the resurrected body - 1st week easter thursday - st. vincent ferrer

The resurrected Christ appears in the midst of the apostles as they locked themselves inside a room.  The question is how did Jesus pass through the locked doors?  How did he enter the room where the disciples had locked and hidden themselves?

Today we meditate on the qualities of a resurrected body.

Remember when we resurrect, we resurrect with the body we died with.  So kon mag-resurrect si Mandario he cannot resurrect with the body of Abalorio.  Indi puede, although I think Rodolph would want a slimmer body, but that would no longer be resurrection but possession.

You will resurrect only in your own body but it will no longer be like your own body.  Instead it will have the qualities of a resurrected body.  St. Paul calls it a spiritualized body.

For brevity I will only narrate two qualities of a resurrected body connected with our gospel and with our feast today.  These two qualities are sublety and agility.

Subtlety means the power to penetrate objects.  So a resurrected body can pass through closed doors and thick walls, so much so it’s as if the body is wading through water.  This explains how Jesus came inside the locked room.

The other is agility.  This is another property of the resurrected body.  It is the power to move at once to distant places, to get from one place to another effortlessly and rapidly.  So one can be here in the chapel this very moment and be in the dorm at the wink of an eye.

I think many of you would want this kind of body.  Just think how you can cheat on football for example.  You are in your own field and then by just thinking about it you are now in front of the goal just about to kick the ball, and the goal keeper does not have time to even react.  Or just think how easy it would be to play hide and sick with your prefect – with your resurrected body you can get your cellphone sa kwarto sang prefect because you can go through locked doors and you don’t even have to run because you can be inside his room one moment and with a wink of an eye transfer to your dorm rapidly and effortlessly.

Of course these things won’t happen for 2 reasons: First because to be resurrected you have to die first.  Then second you cannot do bad things.  In the resurrection it is now your soul taking over the body, the body becomes totally conformed to the soul.  Our bodies no longer resist our souls.  Lantawa bala what happens now in the chapel – your soul is telling you listen to msgr. andy, your soul is telling you pay attention to the mass, but the body is resisting the soul, it falls asleep, it gets distracted, it entertains unholy thoughts. 

But a time will come in the resurrection when our bodies will be so totally conformed to our souls, so totally docile to our souls, so totally obedient to our souls, it will no longer fall into sin and it will have the characteristics of subtlety and agility.  All that the soul does is to will it, I will it and the body will just follow.

This can only happen when the body will no longer put any resistance to the soul. When our souls are so wholly caught up with God, everything will show lesser resistance, the things around us will no longer become hindrances or obstacles, instead they become aids and supports.

St. Vincent Ferrer was so caught up with God, distance was no longer a hindrance, time was no longer a limitation because he can bilocate.  What is bilocation?  Bilocation means to be in two or more places at the same time.  He is preaching here in this chapel and at exactly the same time he is preaching in let’s say Balasan.  Distance is no longer a hindrance and time is no longer a limitation.  This happens when the body is so conformed to the soul it can no longer resist the soul. And even the lesser bodies -the things, the walls, the doors cannot resist, cannot obstruct, cannot limit the soul. St. Vincent’s love for men and women and his desire to save them for Jesus wherever they are must have so engulfed his soul, his body can no longer put up resistance to the desire and will of his soul.

This may not happen to us exactly.  But to a lesser extent our bodies can conform to our souls, our bodies can provide lesser resistance to our souls.  May iban halimbawa nga nag-express sa ila application letters how their pastoral, the needs of people, the hunger of people for God, the situation of people sa priso, sa mga parokya, sa barangay, some of you shared how these experiences have kept you alive and inspired and motivated to continue in your seminary formation.  TO a lesser extent this is the same principle.  Everything becomes easy, everything becomes an aid rather than an obstacle or a hindrance when the soul is so engulfed with God the body no longer puts up resistance.

Beginning today beginning with the senior high and the college you will be called individually to receive your evaluation.  Many of you will continue, some with conditions, some with warnings, many with congratulatory remarks, a few will be offered alternative vocation. Negative things will always be received with resistance.  It is natural.  Resistance will be in the form of ano isiling sang parents ko, ano pag-explain ko sini sa benefactor ko.  Our normal bodies will always feel pain and frustration.  And they come in the forms of unfulfilled desires, stalled dreams, hurt egos, slighted pride.

Resistance can be lessened when we listen to our souls, not to our bodies but to our souls.