Sermon 362
SERMO 362
On the Resurrection of the Dead
Proposal: what kind of resurrection of the just will be in the future.
Remembering our promise, we also had appropriate readings from the Gospel and Apostle recited. For whoever among you were present at the previous sermon remembers with us that the question about the resurrection was proposed by us and distributed into a twofold discussion: firstly, to deliberate for those who doubt or even deny whether the resurrection of the dead will happen; and afterwards, as much as we are able, to search according to the Scriptures what kind of life the righteous will have in the future resurrection. Therefore, in the first part, where we treated that the dead will rise, we delayed for so long, as you deigned to remember, that the time to handle the second question ran out, and thus we were compelled to defer it to this day. Therefore, your attention demands what is owed by us, and we recognize the time for delivering it.
Therefore, with a similarly pious intention of the heart, let us beseech the Lord, so that we may discharge our duty fittingly, and you may receive it healthily. For this is, as must be admitted, a greater question: but charity, which is stronger than all difficult questions, we all must serve, so that God, who commanded this, may turn all our difficulties into ease and joy.
Memory of the previous sermon.
You remember that on that day we responded to some who said, as the Apostle rebukes them: "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die," adding and saying: "Evil communications corrupt good manners;" and concluding thus: "Be sober, righteous, and do not sin: for some have ignorance of God; I speak this to your shame." We all have heard these apostolic words and have committed them to heart: and whoever has heard and committed them to heart, let their works show it. For he who hears is like a field receiving the seed of the sower: but he who commits it to heart is like one who breaks the clod and covers what is sown: but he who acts according to what he has heard and committed to heart, he is the one who rises into the harvest and brings forth fruit with patience, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. For him, not fire like chaff, but granaries like for wheat are prepared.
In those very hidden storehouses, in the resurrection of the dead, there is that perpetual blessedness, even that secret of the righteous, to which the Scripture commends them to be received.
We must use images to signify hidden things.
He also mentioned vessels in another place when the Lord Jesus Christ said that the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet, that is, nets; for certain nets are called dragnet. Therefore, He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind: which, when it was filled, they drew to shore, and sitting down, collected the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. Our Lord wished to signify that in this way the word of God is now sent to the peoples and nations, as a dragnet is cast into the sea. But now the Christian sacraments gather both good and bad: however, not all those whom the dragnet picks up are also stored in the containers. For the containers are the abodes of the saints and the great hidden things of blessed life, which not all who are called Christians can reach, but those who are called in such a way as to be. The good and the bad fish swim within the dragnet, and the good tolerate the bad until they are separated at the end. It is also said somewhere: "You will hide them in the secret of your face"; for He was speaking of the saints. "You will hide them," He said, "in the secret of your face": that is, where human eyes and mortal thoughts cannot follow; signifying certain secrets that are too hidden, too concealed, which He called in the secret of the face of God. Should it be carnally thought that God has some great face, and in His face there is some bodily receptacle where the saints are to be hidden? You see, brothers, how carnal these things are and should be rejected by the hearts of all the faithful. Therefore, what should be understood by the secret of the face of God, except what is known only to the face of God? When barns are mentioned to signify secrets, and in another place vessels are mentioned; neither are the barns which we know nor the vessels. For if it were something of one kind, the other thing would not be mentioned. But because through the similitudes known to men the unknown things are conveyed as they can be, accept that both terms are used to mean the same secret, both by the name of the barn and of the vessels. But if you ask what kind of secret, listen to the Prophet saying: "You will hide them in the secret of your face."
We sigh with faith for our homeland.
