The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 136: Questions of Resurrection (2024)

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

Together, with Fr. Mike, we unpack some of the questions surrounding the resurrection of the dead. The Catechism clarifies who, how, and when each person will rise from the dead, body and soul. We also examine how we are already somewhat in participation with Christ’s death and resurrection through our Baptism. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 997-1004. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 136 Congratulations, you guys you made it to day 136. We're reading paragraphs 997 to 1004. You guys we just cracked into the quadruple digits, so

Congratulations as always I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism which includes the foundations of faith approach But you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church You can also download your own Catechism and your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is day 136.

Honestly, it's not a big, it's not, it's not a small thing. Yes, quadruple digits. This is unprecedented in the history of humanity. I don't know if that's true, but we're reading, get all the way into the 1000s. Here we are in the first day of the 1000s. It's amazing. Today, yesterday we talked about the resurrection

of the body and how Christ's resurrection and ours, we get to participate in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now today we have some questions and some questions, actually I like almost every paragraph here talks about the questions and an answer to the questions. For example paragraph 997 is well he's talking about rising from the dead. What is rising exactly in paragraph 988? Question, who will rise in paragraph 999? How? How does this even happen? And then 1000 even talks about like this how exceeds our imagination this how exceeds our understanding?

It's accessible only to faith paragraph 1001 is when when does this all happen? And this is really remarkable I just love these questions. What is rising who will rise? How will they rise and when will they rise? Great questions. It's almost like back to the Baltimore Catechism where that's the question and the answer and we get today We get some questions and answers when we dip into paragraph 1002 to 1004 we're really looking at what is it to rise with Christ what are we expecting and this is so remarkable now tomorrow we have to talk about dying in Christ and in the meaning of Christian death because death is transformed by Jesus Christ it's yes it's a consequence of

sin but it's been transformed by Jesus Christ today We get to look at the rising of course What is death its separation of the soul from the body and yet we have hope we have hope that Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection our bodies and our souls will be reunited and to God's glory We will be reunited in such a way that we can give God glory, body and soul, in eternity in heaven. So we're praying for that.

Let's pray right now. Father in heaven, we pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we give you thanks. We ask you by the power of your Holy Spirit to receive our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us, all you've done for us in Christ,

all you've done for us through the power of your Spirit, all that you have done for us. All you've done for us in Christ, all you've done for us through the power of your Spirit, all that you have done for us that we don't even know, Lord God. There's so much that we do not know. Not only what you've done for us in the past, but also what you have store for us in the future. There's so much that we do not know. And so we just give you praise ahead of time. We give you praise for the resurrection of Jesus Christ that you've accomplished already. We give you praise for our future resurrection. We ask you God please help us to live in such a way that we come to the resurrection of glory, that we come to the resurrection of life and not to the resurrection of judgment. Help us to live in such a way saying yes to your grace for all

eternity. We can praise and glorify you, we can love you with everything we are. Help us to begin that today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's day 136 for reading paragraphs 997 to 1004. How did the dead rise? What is rising? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays, and the soul goes to meet God while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God in His Almighty Power will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls through the power of Jesus' resurrection. Who will rise? All the dead will rise, those who have

done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. How? Christ is raised with his own body, as he said, See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. But he did not return to an earthly life, so in him all of them will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear, but Christ will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, into a spiritual body.

As St. Paul wrote, But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies, and what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. The dead will be raised imperishable.

For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. This how exceeds our imagination and understanding. It is accessible only to faith. Yet our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's transfiguration of our bodies, as St. Irenaeus wrote, Just as bread that comes from the earth after God's blessing has been invoked upon it is no longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly and

the other heavenly, so too our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection. When? Definitively, at the last day, at the end of the world. Indeed, the resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's parousia, as St. Paul wrote, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangels call, and the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

RISEN WITH CHRIST Christ will raise us up on the last day. But it is also true that, in a certain way, we have already risen with Christ. For by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian life is already now on earth a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. As St. Paul wrote, And you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised Life is already now on earth a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. As St. Paul wrote, And ye were buried with him in baptism, in which ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. If then ye have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of God. United with Christ by baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains hidden with Christ in God. The Father has already raised us up with Him and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Nourished with His body in the Eucharist, we already belong to the body of Christ. When we rise on the last day, we also will appear with Him in glory. In expectation of that day, the believer's body and soul already participate in the dignity

of belonging to Christ. This dignity entails the demand that he should treat with respect his own body, but also the body of every other person, especially the suffering. As St. Paul wrote, The body is meant for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? You are not your own. So glorify God in your body. All right, there we have it, day 136, paragraphs 9, 97 to 1004. I think this is just, this is incredible. Again, it's the question answer kind of section and here, what is rising? We recognize what is dying. Well, in dying, the separation of the soul from the body.

That happens. The human body decays and the soul goes to meet God while awaiting its reunion in the glorified body. So what is resurrection? What is rising? That God in his almighty power will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls through the power of Jesus' resurrection, which is remarkable. And that question is who? And the answer is all the dead, everyone.

