Part II Chapter II: The Resurrection of the Flesh

Chapter II: The Resurrection of the Flesh

CHAPTER II THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH SECTION I REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION i. Definition. — The Resurrection of the flesh is one of the most important dogmas of the Christian religion, St. Paul says: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preaching, vain too your faith/’ 1 The Bible employs ” resurrection of the dead 99 2 and ” resurrection of the flesh 99 8 synonymously. The latter phrase is the more significant because it emphasizes the body. The soul, of course, does not ” return 99 to life ; it is immortal. The Resurrection of the flesh may be defined as “a substantial conversion whereby a human being, which has been resolved into its component elements by death, is restored to its former condition.” i i Cor. XV, 13 tq.: “Si outsm ’ 2 Resnrrectio mortnofnm or is rtsurrsctio mortuorum non M: mortuis, Avi&tacu t£p HKp&w or nequt Christ us rssurrtxit; si on- 4k poko&p. tun Christus non ntufrtxit, moms » Rtsurrsctio camis, 4>drra#is sst ergo praedicatio nostra, momis fapxdf. ost st tides vtstra.” THE END OF THE WORLD The Resurrection is called a conversion (mutatio) to distinguish it from creation (creatio ex nihilo), by which an entirely new being comes into existence. The change involved in the Resurrection is substantial because it affects the substance of human nature, and not merely its accidents. The subject is a corruptible being, composed of elements which are separated by death and thus admit of substantial destruction. Man as such is destroyed, and of the two essential elements that compose him, viz.: body and soul, the former gradually returns to dust. Its resurrection is not a re-creation, but a miraculous reproduction (reproductio) with full identity of subject. 2. Heretical Errors vs. the Dogmatic Teaching of the Church. — The Resurrection of the dead appeared foolish to the gentiles.4 It was denied by the Sadducees,5 the Gnostics, the Manichaeans, and the medieval Albigenses and Waldenses, and is still violently attacked by atheists, materialists, and rationalists. Against all these the Catholic Church firmly upholds the Resurrection of the body. The dogma is expressly mentioned in the so-called Apostles’ Creed, in the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds, in the symbol of the Eleventh Council of Toledo, and other ancient professions of faith. Origen’s teaching of an Apocatastasis of the dead6 was condemned by the Council of Constantinople 4 Cfr. Acts XVII, x8. Sodducaei, qui dicunt non tsse nsureCfr. Mattb. XXII, 231 • . • rtcHonem.” e F. supra, pp. 67 tqq. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 123 (553)-7 The Fourth Council of the Lateran specifically defined that “all men will arise [from the dead] with their own proper bodies.” 8 3. Proof from Sacred Scripture.— The Resurrection of the body is mentioned in both the proto- and the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament. The former advert to it veiledly, whereas the latter inculcate it with perfect clearness. a) The proto-canonical books contain two classes of texts referring to the Resurrection. Some predict the restoration of Israel under the figure of a general rising of the dead; others point to the Resurrection of Christ as a symbol of our own. o) The prophet Osee puts these words into the mouths of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia: He will revive us after two days: on the third day. he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 9 Yahweh Himself promises his chosen people through the same prophet: “I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite.”10 Another argument may be deduced from the famous vision of Ezechiel. The prophet saw’ how the dry bones that lay scattered over the plain of the dead, at God’s command began to stir, took on sinews and flesh, and were 7” Si quis Mxerit, quod in fabu- duos .dies: in die tertia suscitohit loso restituHone futurae sunt solas nos, et vivemus in conspectu sius.” mentss nudae, anathema sit.” 10 Os. XIII, 14: * De manu (Denzmger, 9th cd., n. 200). mortis liberabo sos. de morse reB Omnes cum suis propriis re- dimam eos: ero mors tua o mors, surgent corporibus.” (Denzinger- morsus tuus ero infeme.” (Cfr. 1 Bannwart, irth ed., n. 429). Cor. XV, 54 aq.) 124 THE END OF THE WORLD covered with skin. When they stood upright, and lived and breathed, the Lord said to the prophet : ” Son of man, all these bones are the house of Israel… . Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people, and will bring you into the land of Israel.”11 Though this vision symbolizes the restoration of Israel, it would have been unintelligible to the Jews had they not been familiar with belief in a resurrection.12 P) The texts of the second group refer to the Resurrection of the Messias, which we Christians rightly regard as a figure and pledge of our own. Cfr. Ps. XV, 10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in the nether world,13 nor wilt thou give [permit] thy holy one to see corruption/’ 14 b) A veritable locus classicus for the dogma of the Resurrection is Job XIX, 23 sqq.: “Who will grant me that my words may be written ? who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone? For I know my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth, and I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another : this my hope is laid U Ez. XXXVII. 