* 1 Cor. xv. 43.
This word glory is one of great and manifold meanings in Holy Scripture. In this particular place and connection it means excellence and beauty, accompanied with a shining splendor. Wherefore, our bodies rising in glory, means, first, that they shall rise perfect in beauty and symmetry of form, and totally free from the defects and blemishes entailed by sin. This perfect beauty of form is evidently involved in the promise of rising conformable to the glorious body of our Blessed Saviour, "who, will reform the body of our lowness, made like the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby he is also able to subdue all things unto himself."*
* Phil. iii. 21.
The human body was created perfect in the beginning. It was the masterpiece of God's power and wisdom in this world. But sin dishonored and disfigured it. It gave birth to a host of infirmities, which mar its original beauty, and in some cases change it even into a monster. Still, in spite of sin, it yet retains, in many individuals, much of its primitive comeliness. But how perfect soever in form and feature any one may be, there is always some deficiency; some member, organ, or feature is slightly distorted, imperfect, or out of proportion with the rest.
On the resurrection day, all these defects and blemishes disappear, and the human body is again, far more than in the beginning, a masterpiece of God's creative power, wisdom, and love. For every member, organ, and feature will then be exquisitely shaped and proportioned, so as to harmonize into a perfect whole of surpassing beauty, without defect or deficiency of any kind. Oh! with what rapturous delight will the soul reunite herself with that beautiful body, and make it her temple forever! It was the companion of her sorrows and her joys in this world. But it was, too, a body of sin and death, and she had, perhaps more than once, sighed and prayed to be delivered from it. But now that it is purified, beautiful, and glorified, she re-enters it with joy, because it is become the fit companion of a beatific spirit. The fond mother meeting her long-lost child, and, in the joy of her heart, pressing it to her bosom, is a faint image of the joy which the soul will experience in the reunion with her glorified body.
But this is not all. St. Thomas maintains* that, besides rising in perfect beauty of form, all the just must rise in the bloom and vigor of youth; otherwise our bodies would not, according to promise, rise conformable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ. From this doctrine it follows that all defect, or appearance of old age, as well as the infirmities and deficiencies of infancy, will be completely removed, and all the saints will enjoy the full perfection of human nature. What consolation there is in all these glorious promises! To be forever young and vigorous, forever blessed with perfect health of mind and body, to be forever beyond the reach of time, which destroys all beauty here below; to be clothed with a body that shall forever be a stranger to suffering: these are some of the joys in store for the children of God in the resurrection of the body.
* Respondeo dicendum, quod homo resurget absque omni defectu humanæ naturæ: quia sicut Deus humanam naturam absque defectu instituit, ita sine defectu reparabit. Deficit autem humana natura dupliciter. Uno modo quia nondum perfectionem ultimam est consecuta. Alio modo, quia jam ab ultima perfectionis recessit. Et primo modo deficit in pueris, secundo modo deficit in senibus. Et ideo, in utrisque reducetur humana natura per resurrectionem, ad statum ultimæ perfectionis qui est in juvenili ætate, ad quam terminatur motus augmenti, a qua, incipit motus decrementi.—S. Thom. Suppl. q. 81, art. 1.
However, this is not all. Rising in glory means something more than rising in mere beauty of form, bloom of youth, and the complete perfection of human nature. It also implies a radiant brilliancy wherewith the just will shine on the resurrection day. This is one of the meanings of glory in the language of Scripture. Take the following as an instance out of many: "And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness: and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud."* That is, a brilliant and dazzling splendor burst forth in the heavens. So, also, when Jesus was glorified in his transfiguration, "His face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as snow." Moreover, as a general rule, when celestial inhabitants appeared in this world, they were surrounded with a halo of brilliant light; as we read of the angels who appeared at the birth of Christ, and of those who appeared to the holy women that were going to embalm the body of Jesus. Hence it is that in the paintings of Christian art, the head, or the whole body of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the saints, is always surrounded by this halo of light.
* Exod. xvi.
This is the light, the brilliancy which is promised to the saints by our Blessed Lord himself, when He says: "Then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."* Thus shall the soul that is now united to God, in the Beatific Vision, and already a partaker of the divine nature, communicate her own dazzling splendor to the body, and surround it with an aureola of glory, which will form a portion of her blessedness for evermore.