THE BEAUTY AND GLORY OF THE RISEN BODY.
We have seen in the foregoing chapters that, in the Beatific Vision,
the human soul sees, loves, and enjoys God, and that her essential
happiness consists in that unfailing, blessed vision. But, although
the blessedness she now enjoys is far greater than words can express,
it is not yet integral or complete, and never will be, except when
she is again clothed in her own body, beautified, and glorified after
the likeness of her Saviour's body.
However, although her happiness is not yet complete, you must not
therefore imagine that the hast shadow of sadness or unhappiness
hangs over her. For, as we have seen, her will is now totally
conformed to God's will. It follows that although she sees other joys
and pleasures in store for her, and desires them, these desires do
not in the hast mar her exceeding happiness. She wills the
resurrection of her body as God wills it, and because He wills it,
and because also her body is absolutely necessary to complete her
human nature, which essentially consists of both soul and body. We
shall begin our meditations on the resurrection of the body by first
contemplating the beauty and splendor of the glorified body. In order
to form some idea of the perfect beauty and splendor of form which is
in store for us, we must first look at some of the transformations
which take place in the natural order. These will aid us, very
materially, in arriving at a conception, more or less perfect, of the
glorious transformation which the power of God will work in us at the
resurrection.
When we examine the kingdoms of nature, we discover that the gross
matter which surrounds us in shapeless masses, is susceptible of
forms and organizations so perfect, refined, and beautiful, that we
may, in some sense, call these forms glorified matter. It is,
certainly, matter glorified far above inferior forms in the natural
order. Let us take a few examples.
What is the diamond? It is nothing more than crystallized carbon, or
charcoal. There is nothing in the whole range of science which can be
so easily and so positively proved as this. The famous diamond
Koh-i-noor, or mountain of light, which now sparkles in the British
crown, and which is worth more than half a million of dollars, could,
in a few moments, be reduced to a thimbleful of worthless coal-dust.
Yet, how great a difference, in appearance and value, between that
precious gem and a thimbleful of coal-dust! Again, what are other
gems, such as the ruby, the sapphire, the topaz, the emerald, and
others? They are nothing more than crystallized clay or sand, with a
trifling quantity of metallic oxide or rust, which gives to each one
its peculiar color. Yet, what a difference between these sparkling
and costly jewels and the shapeless clod or sand which we trample
under foot!
If we now look for a moment into the vegetable kingdom, we see this
glorification of matter still more wonderfully displayed. Of what are
all plants composed? They are all composed of four elements of
matter, which have no remarkable beauty of their own. In scientific
language they are called carbon or charcoal, oxygen, hydrogen, and
nitrogen. By the power and the laws of life these are transformed
into that endless variety of beauty and color, odor and taste, so
striking in the vegetable world. Hence, the most beautiful flowers,
and their exquisite perfumes, as well as the delicious fruits to
which they give birth, are all made of the very same elements of
matter as the bark, the wood, and the root of the tree that bears
them. Yet, what a difference between the coarse tree and the delicate
flower! What a difference, too, between the tasteless bark or the
wood of the tree, and the luscious fruit that hangs in clusters from
its branches!
Now if, in the natural order, God can and does transform coarse and
shapeless matter into forms so beautiful and so glorious, what shall
we say of the beauty and perfection into which He will change our
vile bodies! For all these transformations which we now witness
belong to the natural order, and are the result of the laws which
govern matter in this world of imperfection; whereas our
transformation in the resurrection depends on the immediate act of
God's almighty power. The difference, therefore, between our present
corruptible body and the glorified body, will be greater by far than
the difference we now see between charcoal and the diamond, or
between the exquisitely shaped flower and the coarse shrub that bears
it.
Having said this much to aid us in forming some idea of the glorified
body, we shall now proceed to examine one of its attributes, which
St. Paul mentions, when he says: "It is sown in dishonor, it shall
rise in glory."* Our bodies were indeed sown in dishonor, in the
company of worms, and a prey to corruption. They had been honored by
the presence of an immortal spirit, the very image of the living God.
They had been honored by the Holy Ghost, who made them His temple.
They had been honored, too, by the presence of Jesus Christ, who made
them His tabernacle, every time we received Him in holy communion.
But death has struck them down; the spirit has fled; they lie cold
and motionless, and corruption begins to assert its empire over them.
Our nearest and dearest friends hasten to throw them into the dark
and silent grave, where they return into their original dust. Then,
indeed, our bodies are "sown in dishonor." But when the fulness of
time shall have come, these same dishonored bodies "shall rise in
glory."
* 1 Cor. xv. 43.
This word _glory_ is one of great and manifold meanings in Holy
Scripture. In this particular place and connection it means
excellence and beauty, accompanied with a shining splendor.
Wherefore, our bodies rising in glory, means, first, that they shall
rise perfect in beauty and symmetry of form, and totally free from
the defects and blemishes entailed by sin. This perfect beauty of
form is evidently involved in the promise of rising conformable to
the glorious body of our Blessed Saviour, "who, will reform the body
of our lowness, made like the body of His glory, according to the
operation whereby he is also able to subdue all things unto
himself."*
* Phil. iii. 21.
The human body was created perfect in the beginning. It was the
masterpiece of God's power and wisdom in this world. But sin
dishonored and disfigured it. It gave birth to a host of infirmities,
which mar its original beauty, and in some cases change it even into
a monster. Still, in spite of sin, it yet retains, in many
individuals, much of its primitive comeliness. But how perfect soever
in form and feature any one may be, there is always some deficiency;
some member, organ, or feature is slightly distorted, imperfect, or
out of proportion with the rest.