11 sq.: ” FQi hominis, ossa haec universe domus Israel est. … Bcce ego aperiam tu~ mulos vestros et educam vos de sepulchris vestris, populus mens: ft Unhtcam pes in terrain Israel. 12 Cfr. Tertullian, De Resurrectione Camis, 30 : * Non posset de ossibus Hgura componi, si non id ipsum et ossibus eventurum esset.* i3efr fiorip; Hebrew, hok RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 125 up in my bosom.* 15 So clearly does this passage express the dogma of the Resurrection that St. Jerome says: “Job prophesied the resurrection of the body in such plain terms that no man has written of it more clearly or more certainly, … no one [has treated this dogma] as openly after Christ as Job did before Him.” 16 The Hebrew text, it is true, differs slightly from the Vulgate rendering, which is followed by our English Bible. It runs something like this : ” I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he will in the end stand above the dust. Then shall I be clothed with this skin, and in my flesh I shall see God. Yea, I will see him for myself, my eyes will see him, and not another: my reins consume themselves in my bosom/’ But, though the wording is different, the hope of a glorious Resurrection is common to both versions. Where the Vulgate says, * Et in novissimo die de terra resurrecturus sum,* the Hebrew text has: “He [i. e. the Redeemer] will stand above the dust.” Both passages affirm the fact of the Resurrection, with this difference, that one mentions its efficient, while the other speaks of its formal cause. To interpret the whole passage as merely voicing Job’s confidence of regaining his health, will not do. For in that assumption, as even Rabbi Rosenmiiller admits, there 15 Job XIX, 23 sqq. : ” Quis mihi conspecturi sunt, et non alius: redet, ut exarentur in libro stylo f err to posita est haec spes mea in sinu et plumbi lamina vel celte sculpan- meo.* tur in silicet Scio enim quod Re- iEp.t 53,8: * lob resurrectionem demptor mens vivit, et in novissimo corporum sic prophetat, ut nullus de die de terra surrecturus sum: et rur- ea vel manifestius vel cautius scripsum circumdabor pelle mea, et in serit, … nullus tarn aperte post came mea videbo Deum meum, quern Christum, quam iste ante Christum.” visnrus sum ego ipse, et oculi met would be no proportion between the majestic announcement with which the text opens, and the unimportant fact which it records.17 The logical sequence of ideas demands that Job meet the charges of his friends by expressing his belief that the due proportion between guilt and punishment will be restored in the world beyond, especially since he himself had just closed his earthly account in the sure expectation of death.18 ” We must assume,” says Rosenmiiller, ” that his thoughts were directed to the final resurrection of the body and the restoration of all things/’ 19 c) The deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament teach the doctrine of the Resurrection explicitly. Ecclesiasticus is not entirely conclusive because the Greek text is badly corrupted and differs in many places from the Latin Vulgate. Nevertheless, the praise of Elias, who is expected to return at the end of the world, may be quoted. The Greek text says: Blessed are they that saw thee [i. e. Elias at the end of the world] and were honored in love ; for we too shall live. 20 That the post-exilic Jews firmly believed in the Resurrection of the flesh is proved by the glorious martyrdom of the seven brethren and their mother, recounted in 2 Mach. VII, 9 sqq. ” Thou indeed, O most wicked man,” says the second of the brothers to the cruel tyrant Antiochus, u destroyest us out of this present life, but the King IT Rosenmiiller, Scholia in Librum lob, i. h. k is lob XVII. it Scholia m Librum M, K I: * Oportet eum de venturo iudicio, corporum resurrection ultimo) et rerun* omnium instaurotion* cogitasse.* aoEcclus. XL VIII, u, ed. Titchendorf, 1882: Maicdpiot ol I86rrt$ at Kal •! iw dyair/jm KtKotrftvftipor xal yhp ^/uett \u% RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 127 of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life.” 21 And the fourth declares : ” It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him : for, as to thee thou shalt have no resurrection unto life.” 22 The mother exhorts them all to be steadfast. ” The Creator of the world,” she says, ”… will restore to you again in his mercy both breath and life.” 28 When Razias, one of the ancients of Jerusalem, was put to death for his loyalty to the Jewish religion, we are told that, ” as he had yet breath in him, being inflamed in mind, he arose, and while his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd, and stand* ing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without blood, grasping his bowels with both hands, he cast them upon the throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to restore these to him again: and so he departed this life.”2* d) In the New Testament we have the distinct assurance of Christ and His Apostles that the dead will rise again. «) Our Lord says: ‘Tear ye not them that 21 2 Mach. VII, 9: ” Tu quidem> scelestissime in praesenti vita nos perdis : sed Rex mundi defunctos nos pro suis legibus in aeternae vitae resurrection* suscitabit.” 