August 19, 2011 – Catechism 997-1004

I love the imagery in 999. A seed of corn is not what the corn stalk looks like. Any seed that grows into something, that something does not resemble the seed at all. Yet they are connected and there is part of the seed that resides in it. This is the way we are to think about our glorified bodies that will be connected to our souls in the end. Our bodies now will be to those bodies then as a seed is to the flower that springs from it.
When we think about what we do to our bodies, I wonder if it helpful to imagine it as a seed that will be planted and sprout our glorified bodies. We know that the condition of the seed will affect how well the plant will grow and whether it will be good or not. But I imagine that doesn’t go very far because the glorified body will be one of perfection or it would not be connected with God. But the body is not only resurrected for those with God, but also those that will suffer for all eternity. I guess you could say that the way they lived their lives affected the seed that will be planted when they die and the result will be a body that is not what God intended. We are all seeds that will be planted and we are called not only to be responsible for our seeds but to care for the seeds of others and we are called to help them so that when they are planted, as we all will be, they grow to be beautiful plants in God’s garden of eternity.