the resurrection of the body - 29th week tuesday 2013

We come now to the second to the last article of the faith, the eleventh article which says, I believe in the resurrection of the body.

When we die, and we will all die, our souls will be separated from our bodies.  But with the resurrection, our bodies and souls will be reunited again forever.

How will our bodies be when we resurrect from the dead?  How will we look like, what can we do, what will the resurrection do to us?  The church teaches that this is a matter we cannot fully comprehend and fathom.  We cannot really know.  But the church rightly points to the resurrected Jesus for some answers as St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, “For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be {in the likeness} of His resurrection.”  So what will the resurrection do to us?  Let us look on Jesus.  The resurrection of Jesus is not a resuscitation of a dead body.  Resurrection is not a Night of the Living Dead movie kon sa diin ang mga patay nabuhi liwat, na-resuscitate kag nahimo nga zombie.  That is not what Jesus showed in his resurrection and this is not the resurrection that is promised us.  When Jesus was risen from the dead his disciples saw him but it took them sometime to recognize him because he has “completely changed in appearance.”  But the women embraced his feet – meaning he could be touched, he is flesh and bones, he is matter and not a ghost.  And yet he could vanish suddenly and then appear again to them even when the door is locked, no longer limited by space and time.  And still more he could eat with them and he even told Thomas to put his fingers on the nail marks in his hands and touch the wound at his side.  What does this means then?

In the resurrection there is a radical transformation of the body.   St. Paul describes it as a glorious body or a spiritual body.  The resurrected body is a real body, a material body but it is no longer earthly and it is no longer mortal.  Yara ang marka sang pag-antus apang wala na ang pag-antus; yara ang marka sang iya kinamatyan apang indi na sia mamalatyon.  Scholastic philosophers would add to this description saying that the resurrected body will possess agility and clarity meaning our bodies are freed from deformity and will be filled with beauty.  Those who have seen the Blessed Mother in apparitions, even little children in Fatima and Lourdes would describe what they saw as a "very beautiful woman."

Exciting ini indi bala, no more deformity, it will be filled with beauty – sin-o luyag ma-resurrect bayaw kamot.  Pero kinahanglan ka anay mapatay - which we will talk next week – why we need to die first, why death is necessary after sin entered the world.

But this is our belief.  We do not know how it will be exactly, but we are given a glimpse in Jesus and also in the Blessed Mother who was assumed into heaven body and soul.  And we know that the resurrection will happen when Christ will come again as our gospel says he will.  And if you notice, our gospel today does not just teach us about preparedness for the coming.  It also teaches us that there will be surprises, big surprises when he comes again.  Are you eager for this surprise?