The Ordinary and the Propers

A lot of composers wrote Requiems...Mass for the Dead...and it is the inclusion of the Dies Irae/Day of Judgment that puts the ordinary Mass into the "propers" (think "proper" for the occasion/day rather than what is "ordinarily" celebrated).  This Day of Judgment thing....is it terrible as in the Verdi Requiem, contemplative when heard in chant, or omitted in the Durufle Requiem and a Pie Jesu put in its place...a set of movements of transcendent beauty and allure. God may smit with a mighty and terrifying hand on judgement day but in this time of death and transfiguration, someone sees the world aright...as precious and as wonderful as a child.