The Resurrected Body

Easter is a time for reflection on many things: the victories Christ has won for us over sin, the  flesh, the devil, death and hell. We also receive a pledge of the joy and peace and light and transformation He promises through the witness of His own Paschal mystery, the promise of empowerment with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the call to mission, and many other things besides. Perhaps one thing we do not reflect upon as much as we should, is the body, and the promise that Jesus brings to us in the qualities of His own resurrected body.

"Sacred Scripture and Catholic theology teaches that our glorified resurrected bodies will experience four properties as an outflow of the beatified soul enjoying the vision of God’s essence:

1) Impassibility – the glorified body will no longer suffer physical sickness or death, as Saint Paul teaches regarding the glorified body in 1 Corinthians 15:42, “It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption.”

2) Subtlety meaning that we will have a spiritualized nature in the sense of a spiritual body as did our Lord as we learn at 1 Corinthians 15:44: “It is sown a corruptible body, it shall rise a spiritual,” i.e. a spirit-like, “body.” We see that Christ’s glorified body was able to pass through closed doors.

3) Agility – the glorified body will obey the soul with the greatest ease and speed of movement as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:43: “It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power,” that is, according to a gloss, “mobile and living.” Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “But mobility can only signify agility in movement. Therefore the glorified bodies will be agile.” We discern agility our Resurrected Lord’s ability to bilocate and travel great distances in an instant.

4) Clarity – the glorified body will be free from any deformity and will be filled with beauty and radiance as we read at Matthew 13:43: “The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” and Wisdom 3:7: “The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.” Here clarity refers not to being “clear” but to being “bright.”

St. Thomas Aquinas at Summa Contra Gentiles, IV, 86 summarized: “thus also will his body be raised to the characteristics of heavenly bodies — it will be lightsome (clarity), incapable of suffering (impassible), without difficulty and labor in movement (agility), and most perfectly perfected by its form (subtlety). For this reason, the Apostle speaks of the bodies of the risen as heavenly, referring not to their nature, but to their glory.”

It is worth noting that the Virgin Mary has already received her glorified and resurrected body. Hence, she has the four gifts of the resurrection." Dr. Taylor Marshall

Sickness brings reflections such as these into sharper focus quickly. Jesus wasn't raised from the dead in the same way that He raised Lazarus, or the widow's son or the little girl whom He said was "sleeping." For they were all destined to die again. Likewise here. We receive healing for a time, but then must pass through the doors of death in order to be completely healed for all eternity.

Our bodies are corruptible because of sin, but we shed them in dying in order to be completely healed and made fit for the glorified body in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus gives us a vision of the way. It is always through the Paschal Mystery, to Calvary and then to Resurrection.

In the work here at Hope 4 Cancer, the experience is the same. No one is in denial that the entrance into eternity passes over the threshold of death. The healing work here with light and sound and oxygen and immunotherapy and nutrition and detox, works on principles of healing that go far beyond just the bodily effects. The link between body, soul and spirit is incredibly deep. The body can be a load upon the spirit. Likewise a sick spirit can affect the body and lead to illness and an untimely death.

But this is not God's will according to Isaiah, for a day will come when:

"No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed." Is 65:20

So is God the source of sickness? No. Does He will us to die before our time? No. This is the work here: healing and restoration unto the purposes of the Lord and the destiny He has given us. And in the meantime, God takes into His loving embrace all those who, for reasons unknown to us, die untimely deaths. He brings forth good from the lives of the young we will only fully appreciate in eternity.

Continue your prayers for Sr. Lucina. She is fighting a battle here. Some days are full of victories and others are days where she needs reinforcement from the ranks (meaning your prayers and support and encouragement.)

Below are some pics of last night's supper which was a special event, a buffet that drew everyone together in a festive spirit. I will post a little clip also on facebook for those interested. In the meantime you continue to be in our prayers as well in thanksgiving and petition for each of your own needs before our Good and Gracious Father in Heaven!