222 Mach. VII, 13: ” Potius est ab hominibus morti datos spent ex’ pectars a Deo, Iterum ab ipso re* suscitandos: tibi enim resurrectio ad vitam non erit.” 282 Mach. VII, 23: “mundi Creator et spiritum … vobis ite* rum cum misericdrdio reddet et vitam.” 24 a, Mach. XIV. 46: quum adhuc spiraret. accensus any mo, surrexit: et quum sanguis eius magno Huxu deHueret, et gravisshms vulneribus esset saucins. cursu turbam pertranwt: of stans supra quondam petram praeruptam, et tarn ex sanguis effect us, complexes in* testma sua, utrisque manibus proiecit super turbos, invocans dominotorem vitae ac spiritus, ut haec iUi iterum redderet: at que ita vita defunctus est.” / 128 THE END OF THE WORLD kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.” 25 He accuses the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, of ignorance. “You err,” he says, “not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” 26 When Martha before the tomb of her brother exclaimed, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” 27 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live.” 28 On another occasion He predicted that He Himself would raise the dead to life: “The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” 29 Those who eat of the “true bread of heaven,* i. e. His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, have our Lord’s solemn promise that He will raise them up in the last day.” 80 25Matth. X, a8: ” Nolite timere eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere: sed potius timete turn, qui potest et animam st corpus ptrdert in gehen nam.” acMatth. XXII, 39: ” Erratis nescient es Scriptures, neque virtu* Urn Dei.” 27 John XI, 24: “Scio quia resurget in resurrections in novissimo die.* 28 John XI, 25: Ego sum resurrectio et vita: qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet.* 29 John V, a8 aq.: . . venit hot a, in qua omnes, qui in monumentis sunt, audient vocem Filii Dei: et procedent qui bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem vitae, qui vero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii.” 80 John VI, 40: “Ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die.” RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 129 P) The Apostles testified both to the Resurrection of Christ and to the General Resurrection of the dead, with such power that the Sadducees were “grieved.” 31 St. Paul places the Resurrection of the dead on the same level, as regards certainty, with the Resurrection of our Lord: “Now if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preaching, vain too your f aith.” 32 Again he says : “If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you : he that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his spirit that dwelleth in you.” 38 And : “Know you not that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death ; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.” 84 The Apostle prosi Acts IV, 2: ” Dolentes quod ergo praedicatio nostra; inanis est docsrent populum. et annuntiarent et fides vestro.* in Issu rssurrectionem ex mortuis.* 33 Rom. VIII, x x : * Quod si 32 i Cor. XV, 12 sqq.: Si au- spiritus eius, qui suscitavit Iesum tern Christus praedicatur quod r« a mortuis, habitat in vobis, qui surrexit a mortuis, quomodo quidam suscitavit Iesum Christum a mortuis, dicunt in vobis, quoniam resurrectio viviUcabit et mortaUa corpora vestro, mortuorum non estf Si autem propter inhabitantem SpirUum eius resurrectio mortuorum non est, in vobis.* neque Christus resurrexit; si autem 84 Rom. VI, 3 sqq.: * An ignoraChrlstus non resurrexit, inanis est tis quia quicunque baptieati sumus claimed the doctrine of the Resurrection before the Epicureans and the Stoics,35 and courageously upheld it in the presence of Felix, the governor,36 and King Agrippa.37 Hymeneus and Philetus were publicly denounced by him as apostates for having taught that “the resurrection is past already/1 88 4. Proof from Tradition. — The Tradition of the early Church agrees perfectly with the teaching of the Bible. To construe a complete Patristic argument for the Resurrection, “one would have to transcribe almost all the writings of the early Fathers,” 89 for not only do they all mention the dogma occasionally, but a number of them (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ephraem, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Ambrose, and others) have left special treatises on the subject. If we study the arguments of these Fathers we find that they embody splendid proofs for the fitness of the Resurrection. Thus Minucius Felix points to the analogy in Christo Iesu, in morte ipsius baptizati sumusf Consepulti enim sumns cum iUo per baptismum in mortem: ut quomodo Christus surrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in nvvitate vitae ambitlemus.” (Cfr. 2 Cor. IV, 14; Heb. VI, 2). 85 Acts XVII, 18 sqq. •e Acts XXIV. 15. 87 Acts XXVI, 8, 33. 883 Tim. II, 18: M… resurrecHon em esse iam factam*” — The Scriptural argument for the Resurrection of the dead is more fully developed by Fr. Schmid, Der Unsterblichkeitsglaube in der Bibel, Brixen 1902. 89 Thus Oswald, Eschatologie, p. 288. