Reincarnation_Res

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RESURRECTION AND REINCARNATION M.M.NINAN 3. Impassibility in the risen bodies of the just does not mean numbness or insensibility. It means immunity to what is contrary to human nature and painful to it. The risen body will have sensation (that is, its senses will operate and bring in sense-findings or sense-knowledge), and it will have movement; these things belong to the perfection of the body. 4. The senses of the risen bodies of the just will find in the overflow of glory, which comes upon them from the soul, their complete and enduring perfection. The senses will be perfectly and satisfyingly in operation, and they will possess their objects, and not merely tend to these objects, or be in a state of readiness to perceive them. 83. The Subtlety of Risen Bodies 1. The risen body will be, in all organic action, perfectly subject to the soul, and instantly responsive to the will, needing withal no material sustenance. This spirit-like quality of the risen body is called subtlety or subtility. 2. The subtlety of a glorified body will not enable it to occupy the same place with another body, unless this be done by a miracle. 3. Now, there is no contradiction in the thought of two bodies being in the same place simultaneously, even though there is nothing in the nature of a body capable of producing this effect. What keeps bodies from compenetration is their external extension, and this is not of the essence or nature of bodies, but is an effect of quantity, which, in turn, is only a proper accidental of bodies and not their essence. Hence, there is no conflict or contradiction in the notion of compenetration of bodies; therefore, since the thing is conceivable, it might be done by a miracle. 4. However, the subtlety of the glorified body does not make this compenetration possible without a miracle. Besides, in heaven, distinctness of bodily being will be a perfection; if several bodies were to occupy the same place, this distinctness of being would be obscured. 5. The glorified body, just as the natural body on earth, will occupy space, and will be in a place according to its dimensions. 6. There will be nothing ghostlike in the risen body. It will be a true body. But it will have spiritual or spirit-like qualities. It will be something that can be touched and felt. When our Lord in his risen and glorified body came in, through closed doors, to his disciples, he told them he was not a spirit or ghost, and said (Luke 24:39): "Handle and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have." 84. The Agility of Risen Bodies 1. The glorified body will be able to move with the quickness of thought from place to place under the direction of the soul and the command of the free will. This quality of the risen body is called agility. 2. The risen body in heaven will move about. Scripture says (Isa. 40:31): "They shall run and not be weary"; and (Wisd. 3:7), "[The just] shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds." But this swift and untiring movement will not deprive the just of the beatific vision or diminish their happiness. 3. The movement of the glorified body will not be strictly instantaneous; it will take a moment of time, yet this moment will be so short as to be imperceptible. 85. The Clarity of Risen Bodies 149
RESURRECTION AND REINCARNATION M.M.NINAN 1. The risen body in glory will have a measure of lightsomeness and splendor, according to the soul's degree of glory. Says scripture (Matt. 13:43): "The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." This shining and splendid quality of the risen body is called its clarity. 2. The clarity of the blessed in heaven will be visible to the non-glorified eye of the damned. For clarity is naturally visible, as it was to the eyes of the three apostles who beheld it n our Lord's body at the time of the Transfiguration. 3. Yet the glorified body is not necessarily visible; it will appear or disappear as the soul wills. It will belike our Lord's glorified body at Emmaus, that is, capable of being seen, but also capable of being withdrawn from the sight of men. 86. The Risen Bodies of the Damned 1. The bodies of all men will rise in natural perfection without deficiency or defect. But the bodies of the damned will lack the qualities of the glorified bodies: agility, clarity, subtlety, impassibility. 2. The bodies of the damned will not be corruptible. Scripture says (Apoc. 9:6): "Men shall seek death and shall not find it, and they shall desire to die and death shall fly from them." 3. As noted, the bodies of the damned will be passible,that is, capable of enduring suffering. Retribution must come to man, body and soul. And punishment of body involves passibility. Summary The bodies of the saints shall be distinguished by four transcendent endowments, often called qualities. • "impassibility" The first is "impassibility", which shall place them beyond the reach of pain and inconvenience. "It is sown", says the Apostle, "in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption" (1 Corinthians 15:42). The Schoolmen call this quality impassibility', not incorruption, so as to mark it as a peculiarity of the glorified body; the bodies of the damned will be incorruptible indeed, but not impassible; they shall be subject to heat and cold, and all manner of pain. • "brightness", or "glory" The next quality is "brightness", or "glory", by which the bodies of the saints shall shine like the sun. "It is sown in dishonour," says the Apostle, "it shall rise in glory" (1 Corinthians 15:43; cf. Matthew 13:43; 17:2; Philippians 3:21). All the bodies of the saints shall be equally impassible, but they shall be endowed with different degrees of glory. According to St. Paul: "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, another the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glory"'(1 Corinthians 15:41-42). • "agility" The third quality is that of "agility", by which the body shall be freed from its slowness of motion, and endowed with the capability of moving with the 150
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"Cauldron of Poesy" RESURRECTION AN
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These five aggregates are: RESURREC
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Six Realms RESURRECTION AND REINCAR
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Page 124 and 125: The Athanasian Creed RESURRECTION A
Page 140 and 141: Gregory of Nyssa (335 RESURRECTION
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Page 148 and 149: (Rom. 9:11-24). "… certain causes
Page 150 and 151: (1 Corinthians 15:35) RESURRECTION
Page 160 and 161: Published Books by Prof.M.M.Ninan w
Page 162: Thinking loud on Theodicy, Soteriol
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