Part 3 (1/2)

On the resurrection day, all these defects and blemishes disappear, and the human body is again, far more than in the beginning, a masterpiece of G.o.d's creative power, wisdom, and love. For every member, organ, and feature will then be exquisitely shaped and proportioned, so as to harmonize into a perfect whole of surpa.s.sing beauty, without defect or deficiency of any kind. Oh! with what rapturous delight will the soul reunite herself with that beautiful body, and make it her temple forever! It was the companion of her sorrows and her joys in this world. But it was, too, a body of sin and death, and she had, perhaps more than once, sighed and prayed to be delivered from it. But now that it is purified, beautiful, and glorified, she re-enters it with joy, because it is become the fit companion of a beatific spirit. The fond mother meeting her long-lost child, and, in the joy of her heart, pressing it to her bosom, is a faint image of the joy which the soul will experience in the reunion with her glorified body.

But this is not all. St. Thomas maintains* that, besides rising in perfect beauty of form, all the just must rise in the bloom and vigor of youth; otherwise our bodies would not, according to promise, rise conformable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ. From this doctrine it follows that all defect, or appearance of old age, as well as the infirmities and deficiencies of infancy, will be completely removed, and all the saints will enjoy the full perfection of human nature.

What consolation there is in all these glorious promises! To be forever young and vigorous, forever blessed with perfect health of mind and body, to be forever beyond the reach of time, which destroys all beauty here below; to be clothed with a body that shall forever be a stranger to suffering: these are some of the joys in store for the children of G.o.d in the resurrection of the body.

* Respondeo dicendum, quod h.o.m.o resurget absque omni defectu humanae naturae: quia sicut Deus humanam naturam absque defectu inst.i.tuit, ita sine defectu reparabit. Deficit autem humana natura dupliciter. Uno modo quia nondum perfectionem ultimam est consecuta. Alio modo, quia jam ab ultima perfectionis recessit. Et primo modo deficit in pueris, secundo modo deficit in senibus. Et ideo, in utrisque reducetur humana natura per resurrectionem, ad statum ultimae perfectionis qui est in juvenili aetate, ad quam terminatur motus augmenti, a qua, incipit motus decrementi.--S. Thom. Suppl. q. 81, art. 1.

However, this is not all. Rising in glory means something more than rising in mere beauty of form, bloom of youth, and the complete perfection of human nature. It also implies a radiant brilliancy wherewith the just will s.h.i.+ne on the resurrection day. This is one of the meanings of glory in the language of Scripture. Take the following as an instance out of many: ”And when Aaron spoke to all the a.s.sembly of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness: and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.”*

That is, a brilliant and dazzling splendor burst forth in the heavens. So, also, when Jesus was glorified in his transfiguration, ”His face did s.h.i.+ne as the sun, and his garments became white as snow.” Moreover, as a general rule, when celestial inhabitants appeared in this world, they were surrounded with a halo of brilliant light; as we read of the angels who appeared at the birth of Christ, and of those who appeared to the holy women that were going to embalm the body of Jesus. Hence it is that in the paintings of Christian art, the head, or the whole body of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the saints, is always surrounded by this halo of light.

* Exod. xvi.

This is the light, the brilliancy which is promised to the saints by our Blessed Lord himself, when He says: ”Then shall the just s.h.i.+ne as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”* Thus shall the soul that is now united to G.o.d, in the Beatific Vision, and already a partaker of the divine nature, communicate her own dazzling splendor to the body, and surround it with an aureola of glory, which will form a portion of her blessedness for evermore.

* Matt. xiii.

But, although all the just must rise in glory and in the perfection of human nature, you must not, therefore, infer that all shall rise in the same degree of beauty and splendor of form. For, as the resurrection is a reward to the just, it follows that each one shall have a body glorified in proportion to his own individual merits. Any contrary doctrine would sound like heresy. If you were told, for instance, that the murderer who dies on the scaffold, after making an act of perfect contrition, will rise on the last day with a body as beautiful and glorious as that of the Blessed Virgin, or of the Apostles, martyrs, and holy virgins, your whole soul would revolt at such a doctrine. You would maintain, that if the resurrection is a reward to the just, the beauty of their bodies should bear some proportion to their merits. You would certainly be right in maintaining this; for it is the very doctrine taught by St. Paul, when he says: ”One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars, for star differeth from star in glory: so also in the resurrection of the dead.”* Each one, therefore, shall rise in that particular degree of glory which he has deserved by the more or less holy life he has led in this world.