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 131 existing between revelation and nature. ” The sun,” he says, “sinks down and rises, the stars pass away and return, the flowers die and revive again, the shrubs resume their leaves after their wintry decay, seeds do not flourish unless they are rotted. … So we, too, must wait for the springtime of the body.” 40 The Fathers refute the objection that it is impossible for the dead to return to life by pointing to the divine omnipotence. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem says: “God created us out of nothing; why should He not be able to re-awaken that which is destroyed?“41 St. Irenaeus emphasizes the dignity of the body as the temple of the Holy Ghost and receptacle of the Eucharistic Christ. ” How can it be asserted,” he asks, ” that the flesh which is nourished with the Body and Blood of our Lord shall not partake of the life ? ” 42 St. Clement of Rome declares that the body must rise again in order to be rewarded for the merits it has acquired here below.4* Tertullian argues that if there were no resurrection of the body, the devil would prove mightier than God and the divine economy of grace would show a fatal defect.44 toOctavius. 34: “Sol demerge dpacHjceis r^y adpica pov ratir)* tur et nascitur, astro labuntur et re- t^p dparK^aaaaw raora w&wra. deunt, Hores occidunt et revwi- 44 De Resurrection* Camis, c. 46: scunt, post senium arbusta frond* ” Diabolus validior in hominem intelscant, semino nonnisi corrupta re- legitur totum eum elide ns, Dens inviviscunt… . Bxpectandnm nobis Urmior renuntiobitur nen totum reetiam corporis ver est,” levans. Atqui et Apostolus suggerit, 41 Catech., 18. ubi delictum obandoverit, itlic gra4* Adv. Haeres., IV, iS: ” Quo- Ham abundasse.”— Cfr* G. Scheurer, modo dicunt, cornem non percipere Das Auferstehungsdogma der vornivitam, qua cor pore Domini et son- sanischen Zeis, Wtaburg 1896; H. guine alitor t” (Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Kihn, Potrologie, Vol. I, pp. 173 The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp. 71 W-» 289 «qq. ; Vol. II, pp. i6ot 470 4S£/>. ad Corinth., I, 2$i ical et passim, Paderfoorn 1 904-1 908. SECTION 2 UNIVERSALITY OF THE RESURRECTION I. The Catholic Church teaches that on the Last Day all men shall rise in the flesh, — the just to be rewarded with eternal life, the wicked to be punished with eternal death. Though the early creeds stress the fate of the just,1 the Church has never permitted her children to doubt that the wicked also will rise in the flesh. The so-called Athanasian Creed says: “All men. shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their works ; and they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire/’ 2 The Fourth Council of the Lateran defines: “All men shall rise again with their own bodies, which they now have, to receive according to their deeds, whether good or bad: the latter, everlasting punishment with the devil, the former, eternal glory with the Lord. 3 Hence it is an ar1 Cfr. the Symbolum Nicaenum as bus suit, etc.* (Denxinger-Bannreviied at Constantinople: * Et ex- wart, n. 40). pecto resurrectionem mortuorum et a * Omnes cum suis propriis revitam venturi saeculi.* surgent corporibus, quae nunc ge2 * Omnes homines resurgere ha- stant, ut recipiant secundum opera bent [«. e. resurgent] cum corporis sua, sive bona fuerint sive mala: Mi U2 RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 133 tide of faith that the souls of the damned as well as those of the Elect will be reunited to their bodies on the last day. a) This teaching can be convincingly demonstrated from Holy Scripture. Cf r. Dan. XII, 2 : “And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake : some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.” 4 Our Lord Himself says : “They that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.* 5 St. John writes in the Apocalypse: And the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.” 6 St. Paul, when brought cum diabolo poenam perpetuam, et vitae: qui vero mala egerunt in r#isti cum Christo gloriam sempiter- sumctionem iudicii,” nam.’ (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 429). eApoc. XX, 1a aqq.: ”…#< 4 Dan. XII, a: ” Et multi de his, iudicati sunt mortui ex his, quas qui dormiunt in terras pulvere, evi- scripta erant in libris secundum opera gilabunt: alii in vitam aetemam, st ipsorum. Et dedit mare mortuos, qui alii in opprobrium ut videant sem- tn so erant: et mors et in f emus deper* derunt mortuos suos, qui in ipsis sloa. V, 29: * Procedent qui erant: et iudicatum est de singulis bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem secundum opera ipsorum* Et infemus et mors missi sunt in stag134 THE END OF THE WORLD before Felix, the governor, openly professed his belief in “a resurrection of the just and the unjust”7 A difficulty has been raised in view of Ps. I, 5 : * Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment.* 8 But this difficulty is apparent rather than real. The Royal Psalmist does not except the wicked from the General Resurrection ; he merely wishes to say that they will be unable to stand judgment. This is clearly apparent from the Hebrew text, which says: ” The wicked shall not stand, but be as dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.” b) Though the Fathers devote more attention to the Resurrection of the just, there can be no reasonable doubt that they believed also in the Resurrection of the wicked. Clement of Rome admonishes the Corinthians : ” Keep the flesh pure and the seal undefiled, that we may obtain eternal life, and let none of you say that this flesh is not judged and does not rise again.” 9 His meaning evidently is that impurity will be punished, as purity is rewarded, in the flesh. Tertullian testifies to the early belief in Christ’s return to judge the wicked and the just, rewarding the latter with eternal life and punishing the num ignis.”— On the “Book of Life” see Pohle-PreuM, Grace, Actual and Habitual, pp. 19a 9q. TActe XXIV, 15: . . resnrrectlonem futuram iustorum et iniquorum (diKalww re Kal &8Upayida fowikor, tva riiP atewiov dmXdfiufuv Kal fify \ey4rw rit vfxuv, 6rt aCrn 4} ffaf£ oif Kplverat otiBt drforarat. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 135 former with eternal fire, after they have all arisen from the dead and resumed their bodies.10 c) Though reason cannot prove the necessity of the Resurrection, it can show its congruity. “It is against the nature of the soul,” says St. Thomas, ” to be without the body. But nothing that is against nature can be lasting. Therefore the soul will not be forever without the body. Thus the immortality of the soul seems to require the resurrection of the body.” 11 However, this argument must not be strained. It does not prove the impossibility of an eternal separation between body and soul. If it did, a natural resurrection of the flesh would have to be postulated for the pure state of nature, and the dogma of the Resurrection could be conclusively proved from philosophy. Some Catholic writers have indeed asserted this to be so.12 Scheeben shatters their arguments by showing the essentially supernatural character of the Resurrection.18 Man has no natural claim to be restored to life after death, least of all in a transfigured body, and to say that God might allow the souls of the dead to live forever without their bodies involves no contradiction, either against the order 10 DePrae script., 13: ” Credimus … Christum . venturum cum claritate ad iudicandos sanctos in vita* aeternae et promissorum caelestium fructum, et ad prof an os adiudieandos igni aetemo facta utrisque partis resurrectiene cum restitutione carnis.” 11 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 791 ” Est contra naturam animae absque cor pore esse. Nihil out em, quod est contra naturam, potest esse perpetu* urn. Non igitur perpetue erit anima #fr/$«f corf or e, Quum igitur per* petno maneat [quia immortaUs], oportet earn corpori iterate coniungere, quod est resurgere.” — Cfr. Rickaby, God and His Creatures, p. 403. 12 Notably A. Feretti (Philosophia Moralis, pp. 88 tqq.v Home 1887) and Costa-Rossetti {PhUosophia Moralis, 2nd cd., pp. 41 aq., Inntbruck 1886). 18 Die Mysterien des Chrietentums, 3rd ed., pp. 591 aqq., Freiburg of nature or against any divine attribute.14 The souls of the Old Testament patriarchs have been living without their bodies for several thousand years and will continue in a disembodied state until the day of Judgment. There is no reason for assuming that they could not exist in this way forever. A second argument for the congruity of the Resurrection is derived from the attribute of divine justice and may be tersely formulated as follows : ” Reward and punishment are due to men both in soul and body. But in this life they cannot attain to the reward of final happiness, and sins often go unpunished: nay, here ‘the wicked live, and are comforted and set up with riches’ (Job XXI, 7). There must, then, be a second union of soul and body, that man may be rewarded and punished in both.”18 2. In conclusion we may add a few words concerning the raising of Lazarus and other dead persons by Christ during His earthly sojourn, and similar miracles performed by Saints. The persons thus miraculously raised were restored to life only to die again, and now await their final resurrection with the remainder of humanity. Some doubt exists with regard to the saints who came forth bodily from their graves at the death of our Saviour.16 There have been theologians who thought that these privileged persons anticipated, as it were, the General Resurrection and ascended to Heaven with Christ; others (e. g. Theodoret and St. Augustine) hold the more l4Cfr. St Thomas, Summa Theol, Supplement., qu. 75, art. 3. ib St Thomas, Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 79: *’ Necessarium est, ponere iter at am ad corpus coniunctionem, ut homo in corpore et anlma praemiari et puniri possit.” leCfr. Matth. XXVII, $2 sq,: ” Monumenta aperta sunt et mult a corpora sanctorum, qui dormierant, surrexerunt; et exeuntes de monumentis post resurrectionem eius, venerunt in sane tarn civitatem *t apparuerunt multis.” RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 137 probable opinion that they were revived only for a time and died again. This latter theory is preferable to the former because it agrees with the Catholic belief that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an altogether unique privilege.17 17 See Pohle-Preuss, Meriology, pp. 105 tqq.