Remember that scripture points this out in John chapter five, verse 29. It says, all those will rise, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have Done evil to the resurrection of judgment. So everyone gets their body back So those in heaven in eternity and the beatific vision right in God's presence they will have their body the entire time for eternity after the last day and Those in hell separated from God will have their bodies in

eternity in hell after the last day. And everyone, everyone. So how does this happen? Well, this is remarkable. It happens in Jesus. We recognize that he will change our lowly body to be like Christ's glorious body, into a spiritual body. And how does that happen?

I love paragraph 1000. The first quadruple number here is, this how exceeds our Imagination and understanding right it just it's accessible only to faith and yet we recognize this happens right now this happens At every mass in this even this example is pretty remarkable that they pull this example from st. Irenaeus of Leon Which is it's beautiful. It talks about the Eucharist and how here's the Eucharist which is made from bread and wine That just comes from the earth. It is completely ordinary and it's good, right? It's but it's very very normal very ordinary from the earth But when it is when transubstantiation happens right when it's transformed it becomes something else

It again looks like bread. It looks like wine, but it's now something new. It's a new substance It's a new whole new it's a whole new thing. And so similarly, again, you'll get your body back. My guess is it'll probably look like your body. Just like, here's Christ resurrected from the dead, looked like Jesus, but different, right? New, transformed, some kind of a new thing. How does that happen?

Well, again, mystery. And then the last question in paragraph 1001, when the answer of course it doesn't happen now like right now There aren't people in heaven with their bodies Correction, of course there are but not everyone who has their body in heaven will believe that Jesus So Jesus's body is in heaven. We also believe that Mary has been assumed in heaven body and soul So we believe that there is a male body and a female body in heaven There's also you know people like maybe Elijah who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind and a female body in heaven. There's also people like maybe Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind

and they fire a chariot, right? Maybe even Enoch, who's talked about in the book of Genesis that he was no more. And so part of the way interpreting that is could be, could be that Enoch was assumed into heaven as well. But for the most part, those are four bodies, maybe three that are in heaven now. Everyone else does not have their body yet. We get

that back on the last day at the end of the world. Now we look forward to that right now, right? That if you're male, you will have a male body in eternity. If you're a female, you will have a female body in eternity. This is you'll have your body in eternity, but transformed. We'll talk about maybe that what's that transformation look like? What does Christ's body look like in eternity and what will yours look like in eternity? We're looking forward to that But also we recognize that because of baptism we're already participating in this Paragraph 1002 says this it says for a virtue of the Holy Spirit Christian life is already now on earth a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus

And so paragraph 1003 says, united with Christ by baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but it remains hidden, right? And yet at the same time, we have been incorporated into the body of Christ, and when we rise on the last day, we also will appear with him in glory.

And so because of that, we treat our bodies differently. And because of that, we treat other people's bodies differently, knowing that your body's not just a husk, right? Your body's not just a shell, it's not a cage, it's not a trap, it's not arbitrary, but you are your body, your body is you. And your body is destined to endure an eternity

when you get it back in the last day. Again, either to glory in heaven or to eternal shame in hell. And because of this, we are invited, we're commanded in fact, to glorify God in our body, to recognize that other people have a dignity, not just their soul, not just their intellect, if a dignity in their body, how we treat other people's bodies matters. That if you are your body, what you do with your body matters. And so we conclude right now today, of course, with this quote from St. Paul's letter to the

Corinthians. The body is meant for the Lord and the Lord for the body, right? The body's not, it's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? You are not your own So glorify God in your body right now wherever you're listening to this is is a remarkable I don't think this is awesome whether you're driving in your car walking maybe out for a run Maybe you're stuck in your in your bed. Maybe you're sick Maybe you're unable to move your body recognize this a the Lord will give you a resurrected body that will be able to move, that will be able to run, will be able to jump, will be able to do all the things you wish your body could still do. That body is coming. I'm telling you right now, this is what we believe and we profess and we proclaim. That resurrected body will be given to you. But right now, even if

all you can do is lay in a bed, even if all you can do is sit in your car right now, even if all you can do is lay in a bed, even if all you can do is sit in your car right now, even if all you can do is limp, everything you do in your body can glorify the Lord. Just even scratching your face, even just blinking, everything you do can glorify the Lord. And so blink for the Lord's glory, all right? Walk for the Lord's glory. Smile at someone for the Lord's glory. All right. Walk for the Lord's glory. Smile at someone for the Lord's glory.

Lay in that bed and experience a lack of strength in that body. And let that be for the Lord's glory. Everything we do in our body is meant to be for his glory. As St. Paul says, so glorify God in your body, no matter what you do. And that's what we're praying for today. I just, what a gift today. My gosh, the gift of just you have a body right now listening to this glorify God as you listen and let him be glorified in eternity as he gives us back our

resurrected bodies. Let's pray for that. Pray for each other. Because there's something about this that requires faith. Something about this that demands that we recognize, God, you're going to do something in me, something through me that I cannot even understand or imagine. I can just trust. I can just trust you. Let's pray for each other that we continue to walk in trust and glorify God in our bodies. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.