The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 1: Article 11
ARTICLE XI.
"THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY."
THAT this Article supplies a convincing proof of the truth of our faith, is evinced by the circumstance of its not only being proposed, in the Sacred Scriptures, to the belief of the faithful, but also fortified by numerous arguments. This we scarcely find to be the case with regard to the other Articles: a circumstance which justifies the inference that on it, as on its most solid basis, rests our hope of salvation; for according to the reasoning of the Apostle, " If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again; and if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." [1] The zeal and assiduity, therefore, of the pastor in its exposition should not be inferior to the labour which impiety has expended in fruitless efforts to overturn its truth. That eminently important advantages flow to the faithful from the knowledge of this Article will appear from the sequel.
And, first, that in this Article the resurrection of mankind is called " the resurrection of the body," is a circumstance which deserves attention. The Apostles had for object, (for it is not without its object,) thus to convey an important truth, the immortality of the soul. Lest, therefore, contrary to the Sacred Scriptures, which, in many places, teach the soul to be immortal, [2] any one may imagine that it dies with the body, and that both are to be resuscitated, the Creed speaks only of " the resurrection of the body." The word, " caro," which is used in the symbol, translated literally, means " flesh:" a word, which, though of frequent occurrence in Scripture to signify the whole man, soul and body, as in Isaias, " All flesh is grass;" [3] and in St. John, " The Word was made flesh;" [4] is, however used, here, to express the body only; thus giving us to under stand, that of the two constituent parts of man, one only, that is the body, is corrupted, and returns to its original dust; whilst the soul remains incorrupt and immortal. As then, without dying, a man cannot be said to return to life; so the soul, which never dies, could not, with propriety, be said to rise again. The word body, is, also, mentioned, in order to confute the heresy of Hymeneus and Philetus, who during the life-time of the Apostle, asserted, that, whenever the Scriptures speak of the resurrection, they are to be understood to mean not the resurrection of the body, but that of the soul, by which it rises from the death of sin to the life of grace. [5] The words of this Article, therefore, clearly confute the error, and establish a real resurrection of the body.
But it will be the duty of the pastor to illustrate this truth by examples taken from the Old and New Testaments, and from all ecclesiastical history. In the Old Testament, some were restored to life by Elias, [6] and Elizeus; [7] and in the New, be sides those who were raised to life by our Lord, [8] many were resuscitated by the Apostles, and by others. [9] Their resurrection confirms the doctrine conveyed by this Article, for believing that many were recalled from death to life, we are also naturally led to believe the general resurrection of all; and the principal fruit which we should derive from these miracles is to yield to this Article our most unhesitating belief. To pastors, ordinarily conversant with the Sacred Volumes, many Scripture proofs will, at once, present themselves; but, in the Old Testament, the most conspicuous are those afforded by Job, when he says, "that in his flesh he shall see God;" [10] and by Daniel when, speaking of those " who sleep in the dust of the earth," he says, "some shall awake to eternal life, others to eternal reproach." [11] In the New Testament the principal passages are those of St. Matthew, which record the disputation which our Lord held with the Sadducees; [12] and those of the Evangelists which relate to the last judgment. [13] To these we may also add, the accurate reasoning of the Apostle, on the subject, in his epistles to the Corinthians, [14] and Thessalonians. [15]
But, incontrovertibly as is this truth established by faith, it will, notwithstanding, be of material advantage to show from analogy and reason, that what faith proposes to our belief, nature acknowledges to accord with her laws, and reason with her dictate. To one, asking how the dead should rise again, the Apostle answers; " Foolish man! that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first; and that which them sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be; but bare grain as of wheat, or of some of the rest; but God giveth it a body as he will:" and a little after, " It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption." [16] St. Gregory, calls our attention to many other arguments of analogy tending to the same effect: " The sun," says he, " is every day withdrawn from our eyes, as it were, by dying, and is again recalled, as it were, by rising again: trees lose, and again, as it were, by a resurrection, resume their verdure: seeds die by putrefaction, and rise again by germination." [17]
The reasons, also, adduced by ecclesiastical writers, are well Proved by calculated to establish this truth. In the first place, as the soul is immortal, and has, as part of man, a natural propensity to be son united to the body, its perpetual separation from it must be considered contrary to nature. But as that which is contrary to nature, and offers violence to her laws, cannot be permanent, it appears congruous that the soul should be reunited to the body; and, of course, that the body should rise again. This argument, our Saviour himself employed, when, in his disputation with the Sadducees, he deduced the resurrection of the body from the immortality of the soul. [18]
