CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
  • 69. The Place of Departed Souls
  • 70. Quality of a Separated Soul
  • 71. Suffrages for the Dead
  • 72. Prayers to the Saints
  • 73. Signs Preceding General Resurrection and Judgement
  • 74. The Fire of Judgment Day
  • 75. The Resurrection of the Body
  • 76. The Cause of the Resurrection of the Body
  • 77. Time and Manner of the Resurrection of the Body
  • 78. The Starting Point of the Bodily Resurrection
  • 79. The Risen Body
  • 80. The Integrity of the Risen Body
  • 81. The Quality of Those Risen from the Dead
  • 82. The Impassibility of Risen Bodies
  • 83. The Subtlety of Risen Bodies
  • 84. The Agility of Risen Bodies
  • 85. The Clarity of Risen Bodies
  • 86. The Risen Bodies of the Damned
• The Last Things
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

85. The Clarity of Risen Bodies

1. The risen body in glory will have a measure oflightsomeness and splendor, according to the soul's degree ofglory. Says scripture (Matt. 13:43): "The just shall shine asthe sun in the kingdom of their Father." This shining andsplendid quality of the risen body is called itsclarity.

2. The clarity of the blessed in heaven will be visible tothe non-glorified eye of the damned. For clarity is naturallyvisible, as it was to the eyes of the three apostles who beheld itin our Lord's body at the time of the Transfiguration.

3. Yet the glorified body is not necessarilyvisible; it will appear or disappear as the soul wills. It will belike our Lord's glorified body at Emmaus, that is, capable ofbeing seen, but also capable of being withdrawn from the sight ofmen.

"It is better to be burdened and in company with the strong than to be unburdened and with the weak. When you are burdened you are close to God, your strength, who abides with the afflicted. When you are relieved of the burden you are close to yourself, your own weakness; for virtue and strength of soul grow and are confirmed in the trials of patience."
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church

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"A man should keep himself down, and not busy himself in mirabilibus super se."
St Philip Neri

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"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. "
Thomas á Kempis

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