Father I love you. Test

Can our spirit die?

Our spirit cannot die, in the sense that it can be gone forever. But, it can die, in the sense that it can be condemned to live separated from God, from Love, from Goodness, from Joy and Happiness.

You and I must face and deal with the question of two deaths and two resurrections.

The first resurrection of your soul.

Because of our baptism our spirit is now living its first resurrection, a resurrection in the Body of Christ. Through our baptism, Jesus has resurrected our spirit from the dead, i.e. separated from God. Our spirit is now living a new life in Christ Jesus, a new life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus has given our spirit a life filled with new hope, new audacity and new power to do Godly things. So if our spirit is now living in the Body of Christ, should our body not be living there as well? If not, we are torn by living in two opposites, the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness.

Our dear Lord, having taken upon Himself the death that was ours, has resurrected, to die no more. If we live this first resurrection of our soul, this new life we have in Jesus (which is where we are now) we will die no more. At the second resurrection, which is the resurrection of our body at the end of time, our body will rise free from decay and death to be united in joyous reunion with our resurrected soul, forever in God's glory. However if we do not live our present resurrection in Christ Jesus, we will die twice; first the death of our soul in this life then the eternal death of body and soul at the end of time. Now at this very moment, in this our first resurrection is the time for us to live. Now is the time to make those decisions and to do those things, which befit one who has received a new life. A great life. A glorious life. An eternal life. A life claimed at the price of much Love. A life in the glorious body of Christ Jesus, Son of God. Now in this our first resurrection is the time for us to live our life as the child of God that we are. Our life in the Kingdom of God is now. THIS IS IT! Everything we do must be in this reality.

Because of our baptism, we are Priest, we are King and we are Prophet. This is who we are and the authority we have to govern and minister in God’s name. Regardless of our station in life, our riches or our poverty, our health or our illness, this is who we are with the authority our spirit has to govern and minister to God in HIS kingdom, as his Priest, as his Prophet and his King in Christ Jesus.

Here is what our Brother Aurelius says about the two resurrections.

Our first resurrection and our second resurrection.

“Jesus then goes on to say, 'Mark my words carefully. I am telling you that a time is coming, in fact it has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear shall live. For the Father has life in himself, so has the Son, by the Father's gift.'

He is not yet speaking of the second resurrection, that is, the resurrection of the body, which is to come at the end of the world, but about the first, which is here and now. It is, in fact, to distinguish the two that he says, 'The time is coming, in fact it is already come.'

This resurrection, however, is not the resurrection of the body, but of the soul. For souls also have their own death, in the shape of irreligion and sin, the death died by those referred to by the Lord when he says, 'Let the dead bury their own dead', that is, 'Let those who are dead in soul bury those who are dead in body.' he is speaking of those who are dead in soul, because of irreligion and wickedness, when he says, 'The time is coming, in fact it has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear shall live.' By 'those who hear' he means 'those who obey and believe and who persevere to the end.' And he does not here make any distinction between the good and the evil. For it is good for all to hear his voice and to come to life by passing over from the death of irreligion to the life of devotion. It is of this death that the apostle Paul is speaking when he says, 'Therefore all mankind has died; and he died for all, so that men, when they are alive, should not live for themselves henceforth, but should live for him who for their sake died and rose again.'

So all men are dead in sin, without any exception at all, whether that sin is original sin or voluntary sin in addition to that -committed either in ignorance of what is right, or by failing to do what is known to be right. And for all these dead, there died the one man truly alive, that is, the one who had no sin at all. And his purpose was that those who are alive through the forgiveness of sins should henceforth live not for themselves but for him who died for all mankind, on account of our sins and rose again for our justification so that we may put our faith in him who justifies the irreligious and being brought from irreligion to righteousness- brought as if from death to life might thus be able to take part in the first resurrection which is here and now.

For in this first resurrection only those who take part will be blessed for eternity, whereas in the second, about which Jesus is soon to speak, he will teach us that the blessed and the wretched alike take part. The one is the resurrection of mercy, the other the resurrection of judgement. That is the meaning of the verse in the psalm, 'I will sing to you, Lord, of mercy and of judgement.' Jesus goes on to speak of this judgement, in saying, 'And he has given him authority to pass judgement, because he is the Son of Man'. Here he is showing that he will come to judge in the body in which he came to be judged; that is the point of saying 'because he is the Son of Man'.

Then he adds the words relevant to our present topic. 'Do not be surprised at this, that the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice and will come out; those who have done right will rise to life, those who have done wrong will rise for judgement.' This is judgement in the sense in which he used the word a little before, meaning 'condemnation', when he said, 'He who listens to my words and puts his faith in him who sent me, has everlasting life and will not come up for judgement, but has passed over from death to life.'

This means that by taking part in the first resurrection which effects the passage from death to life, he will not come up for condemnation, which is what he means by the term 'judgement, as he does also in this other place, where he says, 'Those who have done wrong will rise for judgement.'

And so anyone who does not wish to be condemned in the second resurrection must rise up in the first. For the time is coming, in fact it has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live, that is they will not come into condemnation, the ‘second death’, as it is called. Into this death, after the second resurrection, the resurrection of bodies which is to come, they will be hurled who do not rise up in the first resurrection, the resurrection of souls.

