The Resurrection of the Body

Before His Ascension into Heaven, Jesus spent 40 days on earth, preparing his apostles for their mission of evangelization. In the story of the Emmaus journey, two of the disciples walk with Jesus but do not initially recognize Him. Why is this? Did His resurrected body really look that different?

The resurrection of the body has been doctrine for Christians for 2000 years. In the Nicene Creed, we state that we believe in “the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” But do we really believe in the resurrection of our bodies? We say the words, but when it comes to the afterlife, millions of faithful Catholics seem to think that their souls alone count

The idea that the physical is bad and only the spiritual is good is a heresy. This mistaken teaching is one that church leaders have tried to eliminate from Christianity from its earliest days.

According to the Catechism, “From the beginning, Christian faith in the resurrection (of the body) has met with incomprehension and opposition.” So why is there so much resistance to the belief in bodily resurrection?

There are many reasons why Christians do not easily accept this doctrine. First, it defies what we know of science. How can something that has died be made to live again? How can bodies that have been cremated and remains scattered become whole again? Yet many beliefs held by Catholics are also hard for science to explain, like the real presence, and the virgin birth.

Maybe it’s because it’s so hard to love our bodies. It is easy to understand why, for example, the elderly and sick look toward an eternity without a body that has become a burden for them.

But anyone who remembers the best things about having a body – dancing and listening to music, shushing down a ski slope, smelling and tasting a freshly made cookie – can find great hope in the promise of a glorified body. If the Risen Jesus could walk through walls, and show up when and where he chose, how could our own raised bodies possibly be a hindrance? Won’t they enhance our experience of God?

The Catechism says that, “By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day.”