SECTION 3 NATURE OF THE RISEN BODY The body that will be reunited to the soul at the Resurrection will be identical with the one inhabited by the soul on earth. i. Proof from Revelation.— The Eleventh Council of Toledo says: “We believe that we shall arise, clothed not in air or some other flesh, but in the self-same [flesh] in which we [now] live, exist, and move.* 1 The so-called Creed of Leo IX, which is still employed in the consecration rite of bishops, contains this passage : I believe also in the true resurrection of the same flesh which I now have.” a The Fourth Council of the Lateran defines : “All men will rise again with their own bodies [the same] which they now have.”8 a) The Biblical argument for this dogma is based on the same texts that prove the Resur1” Nec in aera vel quolibtt alia gesto.” (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. earn, ut quidam delirant, surrectu- 347). ros not credimus, sed in ista, qua f’Omnes cum suis propriis revivimus, consisfimus et movemur.’* tut gent corporibus, quae nunc £e~ (Denztager-Bannwart, n. j$7). stant” (Denztager-Bannwart. n. 2 “Credo etiam veram resurrec 429). Honem eiusdem carni*, quam nunc J3» RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 139 rection, especially the vision of Ezechiel and the passage from Job which we have quoted above,4 Where Sacred Scripture does not expressly assert the identity of the risen body with that inhabited by the soul before death, it takes this identity for granted. For a man to rise again in a strange body would not be a true resurrection. ” We cannot speak of a resurrection,” says St. Thomas, “unless the soul returns to the same body, because resurrection signifies a new rising. To rise and to fall belong to the same subject, … and hence, if the soul did not resume the same body, there would be no resurrection, but rather the assumption of a new body.” 8 St. Paul writes : ” For this corruptible [body] must needs put on incorruption, and this mortal [body] immortality.” 6 Consequently, it is one and the same body which, having been corruptible and mortal in this life, becomes incorruptible and immortal after the Resurrection. b) The Fathers conceived the Resurrection of the flesh as a reawakening or restoration of the body formerly inhabited by the soul, and rejected the contrary teaching of the Origenists. St. Jerome says : “As Christ arose in that body which lay with us in the sacred sepulchre, so we, on the day of judgment, shall arise in the same 4 V. supra, Sect x. resumit, non dicitur resurrectio, sed uSumtno Theol., Supplement,, qm. magis novi corporis assumptio.” 79, art x: “Non enim resurrectio «i Cor. XV, 53: ” Oportet enim did potest, nisi anima ad idem cor- corruptible hoc (rd tpBaprbw pus redeat, quia resurrectio est ite- tovto) induere incorruptionem et rata surrectio. Eiusdem autem est mortals hoc (to Brqrbr touto) in* turgere et cad ere, … et ita, si duere immortalitatem.* non est idem corpus, quod anima bodies by which we are covered and with which we are buried.* 7 The Patristic teaching that holy Communion is a pledge of the Resurrection would be meaningless if the risen body were not identical with the one we have on earth. Tradition expressed itself practically in the solemn burial rite of the Church, the liturgical prayers recited for the dead, the respect shown to corpses, and especially the veneration exhibited towards the bodies of saints and their relics.8 2. Speculative Discussion of the Dogma. — Speculative theology strives to understand the import of the dogma and to answer some of the questions that arise concerning the identity and integrity of the risen body and its functions. a) As regards the identity of the risen body, it must be taken neither in too broad nor in too narrow a sense. Durandus declared that identity of soul is sufficient to constitute identity of person, and that the risen body may be composed of matter entirely different from that which constituted it during life. But would an entirely new body be really and truly ” my body 99 ? If my soul were to inhabit an entirely new body, should I not, on the contrary, be a different person, at least materially? The Church 7 Ep., 6 1 : ” Sicut surrexit Dominus in cor pott t quod apud not in sacro sepulcro conditum iacuit, ita et nos in Ipsis corporibui, quibus circumdemur ft sepelimur, in dig ludicii sutrecturl sumus” 8 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Mariology, pp. 153 sqq. — The argument from the monuments of the early Church is well developed by Katschthaler. Eschatologia, pp. 448 sqq., Ratisbon 1888. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 141 declares that after the Resurrection man will not only be of the same species as before, but identically the same individual. It makes no difference whether this identity is conceived in accordance with the hylomorphic system of Aristotle and St. Thomas, or the modern atomic theory, as long as the reality of matter is admitted. Nor, again, must the identity of the risen body be conceived too narrowly. Of course, corporeal individuality is not to be gauged by a mathematical standard. Infants and old men will probably not arise exactly as they died, but in a more perfect form. Moreover, we know that in consequence of the process technically called metabolism, the human body changes its material composition every seven years or so. Hence there can be no absolute bodily identity even in this life. Nor need the identity of the risen with the earthly body be conceived as absolute. * What does not bar numerical unity in a man while he lives on uninterruptedly,* says St. Thomas, ” clearly can be no bar to the identity of the risen man with the man that was. In a man’s body while he lives, there are not always the same parts in respect of matter, but only in respect of species. In respect of matter there is a flux and reflux of parts : still that fact does not bar the man’s ’ numerical unity from the beginning to the end of his It has been objected that, as the same matter enters successively into the composition of different men, many individuals, especially savages addicted to anthropophagy, will have to fight for their bodies at the Resurrection. But 9 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 8x: secundum materiam, sed solum se” Quod non impedit unit at em secun- cundum speciem. Secundum veto dum numerum in ho mine, dum con- materiam partes Huunt gt refiuunt, tinue vivit. manifestum est quod non nec propter hoc impeditur, quin homo potest impedire unit a tern resurgentis, sit nnus numero a principio vitae In cor pore autem hominis, quamdiu usque in finenu* vivit, non semper sunt eaedem partes life.* »