* 1 Cor. xv. 41.

It will no longer be as it is in this world, where personal beauty is a free gift of G.o.d, but no reward. Hence we see personal beauty in pagans and infidels, as well as in Christians. Its possession does not, in the hast, denote sanct.i.ty; nor does its absence denote moral depravity; and, therefore, beautiful persons may be very wicked, while deformed ones may be very holy. Not so after the resurrection.

Perfect personal beauty, accompanied with a heavenly splendor, being one of the rewards in store for the children of G.o.d, will then denote sanct.i.ty in the just. The more holy they have been in this life, the more beautiful and conformable to the glorious body of Jesus they shall be.

Now, Christian reader, do you wish to possess faultless personal beauty in your heavenly home? Do you desire, not only to increase your own blessedness, but to be even an ornament in the kingdom of your Father? No doubt you do. Well, you have the means in your hands.

Lead a holy life, a life of purity and perfect charity. Endeavor to reproduce in yourself the virtues which Jesus taught and practised; and when the angel's trumpet calls the dead to life, your body, which must first be sown in dishonor, shall rise in that degree of beauty which you have deserved by the holiness of your life.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE RISEN BODY.

Having seen the personal beauty and splendor in which the just will rise on the last day, we shall now examine some other attributes of the glorified body. St. Paul tells us: ”It is sown an animal body, it shall rise a spiritual body.”*

* 1 Cor. xv. 44.

Rising a spiritual body does not mean that the bodies of the just shall be changed into spirits. Our bodies, which are material by nature, must remain so forever. They must rise in conformity to the glorious body of Jesus Christ, ”who will reform the body of our lowness made like to the body of His glory.” And what kind of a body had Jesus Christ, when he arose triumphant over death and h.e.l.l? It was certainly His own material body of real flesh and blood, and not a spirit. When he appeared to his apostles, as St. Luke tells us, ”they, being troubled and affrighted, supposed that they saw a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do these thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have.”* a.s.suredly, here is a true body of flesh and blood and bone, and not a spiritual one--in the sense that matter does or can become a spirit. It is the very same body in which He suffered such terrible tortures and agonies during his bitter pa.s.sion.

* Luke xxiv.

So shall we rise on the last day, in our own material body of flesh and blood, with every organ and member glorified and made conformable to the body of Jesus Christ. According to the teachings of St.

Thomas, our bodies shall rise of the same nature as they now are. For glory does not change or destroy nature, but perfects it.* Evidently, then, rising a spiritual body does not mean that our bodies are to be changed into spirits. What then does it mean? It means that, while retaining their essential material nature, they will be clothed with properties which naturally belong only to spirits, and not to bodies.

These we shall now examine.

* Ponere enim corpus transire in spiritum est omnino impossibile. Non enim transeunt invicem nisi quae in materia communicant. Spiritualium autem et corporalium non potest esse communicatio in materia, c.u.m substantiae spirituales sint omnino immaterialia. Impossibile est igitur quod corpus humanum transeat in substantiam spiritualem....

Similiter etiam impossibile est quod corpus hominis resurgentis sit quasi aereum et ventis simile.--S. Thom., Cont. gent., lib. 4, c. 84.

1. In the first place, rising a spiritual body implies that the glorified body will no longer need food, drink, and sleep, to sustain life and strength, as it now does. The risen body will, therefore, in this respect, become like a spirit, which needs neither food nor drink. Eating is a necessity of the present life, and makes our bodies animal. This necessity will no longer exist after the resurrection. When we reflect upon this, it seems to us that nearly one half of human life, and of its energies, are expended upon this one thing of eating, providing, and preparing food. Fields must be sown, and crops must be raised; grain must be ground; cattle must be cared for almost as children; s.h.i.+ps must cross and recross the ocean; and all this to prepare food and raiment for our vile bodies. What a slavery this is! The soul, that n.o.ble image of the living G.o.d, instead of giving her time to the developing of her faculties and the contemplating of G.o.d and His works, must provide and prepare food for the body. Rising a spiritual body will forever emanc.i.p.ate us from this slavery.