Since these things are so, brothers, we are still wandering in this life, still sighing by faith for that unknown country. And why is it an unknown country, from which we are citizens, if not because, being forgotten by wandering in faraway lands, we have forgotten it so much that we can call our homeland unknown? The Lord Christ expels this forgetfulness from the heart, the king of that same country, coming to the wanderers; and by taking on flesh, his divinity becomes for us the way, so that through the man Christ we may proceed, and remain in the God Christ. What then, brothers? That secret, which no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, with what eloquence can we explain it to you, or with what eye shall we see it? We can sometimes know something, which nevertheless we cannot express: but what we do not know, we can never express. Therefore, since it can happen that if I knew those things, I could not express them to you; how much more difficult will my eloquence be, when even I, brothers, walk with you by faith, not yet by sight? But this I, or even the Apostle himself? For he consoles our ignorance, and builds up faith, saying: "Brothers, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. But one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling"; wherein he shows himself to be on the way. And in another place: "As long as we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight." And again: "For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
We explain what we believe, not what we know.
Thus, brothers, hear from me a voice which is in the Psalms, pious, humble, gentle, not haughty, not turbulent, not hasty, not rash. For the Psalm says in one place: I believed, therefore I spoke. And the Apostle inserted this testimony and added: And we also believe, therefore we also speak. Do you want me, therefore, to say the things that I know? I am not deceiving you, hear what I believed. Do not despise it, because you hear what I believed: for you hear a truthful confession. But if I were to say: Hear what I know; you would hear a rash presumption. Therefore, brothers, all of us, and, as we believe from the holy scriptures, all also who have lived in the flesh before us, and through whom the Spirit of God speaking distributed to men as much as was sufficient to signify to those on pilgrimage, all of us speak what we believe: but the Lord himself speaks what he knows. What then, if the Lord alone could know of eternal life to come what he spoke; but others following the Lord, because they believed? We find our Lord Jesus Christ himself, knowing what he was speaking, yet not saying it. For he said in one place to his disciples: I have yet many things to say to you; but you cannot bear them now. He, because of their weakness, not because of his difficulty, deferred saying what he knew. But we, because of our common weakness, do not attempt to speak worthily what we know, but explain what we worthily believe, as we can; and you understand as you can. And if perhaps one of you can grasp more than I can say; do not look to the small stream, but run to the most abundant source: for with him is the fountain of life, in whose light we shall see light.
A Christian is not permitted to doubt about the resurrection.
Therefore, since there is a resurrection, we dispute thus, we believe thus, we must believe thus, we speak thus, because we have believed thus, if we are Christians, looking at the power of the Lord’s arm casting down everywhere the pride of the nations, and building this faith so widely throughout the world, as was promised long before it happened: looking at these things, we are built up to believe in those things which we do not yet see, so that we receive the very vision as the reward of faith. Therefore, since it is manifest in our faith that the future resurrection of the dead will occur, and so manifest that anyone who would doubt this would impudently call himself a Christian, it is asked what kind of bodies the saints will have, and what their future life will be like. For it has seemed to many that indeed there will be a resurrection, but only through the souls.
Questions concerning the resurrection are proposed.
Since bodies indeed rise again, there is no need for a long discussion after the previous sermon. However, this kind of question arises: If bodies are to exist, what kind will they be? Will they be of the same kind as now, or of another kind? If of another kind, what kind will it be? If of the same kind, then will they undertake the same works? Because the Lord prescribes differently, because the Apostle teaches differently. For they are not to the same life, not to the same mortal and corruptible deeds that perish and pass away, not to carnal joys, not to carnal consolations. If therefore not to the same, neither to the same kind. If not the same kind, then how will the flesh rise again? However, we have the resurrection of the flesh in the rule of faith, and we are baptized confessing it. And whatever we confess there, we confess from truth and in truth, in which we live and move and are. For in certain temporal and passing deeds, and things that pass and transition, we are instructed towards eternal life. All that has been done, so that we might hear something salutary, so that miracles might happen, so that our Lord might be born, hunger and thirst, be captured, suffer insults, be whipped, crucified, die, be buried, rise again, and ascend into heaven, all have passed; and when they are preached, certain temporal and transient actions of our faith are preached. Do they pass away because they themselves pass away, or do they likewise pass away because they are built through them? Let Your Holiness consider, so that you may see this through a likeness. An architect builds a lasting house through temporary machines. For in this great and vast structure that we see, when it was being built, there were machines that are not here now; because what was built through them is now perfect and stands. So therefore, brothers, something was being built in the Christian faith, and certain temporal mechanisms were perfected. For our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection has passed; for he does not still rise again: and his ascending into heaven has passed; for he does not still ascend. But the life in which he now lives, where he no longer dies, and death no longer has dominion over him; the same human nature that he deigned to take on, in which to be born, die, and be buried, this has been built, this remains forever. However, the machines through which it was built have passed. For Christ is not always conceived in the virgin womb, nor always born of the Virgin Mary, nor always captured, judged, scourged, crucified, buried. All these are considered machines, so that what remains forever might be built through these machines. However, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is placed in heaven.
