August 11, 2011 – Catechism 988-991

The resurrection from the dead is something that is often confusing to many and therefore a stumbling block to belief. We are also warped in our understanding of bodies raised from the dead because of our movies and stories of zombies and such. But it is a mystery exactly how all this will come about so trying to fully understand it is impossible and allowing it to be a stumbling block is trying to fit God’s abilities inside human limitations. The closest understanding we really have to what our resurrected bodies will be like when we are reunited with our souls is Christ during the Transfiguration or after the Resurrection. When Christ rose, He was not a zombie. Although He kept the wounds of His death, He was fully human, body and all, able to eat, be touched, and speak. However, it is a different form of the same body. He was able to travel quickly to those on the road to Ameus, able to appear and disappear, walk through walls, bring about fish and other extraordinary things. It is not about raising our old dead bodies but being united with a new and glorified body, unified with our glorified soul, becoming what we were meant to be, united with God, before sin became a part of who we are.