this objection is unworthy of serious consideration. God in His omnipotence and wisdom can surely find ways and means of restoring to every man his own body.10 b) The integrity of the risen body offers a real difficulty, owing to the fact that many men are mutilated before they die, while others (monstra) never enjoy the possession of a normal physique. St. Augustine says on this subject: ” As the members appertain to the integrity of human nature, they shall all be restored together; for they who were either blind from birth, or who lost their sight on account of some disease, the lame, the maimed, and the paralyzed, shall rise again with an entire and perfect body.”11 The same holy Doctor expresses the expectation that “whatever old age or disease has wasted in the body … shall be repaired by the divine power of Christ,” 12 and that the body will be raised, not in an immature or decrepit condition, but as it appeared in the prime of life.18 However, these are mere conjectures. We have no positive knowledge whatever on the subject. Certain theologians hold that the bodies of the risen will be either asexual or all of the male gender. This opinion is untenable for the reason that the distinction of sex appertains both to the integrity and the identity of the individual 14 and also because our Lord seems to take the lOCfr. St. Thomas, Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 81. ii Enchiridion, c 89: ” Quo* niam membra ad veritattm humanae naturae pertinent, simul restituentur omnia. Qui enim vel ab ipso ortu oculis capti sunt vel ob aliquem morbum lumina amiserunt. claudi atque omnino manci et quibusvis membns debiles integro ac perfecto corpore resurgent.’* This teaching was embodied in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, P. I, c. 12, n. 9. 12 De Civitate Dei, XXII, 19. is Ibid., XXII, 16. 14 Cfr. Gen. I, 27, 31. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 143 continued existence of sex for granted when He says: * In the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married.15 In Eph. IV, 13: “Until we all meet and attain to the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, even to a perfect man, to the measure of the full stature of Christ/’ 16 the context shows that the Apostle means that perfect manhood which the soul is destined to attain in the life beyond. He does not mean, as St. Thomas notes, that when the risen go forth to meet Christ, they shall all be of the male sex, but merely desires to foreshadow the perfection and strength of the Church, which shall be like that of a full-grown man.17 c) Of the bodily functions all those that pertain to the vegetative life will cease in the next world. Nutrition and propagation are incompatible with the status termini. Moreover, Christ Himself expressly repudiated the idea of a Mohammedan paradise. Cfr. Matth. XXII, 30 : * In the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in heaven, 18 that is to say, though the distinction of sex remains, its functions will cease. Scripture often likens Heaven to a banquet, at which all men will sit down to feast with the Patriarchs. This is a mere allegory, designed to illustrate the happiness of the Elect. St. Paul says: “Food is for the belly, 16 Matth. XXII, 30: “In resurrectione enlm neque nubent, neque nubentur . . i«Eph. IV, 13: “Donee occurramus omnes in unitatem Add, et agnitionis Filii Dei iu virum perfectum (e/y Hvdpa rikeiov) in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi.” 17 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 88. 18 Matth. XXII, 30: “In resurrection* enim neque nubent (yafMOv ffip)* neque nubentur (yaplfo>rcu): sed erunt sicut angett Dei in caelo” 144 THE END OF THE WORLD and the belly for food; still, God will end both the one and the other.” 19 This cannot mean that the organs of digestion and assimilation will be destroyed, for they belong to the integrity of the body, — but that they will no longer exercise their functions. As regards the senses, the eyes and ears will no doubt continue to exercise their functions, the former by enjoying the sight of the God-man, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Saints, the latter by listening to the conversation of the Blessed and drinking in their paeans of praise and exultation.20 What some theologians say concerning delicious odors, essences, etc., enjoyed by the Elect is pure speculation with no basis in fact. 3. The Four Transcendent Endowments or Qualities of the Risen Bodies of the Saints, — In addition to the natural characteristics of identity and integrity common to all risen bodies, the glorified bodies of the Elect will enjoy four supernatural qualities, viz.: impassibility, brightness, agility, and subtility. a) Impassibility (impassibilitas, a^Oapaia) puts the bodies of the Elect beyond the reach of death, pain, and discomfort. 1 Cor. XV, 53: “This mortal body must needs put on incorruption.” 21 Apoc. XXI, 4: “God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, 10 1 Cor. VI, 13: ” Esca ventri 21 i Cor. XV, 53: Bel yhp rd et venter escis, Deus autem et hunc

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 145 neither shall mourning or wailing or pain be any more, because the first things are passed away.” 22 The term &4>0apT&9> ko\ 6 Odwaros 24 Matth. XIII, 43: ” Tunc iusti ofa forai Sri, otfre nivdos otfre fulgebunt sicui sol in regno Potris Kpavyii otire w6vos o$k iorai irt, eorum.” 6ri ra wp&ra dir^Xto*.