In the next place, as an all-just God holds out punishments to the wicked, and rewards to the good, and as very many of the former depart this life unpunished for their crimes, and of the latter unrewarded for their virtues; the soul should be reunited to the body, in order, as the partner of her crimes, or the companion of her virtues, to become a sharer in her punishments or her rewards. [19] This view of the subject has been admirably treated by St. Chrysostom in his homily to the people of Antioch. [20] To this effect, the Apostle speaking of the resurrection, says, " If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable." [21] These words of St. Paul cannot be supposed to refer to the misery of the soul, which, because immortal, is capable of enjoying happiness in a future life, were the body not to rise; but to the whole man; for, unless the body receive the due rewards of its labours, those, who, like the Apostles, endured so many afflictions and calamities in this life, should necessarily be " the most miserable of men." On this subject the Apostle is much more explicit in his epistle to the Thessalonians: " We glory in you," says he, " in the Churches of God, that you may be counted worthy of the king dom of God, for which, also, you suffer: seeing it is a just thing with God to repay tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of his power; in a flame of fire, yielding vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." [22]
Again, whilst the soul is separated from the body, man cannot enjoy the consummation of happiness, replete with every good; for as a part, separated from the whole, is imperfect, the soul separated from the body must be imperfect; and, therefore, that nothing may be wanting to fill up the measure of its happiness, the resurrection of the body is necessary. By these, and similar arguments, the pastor will be able to instruct the faithful in this Article.
He should also, carefully explain, from the Apostle, who are to be raised to life. Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul says, "as in Adam all die, so, also, in Christ all should be made alive." [23] Good and bad, then, without distinction, shall all rise from the dead, although the condition of all shall not be the same those who have done good, shall rise to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
When we say " all," we mean those who shall have died before the day of judgment, as well as those who shall then die. That the Church acquiesces in the opinion which asserts that all, without distinction, shall die, and that this opinion is more consonant to truth, is recorded by the pen of St. Jerome, [24] whose authority is fortified by that of St. Augustine. [25] Nor does the Apostle, in his epistle to the Thessalonians, dissent from this doctrine, when he says; " The dead who are in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air." [26] St. Ambrose explaining these words says, " In that very taking up, death shall anticipate, as it were by a deep sleep, and the soul, having gone forth from the body, shall in stantly return; for those who are alive, when taken up, shall die, that, coming to the Lord, they may receive their souls from his presence; because in his presence they cannot be dead." [27] This opinion is fortified by the authority of St. Augustine in his book on the City of God. [28]
But as it is of vital importance to be fully convinced that the identical body, which belongs to each one of us during life, shall, though corrupt, and dissolved into its original dust, be raised up again to life; this, too, is a subject which demands accurate explanation from the pastor. It is a truth conveyed by the Apostle in these words; " This corruptible must put on incorruption;" [29] emphatically designating by the word " this," the identity of our bodies. It is also, evident from the prophecy of Job, than which nothing can be more express: " I shall see my God," says he, " whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes behold, and not another." [30] Finally, if we only consider the very definition of resurrection, we cannot, reasonably, entertain a shadow of doubt on the subject; for resurrection, as Damascene defines it, is " a return to the state from which one has fallen." [31] Finally, if we consider the arguments by which we have already established a future resurrection, every doubt on the subject must, at once, disappear. We have said that the body is to rise again, that " every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil." [32] Man is, therefore, to rise again, in the same body with which he served God, or was a slave to the devil; that in the same body he may experience rewards, and a crown of victory, or endure the severest punishments, and never ending torments.
Not only will the body rise, but it will rise endowed with whatever constitutes the reality of its nature, and adorns and ornaments man: according to these admirable words of St. Augustine: " There shall, then, be no deformity of body; if some have been overburdened with flesh, they shall not resume its entire weight; whatever shall exceed the proper habit shall be deemed superfluous. On the other hand, should the body be wasted by the malignity of disease, or the debility of old age, or be emaciated from any other cause, it shall be recruited by the divine power of Jesus Christ, who will not only restore the body, but repair whatever it shall have lost through the wretchedness of this life." 3 In another place he says; " Man shall not resume his former hair, but shall be adorned with such as will become him, according to these words of the Redeemer, The very hairs of your head are all numbered: [33] God will restore them according to his wisdom." [34]
The members, because essential to the integrity of human nature, shall all be restored: the blind from nature or disease, the lame, the maimed, and the paralysed shall rise again with perfect bodies: otherwise the desires of the soul, which so strongly incline it to a union with the body, should be far from satisfied; and yet we are convinced, that in the resurrection, these desires shall be fully realized. Besides, the resurrection, like the creation, is clearly to be numbered amongst the principal works of God. As, therefore, at the creation, all things came perfect from the hand of God; so, at the resurrection shall all things be perfectly restored by the same omnipotent hand.