Heavenly Jerusalem has its foundation in Christ.
Let your Charity attend to the marvelous building. These earthly buildings indeed press the earth with their weight, and the entire tendency of their weights in this large structure strives towards the earth, and unless held together, it falls downward, where the weight leads. Because it is built on the earth, a foundation is laid beforehand on the earth; so that he who builds may securely construct upon the foundation. Therefore, he places extremely firm masses at the bottom, so that they may adequately bear what is placed above, and the magnitude of the foundation is prepared proportional to the greatness of the building: yet on the earth, as I said, because that which is built above is also certainly placed on the earth. That our Jerusalem is built as a pilgrim in heaven. Therefore, Christ the foundation has gone before us into heaven. For in heaven is our foundation and the head of the Church: for he is called both the foundation and the head, and truly he is so. Because the head of the building is the foundation: for it is not the head where it ends, but where it begins upwards. The summits of earthly buildings are raised, yet they establish the head in the solidness of the earth. Thus the head of the Church has gone before us into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. Just as men work to lay down a foundation by drawing something to stabilize from below, for the security of the upcoming mass in the construction of the future fabric: so through all those things which happened in Christ, being born, growing, being captured, suffering insult, being scourged, crucified, killed, dying, buried, it is as if the mass was drawn to the heavenly foundation.
Therefore, having laid our foundation on high, let us be built upon it. Hear the Apostle: No other foundation, he says, can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
In Christ, life must be built for us so that we avoid the fire of Gehenna.
But what follows? Let each one see how he builds upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Christ is indeed in heaven, but also in the hearts of believers. If Christ holds the first place, the foundation is rightly placed. Therefore, he who builds should build securely, if he builds gold, silver, precious stones according to the dignity of the foundation. But if he does not build according to the dignity of the foundation, wood, hay, stubble; let him at least hold onto the foundation, and because of those things which he has built, dry and fragile, let him prepare himself for the fire. But if the foundation is, that is, if Christ has obtained the first place in the heart, and worldly things are so loved that they are not preferred to Christ, but rather Christ the Lord is placed over them, to be the foundation holding the first place in the building of the heart: he will suffer loss, he says; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Now is not the time to exhort you, that you would rather build gold, silver, precious stones upon so great and strong a foundation, than wood, hay, stubble: but yet take it briefly said, as if spoken at length and with many words. For we know, brothers, that whoever among you would be imprisoned by the threats of some judge, so as to endure only smoke, would prefer to lose all those things rather than to endure that place. But somehow, when fire is named to be future in the day of judgment, all despise it, and fearing the flames of the hearth, they consider the flame of hell as nothing. What is this hardness? what such great perversity of heart? If at least men were to fear as the Apostle said, through fire, how one fears being burned alive, which happens in a moment, until the sense abandoning the members makes all those flames redundant; nevertheless he would fear, and not do anything that is rightly forbidden, lest he should arrive at that momentary torment.
The resurrection to be hoped for is such as has preceded in Christ.
