what does this phrase mean? We are priests of God by our baptism.⁵³ We are not ministerial priests, who offer up the sacrifice of Christ upon the altar at holy Mass. But, as non-ministerial priests, we do offer something to God: our bodies, our actions, our labor, and even our sufferings.

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”⁵⁴

We offer up our lives and our sufferings formally, in the Mass, by consciously offering ourselves up with our sufferings, along with Christ to God the Father during the Offertory. Informally, we “offer it up” simply by asking God, in the midst of our suffering, to join our suffering to Christ’s, and to use our suffering."

The article concludes:

Conclusion

The relation between our present life and the life to come is the condition for the meaningfulness of our sufferings in this present life. The gospel shows us that suffering is an opportunity given to us to participate in our future blessedness by offering our present sufferings, in union with Christ’s sufferings, to God in self-giving sacrifice. Our suffering then takes on a whole different dimension, transformed from the occasion of a fist-shaking interrogation of God or cause for doubting His goodness or existence into the greatest opportunity to show Him trust and self-donation, without the least futility, knowing that it will be repaid a hundred fold. (Matt 19:26) This is why the Christian martyrs rejoiced when they were chosen for martyrdom, and why after being flogged the Apostles went away “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41) Apart from the gospel, much of our suffering would seem gratuitous and even sinister. But in the light of the gospel we see that our suffering is a gift, a gift of the same sort as this present life, but even greater. It is the gift of an opportunity to give ourselves entirely to God in the greatest possible expression of love, i.e. sacrifice: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus Christ, when He redeemed us with plentiful redemption, took not away the pains and sorrows which in such large proportion are woven together in the web of our mortal life. He transformed them into motives of virtue and occasions of merit; and no man can hope for eternal reward unless he follow in the blood-stained footprints of his Saviour. “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” Christ’s labors and sufferings, accepted of His own free will, have marvellously sweetened all suffering and all labor. And not only by His example, but by His grace and by the hope held forth of everlasting recompense, has He made pain and grief more easy to endure; “for that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.”(Rerum Novarum, 21)

see also:
http://principiumunitatis.blogspot.com/2009/02/monocausalism-and-temporal-nihilism.html

and here http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/03/aquinas-and-trent-part-3/

In Articles 5 and 6 Aquinas argues that death and bodily defects are results of sin, and are not natural to man. According to Aquinas in Article 5, sin is the cause of death and of all bodily defects, because sin removed the original justice our first parents enjoyed. By this original justice the lower powers of the soul were held subject to reason, without any disorder whatsoever. But original justice was not only the ordered harmony of the powers of the soul to each other; it also included the subjection of the whole body to the soul, without any bodily defect.¹⁵  Therefore, by the loss of original justice, our first parents lost the perfect subjection of the body to the soul. This is why the body is now subject to defect and corruption (i.e. bodily decay).

We might then ask why, when all our sin, both original and actual, is removed at baptism, the defects of the body remain. Aquinas answers:

Both original and actual sin are removed by the same cause that removes these defects, according to the Apostle (Romans 8:11): “He . . . shall quicken . . . your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you”: but each is done according to the order of Divine wisdom, at a fitting time. Because it is right that we should first of all be conformed to Christ’s sufferings, before attaining to the immortality and impassibility of glory, which was begun in Him, and by Him acquired for us. Hence it behooves that our bodies should remain, for a time, subject to suffering, in order that we may merit the impassibility of glory, in conformity with Christ.¹⁶

 According to Aquinas God does not without reason allow us to suffer in these decaying bodies during this present life. Through our suffering, we are conformed to Christ’s sufferings, and may merit the impassibility of glory, in conformity with Christ.

...........................................

In like manner the human body is the matter chosen by nature in respect of its being of a mixed temperament, in order that it may be most suitable as an organ of touch and of the other sensitive and motive powers. Whereas the fact that it is corruptible is due to a condition of matter, and is not chosen by nature: indeed nature would choose an incorruptible matter if it could. But God, to Whom every nature is subject, in forming man supplied the defect of nature, and by the gift of original justice, gave the body a certain incorruptibility, as was stated in the I, 97, 1. It is in this sense that it is said that “God made not death,” and that death is the punishment of sin.¹⁹

Just as iron is breakable and disposed to rust, though those are not the qualities for which it is chosen to be the knife’s matter, so likewise the body is corruptible due to a condition of matter (for matter is naturally corruptible) though its corruptibility was not the reason it was chosen to be that which the soul informed. More suited to the nature of the soul would have been an incorruptible body. But in forming man, God supplied [supplevit] the defect of nature [defectum naturae], and by the gift of original justice, which ordered the corruptible body to the incorruptible soul, gave to the body a certain incorruptibility [incorruptibilitatem quandam]. By “certain incorruptibility” here Aquinas means a mediated incorruptibility, one that is extrinsic to the body as such, and dependent upon its ordered  relation to something else. By the gift of original justice the body was not made intrinsically incorruptible, but by this gift the body was made incorruptible-by-relation to the soul. So when Adam and Eve forfeited their original justice through sin, they thereby forfeited the mediated incorruptibility their bodies had enjoyed. Death thus entered into the world, through sin.

also"

1 Corinthians 15:25-28

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 “For God[a] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under him,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.