These observations are not to be restricted to the bodies of the martyrs; of whom St. Augustine says: " As the mutilation which they suffered should prove a deformity, they shall rise with all their members; otherwise those who were beheaded should rise without a head. The scars, however, which they received, shall remain, shining like the wounds of Christ, with a brilliancy far more resplendant than that of gold and of precious stones." [35] The wicked too, shall rise with all then members, although they should have been lost through their own fault: for the greater the number of members which they shall have, the greater shall be their torments; and, therefore, this restoration of members, will serve to increase, not their happiness, but their misery. Merit or demerit is ascribed not to the members, but to the person to whose body they are united: to those, therefore, who shall have done penance, they shall be restored as sources of reward; and to those who shall have contemned it, as instruments of punishment. If the pastor bestow mature consideration on these things, he can never want words or ideas to move the hearts of the faithful, and enkindle in them the flame of piety; that, considering the troubles of this life, they may look forward, with eager expectation, to that blessed glory of the resurrection which awaits the just.
It now remains to explain to the faithful, in an intelligible manner, how the body, when raised from the dead, although substantially the same, shall be different in many respects. To omit other points, the great difference between the state of all bodies when risen from the dead, and what they had previously been, is, that, before the resurrection, they were subject to dis solution; but, when reanimated, they shall all, without distinction of good and bad, be invested with immortality. This admirable restoration of nature is the result of the glorious victory of Christ over death; as it is written, " He shall cast death over death, down headlong for ever;" [36] and, " O Death! I will be thy death;" a words which the Apostle thus explains, " [37] and the enemy death shall be destroyed last;" [38] and St. John, also, says, " Death shall be no more." [39] There is a peculiar congruity in the superiority of the merits of Christ, by which the power of death is overthrown, [40] to the fatal effects of the sin of Adam; and, it is consonant to the divine justice, that the good enjoy endless felicity; whilst the wicked, condemned to everlasting torments, " shall seek death, and shall not find it; shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them." [41] Immortality, therefore, will be common to the good and to the bad.
Moreover, the bodies of the saints when resuscitated, shall be distinguished by certain transcendant endowments, which will ennoble them far beyond their former condition. Amongst these endowments, four are specially mentioned by the Fathers, which they infer from the doctrine of St. Paul, and which are called "qualities." [42]
The first is " impassibility," which shall place them beyond the reach of pain or inconvenience of any sort. Neither the piercing severity of cold, nor the glowing intensity of heat can affect them, nor can the impetuosity of waters hurt them. " It is sown," says the Apostle, "in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption." [43] This quality, the schoolmen call impassibility, not incorruption: in order to distinguish it as a property peculiar to a glorified body. The bodies of the damned, though incorruptible, shall not be impassible: they shall be capable of experiencing heat and cold, and of feeling pain.
The next quality is " brightness," by which the bodies of the saints shall shine like the sun; according to the words of our Lord recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew: "The just shall shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." [44] To remove the possibility of doubt on the subject, he left us a splendid exemplification of this glorious quality in his transfiguration. [45] This quality the Apostle sometimes calls glory, sometimes brightness; " He will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory:" [46] and again, " It is sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory." [47] Of this glory the Israelites beheld some image in the desert; when the face of Moses, after he had been in the presence of, and had conversed with God, shone with such resplendent lustre that they could not look on it. [48] This brightness is a sort of refulgence reflected from the supreme happiness of the soul an emanation of the bliss which it en joys, and which beams through the body. Its communication is analogous to the manner in which the soul itself is rendered happy, by a participation of the happiness of God. Unlike the former, this quality is not common to all in the same degree. All the bodies of the saints shall, it is true, be equally impassible: but the brightness of all shall not be the same: for, ac cording to the Apostle; " 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, is the resurrection of the dead." [49]
To this quality is united that of " agility," as it is called, by which the body shall be freed from the burden that now presses it down; and shall require a capability of moving with the utmost facility and celerity, wherever the soul pleases, as St. Augustine teaches in his book on the City of God, [50] and St. Jerome on Isaias. [51] Hence these words of the Apostle; "It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power." [52]
Another quality is that of " subtilty;" a quality which subjects the body to the absolute dominion of the soul, and to an entire obedience to her control: as we infer from these words of the Apostle; "It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body." [53] These are the principal points on which the pastor will dwell in the exposition of this Article.
