A Spiritual Body Awaits
Brothers and sisters:
Someone may say, “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body will they come back?”
You fool!
What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body that is to be
but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious.
It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. (1 Cor 15:35-37,42-44)
We are not very good with unpredictability. We like things nice and neat. We do not appreciate not knowing something.
There is so much about the mystery of life and death that we will never know, at least, not until we experience it first hand.
We can try to guess what might happen but those guesses are uneducated at best.
St. Paul challenged the Corinthians in today’s reading about this very thing. They were trying to guess about what kind of body they would have when they rose from the dead. After all, our earthly body is the only thing with which we are familiar. Paul told them that they were fools to even attempt to guess.
We do not know what kind of heavenly bodies we will receive after death. We can only trust that they will be exactly what we need since God is the perfect provider.
Until that time, we should not worry about what is to come.
We should also not worry about what can happen to our mortal bodies because they are just that: mortal. They are temporary shells that house our souls here on earth.
Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and Paul Chong Ha-sang, and their companions, whose memorial we celebrate today, certainly knew that. They were martyrs of the Church in Korea who suffered greatly. Their bodies were ravaged by torturers but they endured and clung to the faith. Their tortured shells served them in this world but God had something better in store for them in the age to come.
Do not worry about what God has in store for you. We do not know what it is. But, we can trust that it will be fantastic.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for the repose of the souls: of your loved ones, of those you may have known, and of those who no longer have anyone to pray for them.