But, as I said, brothers, now there is no time to discuss this matter: I say this, that we ought to hope for the resurrection of the dead, which is expressed in our Head, which is expressed in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever hopes for something else, already does not build upon the foundation, not only with gold, silver, and precious stones, but not even with straw itself. For he sets the whole outside, because he does not set it in Christ. Therefore, our Lord rose in that body in which He was buried. The resurrection is promised to Christians. Let us hope for such a resurrection, as preceded in our Lord of all our faith. For He went before for this, so that our faith might be founded upon it. What then? How not such as we are now? For the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ rose, but ascended into heaven. On earth, He preserved human duties, to persuade that this had risen which was buried. But is there such food even in heaven? For we read that angels also executed human duties on earth. They came to Abraham, and ate; and with Tobias, the angel was, and ate. What do we say, that that eating was a phantom, and was not real? Is it not clear that Abraham killed a calf, made bread, and set it on the table; served the angels, and they ate? All these things were done very manifestly and expressed very manifestly.
Man eats out of necessity, angel eats out of power.
What then does the angel say in the book of Tobit? "You saw me eating, but with your sight you were seeing." Therefore, was it because he was not eating, but was seen to be eating? No, rather, he was eating. What then is the meaning of "with your sight you were seeing"? Let Your Holiness pay attention to what I say: pay attention in prayer more than to me; so that you may understand what we say, and we may speak as you ought to hear and understand what you hear. As long as our body is corruptible and destined to die, it suffers the need for nourishment, hence hunger arises: therefore we hunger and thirst; and if we postpone our hunger and thirst longer than the body can endure, it leads to emaciation and to a certain unhealthy thinness, as the strength departs and is not replaced: and if it is prolonged further, death will also follow. For always something leaves our body as if by a certain stream of departure, but we do not feel the strength departing because we take in replacements through nourishment. For what comes abundantly departs gradually: therefore, we refresh in a short time, but over a longer time, the strength we received when we were refreshed leaves us. Just as oil in a lamp, which is supplied in small amounts, is gradually consumed over a longer time. But when it is almost consumed, the weakness of that small flame, like hunger of the lamp, warns us, and we promptly intervene to restore that appearance and maintain the light in the lamp by feeding it its nourishment when we add oil. So our strength, which we receive by eating, departs and leaves us through continual departure, but gradually. For this is now happening in us, and in all our actions, every even in our stillness, what was taken in continues to depart: and if it is entirely consumed, man dies just as a lamp extinguishes. So that he does not die, that is, so that he does not extinguish—not because he dies in the spirit, but so that this corporeal life does not extinguish and a certain vigilance persists in this body—we run and replace what has left, and we say to refresh. Whoever says refresh, what does he refresh if nothing is deficient? Through this neediness and corruption, we are all mortal, because this body is such that death is reserved for it. The mortality is signified by the skins with which Adam and Eve were clothed and dismissed from paradise. Skins as a matter of fact signify death, which are usually taken from dead animals. Therefore, as we bear this defective weakness, even if food is never lacking, but repeatedly restores strength, it does not, however, prevent future death (for the entire state of the body through succeeding ages, even if one lives longer here, ultimately reaches the limit of old age, and beyond there is nothing further but death. For even the lamp itself, though oil is constantly provided, cannot always burn; for if it does not extinguish for other reasons, the wick itself wears out and is consumed by a sort of old age). Therefore, as long as we bear such bodies, from deficiency we need, from need we hunger, from hunger we eat. But the angel does not eat from need. It is one thing to do something out of power, another out of necessity. Man eats so as not to die: the angel eats to relate to mortals. For if the angel does not fear death, he is not refreshed out of deficiency: if he is not refreshed out of deficiency, he does not eat out of need. Those who saw the angel eating thought he was hungry. This is what he said: "You were seeing with your sight." He did not say: "You saw me eating, but I did not eat": he said, "You saw me eating, but with your sight you were seeing"; that is, I was eating to relate to you, not because I suffered any hunger or need, driven by which you are accustomed to eat, and therefore when you have seen someone eating, you suspect them to do so out of need, as you measure what you see by your own custom: this is "with your sight you were seeing."
After the resurrection, there will be no need for eating.
