The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-04-16
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered sr lneensid.r.f'

He exercised this power when He died. For, as
Scripture SAYS He suffered because He HlmseH
wiled it," He permitted the executioners to do tner
terrible work upon Him. He might have avoided ms
tormentors and all the suffering of His last TWO
days on earth, even as He had passed untouched
through the midst of the crowd that was eager 10
stone Him, from those that would have cast hlh
down from a cliff, and also those who Wlsneo TO
take Him and make Him king" Christ is God. No
human power friendly or threatening, can De e&ef-
cised upon Him against His will.
Our Lord willed to die because He willed to give
back to man the opportunity lost by our rst ratneT
in Eden He came earth TO die. be did not VIII
the evil of the executioners sln but he Wlleo 70
allow that sim not of His choosing, to have It's mur-
derous effect on Him He could have died without
being put to death. Indeed learned and holy writers
declare that His heartbreaking sorrow Tor man SIN
and ingratitude actually physical heartpreaA'
and that after the Agony in the Garden He was DYING
and would have died even had He not been cruclfeo'
Rut the free-wil which God has given TO man
is not taken away, no matter how badly man abuses
it. Therefore the free.will Of the executoners OF
Our Lord was not impeded or destroyed. These men
were allowed to work their murderous Will upon
Christ They were allowed; they permitted, for
il was their free and deliberate choice Christ might
have thwarted their will He did not do so. He SUI
fered because He wiled to suffer so that We might
have chance TO achieve heaven.
And therefore Our Lord exercised His power
TO Law down His life for us On Easter Day he exer-
csed the power to take up His life again. St.
Paul calls Our Risen Lord the first OF those VINO
rise from sleep" For the rising of Our Lord IN
the glorified Body IN truth the first rising Be
fore this time Gods power had many times raised
the dead to life But this a restoration OF nat
ural and earthly life; the bodies that were joined
anew with their sous TO continue living as they
had lived before. and then to die again Not so with
the rising of Our Lord. Christ rose glorious and
deathIess Christ rising from the dead dieth now no
more: death shall no more have dominion over HIM
And We are meant TO live virtuously in the prsc
tice OF the true religion and the last day, to
rise glorious in the image Of the glorltled Christ
The risen bodies of the just will be their own true
bodies but these will have four notable qualities
which in this present life no body can have. For
these are supernatural qualities they are beyond
the reach of what is merely natural, as this present
life is natural. These qualities to be bestowed
by God upon the saints,-thst is upon all who are
ssved,-on the last day.
The first of the supernatural qualities which
express the glory of the risen body is what Is
called tmpdSstbistg. The risen body will suffer no
pain, no possibility of being wounded or hurt or
afflicted by disease death. II will not endure
fatigue; il will make demands upon the soul
at all for it will be wholly under the souls rule
and control in every way.
The second of the qualities of the gIorified risen
body is called clarity. This is the splendor with
which the lust shall shine as the sun in the king
dom Of the Father" And since this light and spen-
dor will be the effect, under supernatural action,
of the souls glory, it will vary in the Blessed
cordlnR to their particular measure of spiritual
glory. OF this clarity of the glorited body OF the
three Apostles, Peter, James, and John, has some
prophetic glimpse when they beheld Our Lord in
His TRANSPORTATION.
The third quality of the glorified risen body is
called agility. This is the supernatural gift by
which the resurrected man will be able TO move
from place to place with the effortless swiftness
of thought Thus the whole bodily universe, in its
changed and beautifed existence, win be the pos
session of the risen and glorified man.
The fourth supernatural quality of the risen and
glorified body is called SHbttlitg subtletg. BY
virtue of this quality the body. while true body,
will have many of the characteristics of spirit.
II will not be blocked or hndered by bodily things;
will il need anything bodily, such as food. II
by this quality in the Risen Christ that he passed
from the Tomb through the great stone that closed
the door of the sepulchre; il was by this quality
that He entered the room closed and locked, where
the disciples gathered in fear before the Holy
Ghost had come TO give them the strength and cour-
age of martyrs
Inc W0nur0uS quallueS OF the risen DouleS OF
the Blessed find their promise and their power to
attract us in the Body of the Risen Lord. True, dur
ing the forty days that interviewed between Resur-
rection and Ascension Christ did not permit the
full glory of His Risen Body TO be manifest to do
would have been to dazzle and confuse the
Apostles. He proved His reality by eating, although
His Body needs food Yet He did manifest His
agility in appearing the Emmaus road, and He
showed the subtlity of His Body by entering through
doors that were closed and barred.
But His clarity too much for earthly eyes,
particularly for eyes not yet spiritually enlightened
by the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Even the day
of Ascension He gave the disciples glimpse of
His splendor, as He had on the Mount of Transfig
uration, but. after giving them word of final in
struction, He was raised up, and cloud received
Him out of their sight"
The glorious qualities of the risen body should
make MS yearn to possess them by living Christ
like life earth. We are often TOO keen health
and shapehness and beauty of the body in its pres
ent state; yet all these things will quickly pass away
and be lost IN the grave. How much wiser we
should be If We sought spiritual health and beauty
OF SOUL these will give the risen body its unfadine