For the time is coming (and here he does not say 'and in fact it has come already' because it is to be at the end of the world. that is, at the last and greatest judgement of God) when all who are in the grave will hear his voice and will come out.' He does not say, as in the first resurrection, 'and those who hear it will live'. For not all will live, that is, not all will have that life which, because it is a life of bliss, is the only life truly worthy of the name. For obviously they could not, without life of some sort, hear and come forth from the grave in the resurrection of the body.

Now he tells us in the next verse why they will not all live. Those who have done right', he says. 'will rise to life' - they are those who are to live - 'but those who have done wrong will rise for judgement' - they are those who are not to live, because they are to die the second death. They have, in fact, done wrong because their life has been wicked. And their life has been wicked because in the first resurrection, the resurrection of souls which is here and now, they have not risen to a new life, or they did once so rise, but have not continued in that new life to the end.

There are thus two rebirths, of which I have already spoken above: one according to faith, which comes here and now through baptism, and the other in the body, a rebirth which will come in its freedom from decay and death, as a result of the great and last judgement.

Similarly, there are two resurrections: the first, the resurrection of the soul, which is here and now and prevents us from coming to the second death; and the second, which is not now, but is to come at the end of the world. This is not the resurrection of the soul but of the body and by means of the last judgement it will consign many to the second death and bring others to the life that knows no death.”[1]

Our bodies must resurrect.

Here is further proof our bodies are destined for resurrection. If our bodies were not destined for resurrection, there would be no need for our souls to continue to be, only our spirits, since our soul would not have a body to animate.[2]

We would not need a “mantle,” since there would be no limbs or body to move. Our spirit would not need “extensions” to link it with the brain. We would not need energy-cells if there were no organs for them to animate.[3] In eternity with a soul without a body, would be a sort of celestial cripple. A major part of what God made us to be, would not be there to minister to Him. Our souls could not fully rejoice in being in God’s presence, since the body, their lifelong partner would not be there to make us complete. Both our glorified bodies and our souls are far too beautiful for this to happen. Praise and glory and benediction to our blessed Creator, our eternal Home.

How will our glorified bodies be changed?

There are many writings on this question, but the one I like is the following by Father Charles M. Mangan.[4]

ESCHATOLOGY

The Glorified Body

The Promise of Christ's Resurrection

by

Charles M. Mangan

            “A perennial question which arises, particularly during the fifty days of Easter, is framed thus: If we are to be like Christ in life as in death, what will our resurrected, glorified bodies be like?

            This query has received a reply from the Doctor Angelicus, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225? - 1274) as well as from other theologians. These scholars have based their writings on this brief passage from Saint Paul: "What is sown in the earth is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible. What is sown is ignoble, what rises is glorious. Weakness is sown, strength rises up. A natural body is put down and a spiritual body comes up" (I Corinthians 15:42b-44).

            Saint Thomas and the others identify the four "properties" of the glorified body: impassibility, subtility, agility, clarity. Professor Ludwig Ott, in his reliable Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, presents a helpful summary of these characteristics of the glorified body.

            Impassibility means the incapability of suffering any kind of physical evils: death, sorrow, illness, etc. The glorified body will be free of these maladies, which cause so much anguish here in this life.

            Subtility has been described as the "power to penetrate." No material objects will deter the glorified body from moving to and fro. Instead, the glorified body, after the example of Jesus' Risen Body, will have complete ability to move from one place to another unrestricted.

            Agility is the power of the body to move easily and quickly at the soul's behest. No longer "weighed down," the human body in Heaven will move with great rapidity and amazing elegance.

            Clarity means brilliance. The glorified body will shine with an unmistakable radiance, much as the Body of Jesus appeared at the Transfiguration. The glorified body will be full of splendor and radiance to the extent that the soul possesses clarity, which in turn depends on the soul's merits. Referring to Pope Saint Gregory the Great (538?-604) Saint Thomas asserts: "Thus in the glorified body the glory of the soul will he known, even as through a crystal is known the color of a body contained in a crystal vessel, as Gregory says on Job 28:17, "Gold or crystal cannot equal it." (Summa Theologica, Suppl. Question 85: Article 1. Whether clarity is becoming to the glorified body?).

            The glorified bodies of the Elect will differ greatly from the bodies of the damned. The bodies of the latter will suffer many indignities, bearing the brunt of the awful, unquenchable torments of Hell (poena sensus). True, the bodies of the damned will rise again in incorruption and immortality; yet, these bodies will not be transfigured in the likeness of Christ's Body.

            To prayerfully consider the reality of the glorified body is to acknowledge God's goodness to his children. As if the celestial joys experienced by the soul in Paradise are not quite sufficient, the Almighty does something more: He bathes the glorified body in Heaven with incredible contentment of its own. The four properties of the glorified body attest to the Lord's desire to grant both soul and body unparalleled happiness.

            Where Jesus Christ is visibly present now Body and soul, we - his disciples - hope to follow. The utterly beautiful characteristics of his Body we will share, as will all those who, through the free gift of God, achieve the undying bliss of Heaven. Imagine the awesome grace of the Beatific Vision and the perpetual satisfaction which the bodies and souls of the Saints will enjoy in the next life.

            The Easter Season provides ample opportunity for believers everywhere to ponder the mystery of Jesus' Resurrection. By living for and with Him here on earth, we will one day inherit the promise of everlasting life for both body and soul in the Kingdom of Heaven.” [5]