I hesitate to call it the "afterlife" as he wasn't actually dead. But he appeared to have had a revelation, and I believe it is authentic.
I think every Catholic has some area of faith that is difficult for them. For me, it's the afterlife.
I'm quite happy being Catholic, and I don't "need" an afterlife as a reward for being Catholic. In fact, such a reward sounds too good to be true.
If God called me into that good night, and he had nothing else for me but unconscious repose, I could picture myself metaphorically shaking his hand and telling him "God, thanks for such a good life. You've made me really happy, you were really good to me."
Of course, that would leave open all kinds of question of justice and such-- after all, everyone should get what's coming to them, and that includes me.
I think this worldview has evolved from our focus on the here-and-now.
Our Church doesn't make us think a lot about our eternal soul.
The here-and-now is sufficient reason to be Catholic. My faith has helped me a lot.
Ultimately, God is our destiny. This is very abstract to us in this day and age. In centuries past, the faithful put a lot of stock in the afterlife. Consider what sparked the Reformation: the sale of Indulgences. You can sneer all you like at the scandal itself, it shows people cared where they were going after death.
Today, you can go years without hearing a priest mention the word "souls" and the Last Things.
That says something about why people don't go to Church. You can take care of the here-and-now without Jesus. But you can't face the afterlife without him.
