Our bodies will share in the
Resurrection
H. H.
John Paul II
General Audience
November 4, 1998
1. “Our
commonwealth”, the Apostle Paul teaches, “is in heaven, and from it
we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly
body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him
even to subject all things to himself” (Phil 3:20-21).
Just as the Holy Spirit transformed the body of Jesus Christ when
the Father raised him from the dead, so the same Spirit will clothe
our bodies with Christ’s glory. St Paul writes: “If the Spirit of
him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also
through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).
2. From the start, Christian faith in the resurrection of the flesh
has encountered misunderstanding and opposition. The Apostle
experienced this firsthand when he was proclaiming the Gospel in the
middle of the Areopagus in Athens: “When they heard of the
resurrection of the dead”, the Acts of the Apostles recounts, “some
mocked; but others said, 'We will hear you again about this'” (Acts
17:32).
This difficulty has been raised in our time as well. On the one
hand, even those who believe in some form of survival after death
react sceptically to the truth of faith that clarifies this ultimate
question of human existence in the light of Jesus Christ’s
Resurrection. On the other, many have noted the fascination with a
belief like reincarnation, which is rooted in the religious soil of
certain Eastern cultures (cf. Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 9).
Christian revelation is not satisfied with a vague sense of
survival, although it appreciates the intimation of immortality
expressed in the teaching of some great God-seekers. We can also
agree that the idea of reincarnation arose from an intense desire
for immortality and from the perception that human life is the
“test” in view of an ultimate end, as well as from the need for
complete purification in order to attain communion with God.
However, reincarnation does not ensure the unique, individual
identity of each human creature as the object of God’s personal
love, nor the integrity of human existence as “incarnate spirit”.
3. The witness of the New Testament emphasizes first of all the
realism of the Resurrection, corporal as well, of Jesus Christ. The
Apostles explicitly attest to this when referring to their
experience of the risen Lord’s appearances: “God raised him on the
third day and made him manifest ... to us who were chosen by God as
witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead”
(Acts 10:40-41). The fourth Gospel also stresses this realism when,
for example, it recounts the episode in which the Apostle Thomas is
invited by Jesus to put his finger in the mark of the nails and his
hand in the Lord’s pierced side (cf. Jn 20:24-29). And in the
appearance at the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, the risen Jesus
“took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish” (Jn
21:13).
The realism of these appearances testifies that Jesus rose with his
body and lives with this body at the Father’s side. However, it is a
glorious body that is no longer subject to the laws of space and
time, transformed in the glory of the Father. In the risen Christ we
see revealed that eschatological state which all those who accept
his Redemption are one day called to reach, preceded by the Blessed
Virgin who, “when the course of her earthly life was finished, was
taken up body and soul into heavenly glory” (Pius XII, Apost. Const.
Munificentissimus Deus, 1 Nov. 1950, DS 3903; cf. Lumen gentium, n.
59).
4. Referring to the account of creation in the book of Genesis and
interpreting Jesus’ Resurrection as the “new creation”, the Apostle
Paul can thus say: “The first man Adam became a living being; the
last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor 15:45). In a
mysterious but real way, all who believe in Christ share in his
glorified reality through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, in Christ “all will rise again with the bodies which they now
bear” (Fourth Lateran Council, DS 801), but this body of ours will
be changed into a glorious body (cf. Phil 3:21), into a “spiritual
body” (1 Cor 15:44). When some ask Paul: “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body do they come?”, he answers them in the First
Letter to the Corinthians, using the image of the seed which dies in
order to open into new life: “What you sow does not come to life
unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but
a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.... So it is
with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what
is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in
glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown in
a physical body; it is raised in a spiritual body.... For this
perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal
nature must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:36-37, 42-44, 53).
Certainly, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “how”
this will come about “exceeds our imagination and understanding; it
is accessible only to faith. Yet our participation in the Eucharist
already gives us a foretaste of Christ’s transfiguration of our
bodies” (n. 1000).
Through the Eucharist Jesus gives us, under the appearances of bread
and wine, his flesh which is enlivened by the Holy Spirit and gives
life to our flesh, so that we can share in his Resurrection and
state of glory with all our being, spirit and body. In this regard
St Irenaeus of Lyons teaches: “Just as bread that comes from the
earth, after God’s blessing has been invoked upon it, is no longer
ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly
and the other heavenly: so too our bodies, which partake of the
Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but possess the hope of
resurrection” (Adversus Haereses, IV, 18, 4-5).
5. What we have said thus far, synthesizing the teaching of Sacred
Scripture and the Church’s Tradition, explains why “the Christian
Creed ... culminates in the proclamation of the resurrection of the
body on the last day, and in life everlasting” (CCC, n. 988). By the
Incarnation the Word of God has taken on human flesh (cf. Jn 1:14),
enabling it to share, through his Death and Resurrection, in his own
glory as the Father’s Only-begotten Son. Through the gifts of the
Spirit, the Father instils in all man’s being and, in a certain way,
in the universe itself, a yearning for this destiny. As St Paul
says: “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of
the sons of God ... because the creation itself will be set free
from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the
children of God” (Rom 8:19-21).
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors the Holy Father said:
I warmly greet the consecrated members of the Mary Ward Institute
present at this Audience. I extend a sincere welcome to the members
of the American College of Trial Lawyers, as well as to the
participants in the Congress of The European Law Students’
Association. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors,
especially those from England, Denmark, the Philippines and the
United States, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To the Spanish-speaking pilgrims and visitors the Holy Father
appealed for aid to the peoples devastated by hurricane Mitch:
I am deeply saddened to receive the alarming news of the great
number of victims from hurricane Mitch in Central America and the
Caribbean, mostly in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
While praying for the deceased, I express all my spiritual closeness
to the countless people afflicted by this disaster. At the same
time, I ardently appeal particularly to public and private
institutions, as well as to all people of goodwill, that they may be
moved by sentiments of fraternal solidarity to offer every kind of
aid to the communities affected and to provide the necessary
assistance at this difficult time of destruction and death. As an
expression of my concern and closeness to these beloved peoples, I
give them my Apostolic Blessing.
The Holy Father concluded by thanking everyone for their prayers on
his name-day.
I am deeply grateful for the best wishes and prayers I have received
for my name-day. St Charles Borromeo was a great Pastor whose
shining example has always guided and supported me. To his
intercession I entrust my ministry and that of all the Bishops and
priests of the Church.
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