from corruptible to incorruptible - 24th week saturday 2014

Paul continues to explain to the Corinthians what will become of our bodies in the resurrection of the dead.  He compares it to a seed.  A seed has to die and corrupt so that it can become new life; so also the body has to die and corrupt in order to be raised up.  The plant which grew from the seed is unlike the seed; so also the resurrected bodies would be so unlike our present bodies for it will be endowed with new qualities. 

This is to address the concern of the Corinthians who found it absurd to be resurrected in the same body that is the source of so many pains and unhappiness.  So Paul had to tell them that like Jesus in his resurrection our bodies will be transformed – it will become as Paul would say, “glorious bodies” or even the seemingly contradictory terms “spiritual bodies.”

It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

Today let us be reminded of our bodies and what it would later become.  St. Thomas says that in nature even in one and the same being, the imperfect precedes the perfect.  Our bodies today are imperfect but God will make them perfect.  It is prone to sickness, laziness, it easily succumbs to weakness – it is imperfect but a time will come when it will be made perfect.