On the resurrection day, all these defects and blemishes disappear,
and the human body is again, far more than in the beginning, a
masterpiece of God's creative power, wisdom, and love. For every
member, organ, and feature will then be exquisitely shaped and
proportioned, so as to harmonize into a perfect whole of surpassing
beauty, without defect or deficiency of any kind. Oh! with what
rapturous delight will the soul reunite herself with that beautiful
body, and make it her temple forever! It was the companion of her
sorrows and her joys in this world. But it was, too, a body of sin
and death, and she had, perhaps more than once, sighed and prayed to
be delivered from it. But now that it is purified, beautiful, and
glorified, she re-enters it with joy, because it is become the fit
companion of a beatific spirit. The fond mother meeting her long-lost
child, and, in the joy of her heart, pressing it to her bosom, is a
faint image of the joy which the soul will experience in the reunion
with her glorified body.
But this is not all. St. Thomas maintains* that, besides rising in
perfect beauty of form, all the just must rise in the bloom and vigor
of youth; otherwise our bodies would not, according to promise, rise
conformable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ. From this doctrine
it follows that all defect, or appearance of old age, as well as the
infirmities and deficiencies of infancy, will be completely removed,
and all the saints will enjoy the full perfection of human nature.
What consolation there is in all these glorious promises! To be
forever young and vigorous, forever blessed with perfect health of
mind and body, to be forever beyond the reach of time, which destroys
all beauty here below; to be clothed with a body that shall forever
be a stranger to suffering: these are some of the joys in store for
the children of God in the resurrection of the body.
* Respondeo dicendum, quod homo resurget absque omni defectu humanæ
naturæ: quia sicut Deus humanam naturam absque defectu instituit, ita
sine defectu reparabit. Deficit autem humana natura dupliciter. Uno
modo quia nondum perfectionem ultimam est consecuta. Alio modo, quia
jam ab ultima perfectionis recessit. Et primo modo deficit in pueris,
secundo modo deficit in senibus. Et ideo, in utrisque reducetur
humana natura per resurrectionem, ad statum ultimæ perfectionis qui
est in juvenili ætate, ad quam terminatur motus augmenti, a qua,
incipit motus decrementi.--S. Thom. Suppl. q. 81, art. 1.
However, this is not all. Rising in glory means something more than
rising in mere beauty of form, bloom of youth, and the complete
perfection of human nature. It also implies a radiant brilliancy
wherewith the just will shine on the resurrection day. This is one of
the meanings of glory in the language of Scripture. Take the
following as an instance out of many: "And when Aaron spoke to all
the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked toward the
wilderness: and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud."*
That is, a brilliant and dazzling splendor burst forth in the
heavens. So, also, when Jesus was glorified in his transfiguration,
"His face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as
snow." Moreover, as a general rule, when celestial inhabitants
appeared in this world, they were surrounded with a halo of brilliant
light; as we read of the angels who appeared at the birth of Christ,
and of those who appeared to the holy women that were going to embalm
the body of Jesus. Hence it is that in the paintings of Christian
art, the head, or the whole body of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin,
and of the saints, is always surrounded by this halo of light.
* Exod. xvi.
This is the light, the brilliancy which is promised to the saints by
our Blessed Lord himself, when He says: "Then shall the just shine as
the sun in the kingdom of their Father."* Thus shall the soul that is
now united to God, in the Beatific Vision, and already a partaker of
the divine nature, communicate her own dazzling splendor to the body,
and surround it with an aureola of glory, which will form a portion
of her blessedness for evermore.
* Matt. xiii.
But, although all the just must rise in glory and in the perfection
of human nature, you must not, therefore, infer that all shall rise
in the same degree of beauty and splendor of form. For, as the
resurrection is a reward to the just, it follows that each one shall
have a body glorified in proportion to his own individual merits. Any
contrary doctrine would sound like heresy. If you were told, for
instance, that the murderer who dies on the scaffold, after making an
act of perfect contrition, will rise on the last day with a body as
beautiful and glorious as that of the Blessed Virgin, or of the
Apostles, martyrs, and holy virgins, your whole soul would revolt at
such a doctrine. You would maintain, that if the resurrection is a
reward to the just, the beauty of their bodies should bear some
proportion to their merits. You would certainly be right in
maintaining this; for it is the very doctrine taught by St. Paul,
when he says: "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the
moon, and another the glory of the stars, for star differeth from
star in glory: so also in the resurrection of the dead."* Each one,
therefore, shall rise in that particular degree of glory which he has
deserved by the more or less holy life he has led in this world.
* 1 Cor. xv. 41.
It will no longer be as it is in this world, where personal beauty is
a free gift of God, but no reward. Hence we see personal beauty in
pagans and infidels, as well as in Christians. Its possession does
not, in the hast, denote sanctity; nor does its absence denote moral
depravity; and, therefore, beautiful persons may be very wicked,
while deformed ones may be very holy. Not so after the resurrection.
Perfect personal beauty, accompanied with a heavenly splendor, being
one of the rewards in store for the children of God, will then denote
sanctity in the just. The more holy they have been in this life, the
more beautiful and conformable to the glorious body of Jesus they
shall be.
Now, Christian reader, do you wish to possess faultless personal
beauty in your heavenly home? Do you desire, not only to increase
your own blessedness, but to be even an ornament in the kingdom of
your Father? No doubt you do. Well, you have the means in your hands.
Lead a holy life, a life of purity and perfect charity. Endeavor to
reproduce in yourself the virtues which Jesus taught and practised;
and when the angel's trumpet calls the dead to life, your body, which
must first be sown in dishonor, shall rise in that degree of beauty
which you have deserved by the holiness of your life.