But in order that the faithful may know what fruit they are to reap from a knowledge of so many and such exalted mysteries; the pastor will proclaim, in the first place, that to God, who has hidden these things from the wise, and made them known to little ones, we owe a debt of boundless gratitude! How many men, eminent for wisdom and learning, who never arrived at a knowledge of this truth? Aware, then, of his special predilection towards us, in making known to us this sublime truth to us who could never aspire to such knowledge it be comes our duty to pour forth our gratitude in unceasing praises of his goodness and clemency.
Another important advantage to be derived from deep reflection on this Article is, that in it we shall experience a balm, to heal the wounded spirit, when we mourn the loss of those who were endeared to us by friendship or connected with us by blood; a balm which the Apostle himself administered to the Thessalonians when writing to them "concerning those who slept." [54]
But in all our afflictions and calamities, the thought of a future resurrection must bring relief to the troubled heart; as we learn from the example of Job, who supported himself under an accumulation of afflictions and of sorrows, solely by the hope of, one day, rising from the grave, and beholding the Lord his God. [55]
It must also, prove a powerful incentive to the faithful to use every exertion to lead lives of rectitude and integrity, unsullied by the defilement of sin; for, if they reflect, that those riches of inconceivable value, which God will bestow on his faithful servants after the resurrection, are now proposed to them as rewards; they must find in the reflection the strongest inducement to lead virtuous and holy lives. On the other hand, no thing will have greater effect in subduing the passions, and withdrawing souls from sin, than frequently to remind the sinner of the miseries and torments with which the justice of God will visit the reprobate, who, on the last day, shall rise to the resurrection of judgment. [56]
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 1 3, 14.
- ↑ Wis. ii. 23; lii. ; Matt x. 28; xxii. 31, 32.
- ↑ Isaias xl. 6.
- ↑ John i. 14.
- ↑ 2 Tim. ii. 17.
- ↑ 3 Kings xvii. 21, 22
- ↑ 4 Kings iv. 34; xiii. 21.
- ↑ Matt. ix. 25. Luke vii. 14, 15. John xi. 43, 44
- ↑ Acts ix. 40; xx. 10.
- ↑ Job xix. 26.
- ↑ Dan. xii. 2.
- ↑ Matt. xxii. 31
- ↑ John v. 25; xxviii. 29.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv.
- ↑ 1 Thess. iv. 13.
- ↑ 1 Cor xv. 36-42.
- ↑ S. Gregor. lib. 14. moral, c. 28-30.
- ↑ Matt. xxii. 23.
- ↑ Damasc. lib. 4. de fide orthod. cap. 28. Ambros. lib. de fide resurr.
- ↑ S. Chrysostom, bornil. 49 and 50.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 19.
- ↑ 2Thess. 1. 4.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 22.
- ↑ S. Hieron. epist 152.
- ↑ August, de Civil. Dei. lib. xx. c. 20.
- ↑ 1 Thess. v 15, 16.
- ↑ In 1. epist. ad Thess. c. 4.
- ↑ Lib. xx. c. 20.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 53.
- ↑ Job xix. 26, 27.
- ↑ Damasc. lib. iv de fid. orthod. 28.
- ↑ S. Aug. 1. xxii. de Civil. Dei, c. 1921. & Ench. c. 86-89. Hierm. Epist. 59. 61.
- ↑ Luke xii. 7.
- ↑ S. Aug Ench. c. lxxvi.
- ↑ Lib. xxii. de Civ. Dei, c. 20
- ↑ Isa. xxv. 8.
- ↑ Osee xiii. 14.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 26.
- ↑ Apoc. ii. 4.
- ↑ Heb. ii. 14.
- ↑ Apoc. ix. 6.
- ↑ De his Aug. Serm. 99. de temp. Ambr. in com. in 1. ad Cor. c. 15. "
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 42.
- ↑ Matt. xiii. 43.
- ↑ Matt. xvii. 2.
- ↑ Philip, iii. 21.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 43.
- ↑ Exod. xxxiv. 29. 2 Cor. iii. 7.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42.
- ↑ Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. xiii. c. 18. 20. et lib. xxii. c. 11.
- ↑ Hieron. in Isaiara, cap. 40.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 43.
- ↑ 1 Cor. xv. 44
- ↑ 1 Thess. iv. 13.
- ↑ Job xix. 26.
- ↑ John v. 29.