he is able to subject all things to himself.” • Elsewhere the Apostle intimates that the body will be transfigured in proportion to the light of glory which illumines the soul and enables it to behold the divine essence. Cfr. 1 Cor. XV, 40 sq. : ” The glory of the heavenly is different from that of the earthly. There is the glory of the sun, and the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars ; for star differeth from star in glory. And so it is with the resurrection of the dead/’ 26 “Thus,” explains St. Thomas, “the glory of the soul shall be perceptible in the glorified body as the color of a body enclosed in a glass receptacle is visible through the glass.” 27 As the wounds of our Divine Saviour do not disfigure His glorified body, but shine forth with indescribable radiance, so, we may assume, the scars of the blessed martyrs, far from marring, will rather enhance the beauty and glory of their transfigured bodies.28 c) The third quality of the glorified body is a certain agility (agilitas, Swa/us), by which, under the influence of the spirit, now no longer restrained, the body is freed from its innate clumsiness and moves with the utmost facility in whatever direction it is drawn by the soul. 25 Phil. Ill, 20 sq.: “Nostra aw tern conversatio in caelit est: und$ etiam Salvatorem expect amus Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui reformabit corpus humilitatis no sitae, conHguratum corpori claritatis suae, secundum operationem, qua etiam possit subiicere sibi omnia” 26 x Cor. XV, 40 sq. : ”… alia quidem caelestium gloria, alia autem terrestrium; alia claritas solis, alia claritas lunae. et alia claritas Stellarum. Stella enim a Stella differt in claritate: sic et resurrectio mortuorum.” 27 Summa Theol., Supplement., qo. 85, art. 1 : ” Et ita in corpore glo- ’ rioso cognoscetur gloria animae, sic- , ut in vitro cognoscitur color corpo- \ ris, quod continetur in vase vitreo.” j 28 Cfr. St. Thomas, Supplement., qu. 82, art. 1, ad 5. RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 147 The body of our Lord after the Resurrection was no longer subject to the limitations of space. Similarly the transfigured bodies of the Saints will be able to move from place to place, from planet to planet, from star to star, with the utmost ease and celerity. St. Thomas ascribes this ability to the fact that in the glorified body the soul is free to exercise its functions as the substantial form and motive power (vis motrix)?9 Can the Blessed move from place to place in a timeless moment, that is, without passing through the intervening space? This purely philosophical question is answered negatively by the Angelic Doctor. “The glorified body,” he says, * moves in time, but imperceptibly because of its quickness. 80 Suarez81 takes the opposite view and supports it with certain utterances of the Fathers. The metaphysical possibility of such unhampered motion depends on the nature of time and space. d) The fourth and last quality of the transfigured body is subtility (subtilitas s. spiritualitas) . This property does not imply that the glorified body ( irvcu/xanxoV) is imperceptible to the senses, or that it is transformed into spirit.82 The body merely enters into the full possession of grace and participates in the higher life of the soul to such an extent that it may be said to be almost spiritualized. The soul is filled with the divine pneuma, which, as the principle of supernatural life, assumes into itself the 29 Op. cit., qu. 84, irt i. 81 De Myst. Vita* Christi, ditp. SO Ibid.: “Corpus ghriosum 48, §ect 4. movetur in tempore, sed imperceptr- 82 Cfr. St Thomas, Summa Theol., biliter propter brevUatem.” Supplement., qu. 83, trt 6. life of the body and raises it to its own level. The soul is no longer subject to death and suffering and no longer depends on material objects for the processes of nourishment and acquiring knowledge. The body becomes absolutely subject to the spirit, and the former conflict between the two is at an end. It is a controverted question whether the transfigured bodies of the Blessed, by virtue of this supernatural gift of subtility, can penetrate one another, t. e. occupy the same space. Most authors hold that they are endowed with mechanical compenetrabilitas, i. e. the capability of mutual penetration. That this is metaphysically possible we know from the fact that Christ after the Resurrection passed through the walls of the sepulchre and the closed doors of the council chamber without let or hindrance. St. Thomas ascribes this prerogative to a special act of divine omnipotence,88 whereas Suarez 84 thinks it may be explained as a natural effect of the spirituality of the transfigured body. Readings : — £. Ramers, Des Origenes Lehre von der Auferstehung des Fleisches, Treves 1851.— M. Seisenberger, Die Lehre von der Auferstehung des Fleisches, Ratisbon 1867. — J. Bautz, Die Lehre vom Auferstehungsleibe nach ihrer positiven und spekulativen Seite, Mayence 1877.— G. Scheurer, Das Auferstehungsdogma der vomizanischen Zeit, Wurzburg 1896.— A. Brinqtiant, La Resurrection de la Chair et les Qualitis du Corps des Bus, Paris 1899.— F. Schmid, Der Unsterblichkeits- und Auferstehungsglaube in der Bibel, Brixen 1902.— Chadouard, La iPhilosophie du Dogme de la Resurrection de la Chair au 2 Siecle, Paris 1905.— A. J. Maas, S.J., art. “Resurrection,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, pp. 792 sq. 88Cfr. St Thomas, op. cit., qu. pore esse ex operation* virtutis du 83, art a: “Corpus gloriosum ra- vinoe.” Hone suae subtilitotis non habebit, . **De Myst. Visas Christi, diap. quod possis esse simul cum alio cor- 48, sect S» &• pore, sed poterit simul cum alio co