Poor People

Fresco, by Fra Angelico, c. 1430s

Pity those whose minds are closed, who only ‘see’ physical realities.

Poor people:

Those who say that there is no resurrection (Luke 20).

We don’t know a lot about death and resurrection. But we do know them to be true.

Death is certain. No one escapes it – no one, not even God!

Resurrection is certain.

The empty tomb, particularly the way it was arranged (John 20), helps us trust in its truth.

The resurrection appearances provide further fodder for belief.

But what will the resurrection be like?

St. Augustine hints at the experience when he says:

Now our bodies are animated by our souls, but beyond death, the body will be animated by the Spirit.

In recent times Pope John Paul II bequeathed to us the Theology of the Body.

For him – for us – the ‘body is symbolic, spousal, beautiful and free, wounded yet redeemed.’

He says of the resurrected body-person:

As a consequence of the vision of God ‘face to face,’ a love of such depth and power of concentration on God himself will be born in the person that it completely absorbs the person’s entire being.

We await the Spirit of Truth and Love.

Amen.