What then, my brothers? We know, as the Apostle says, that Christ, rising again from the dead, dies no more, and death shall have no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God. If therefore he dies no more, and death shall have no more dominion over him, so let us hope to rise, that we may always be in that state to which we shall be changed by rising. Even if there will be the power of eating and drinking, there will not be the necessity. But there was then a reason why the Lord did this, because there were still in the flesh those to whom he wished to be fitting, to whom he also wished to show his scars. For it was not that he who made the eyes of the blind, which he had not received in the mother's womb, could not rise again without scars. He who, if he wished, could change the mortal neediness of his own flesh before death so that it would have no need of want, indeed could: for he had it in his hand, because he was God in the flesh, and the omnipotent Son, as the omnipotent Father. For he even changed his own flesh before death into what he wished. Indeed, when he was on the mountain with his disciples, his face shone like the sun. But he did this by power, wishing to show that he could change his own flesh from all neediness, so that he would not die if he did not wish to. "I have power," he says, "to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again. No one takes it from me." This power is great, by which he could also not die: but his mercy is greater, by which he wished to die. For he did this by mercy, which he could also not do by power, to establish for us the foundation of the resurrection: so that that which he bore for us in mortality, and died because we are to die, and rose to immortality, so that we might hope for immortality. Therefore before death it is written not only that he ate and drank, but also that he hungered and thirsted; after the resurrection, only that he ate and drank, but not that he hungered and thirsted; because in a body no longer subject to death there was not that need of corruption, so that there would be a necessity of replenishment, but there was the power of eating. It was done for the sake of fitting, not to relieve the want of the flesh, but to persuade the truth of the body.
On a certain statement of the Apostle which seems to contradict the resurrection.
Against such great evidence, some raise a question to us from the Apostle: against this dispute, see what they object. They say, "The flesh will not rise: for if it will rise, it will inherit the kingdom of God; yet the Apostle openly says: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." You heard it when the Apostle was read. We say that the flesh will rise, and the Apostle exclaims: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Therefore, do we preach against the Apostle, or did he himself preach against the Gospel? The Gospel testifies with a divine voice: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." If it was made flesh, it was made true flesh. For if it was not true flesh, it was not flesh. Just like the true flesh of Mary, the true flesh of Christ, which was assumed from there. This true flesh was seized, scourged, struck, and hung; this true flesh died, this true flesh was buried; this true flesh also rose from the dead. The scars bear witness: the eyes of the disciples see, and still, wonder fluctuates; the hand touches, lest the mind doubt. Against such great evidence, brothers, which our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to persuade the disciples to preach around the world in this way; does it seem the Apostle fights against this evidence, saying: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God?"
The question is very easily solved.
We could solve this question in this way, and resist the empty slanderers: nonetheless, it will also be solved thus, as it can be quickly answered, and more diligently, considering what the Apostle said, from where it is spoken. Therefore, I say how we can respond most easily. What does the Gospel have? That Christ rose in the body in which he was buried: because he was seen, because he was touched, because he said to the disciples, thinking he was a spirit: Touch, and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having. What does the Apostle say against this? Flesh and blood, he said, will not possess the kingdom of God. I embrace both, and I do not say these things are in conflict, so I do not fight against the goad myself. How then do I embrace both? Quickly, as I said, I could respond thus: The Apostle said: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rightly so; for it is not of the flesh to possess, but to be possessed. For it is not your body that possesses something, but your soul through the body that possesses, which even possesses that body itself. If then the flesh rises in such a way that it is held, not that it holds; so that it is possessed, not that it possesses: what wonder if flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God, because certainly it will be possessed? For the flesh possesses those who are not the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of the devil, and therefore are subject to the pleasures of the flesh. Whence also the paralyzed man was carried by a mat: but when healed the Lord said: Take up your mat, and go to your house. Thus, having healed the paralysis, he holds his flesh, and leads it where he wills: not where he does not will is he dragged by the flesh, and he rather carries the body, than is carried by the body. It is clear that in that resurrection the flesh will not have the lure of enticements, to lead the soul through certain titillations and blandishments, where the soul does not will, and often is overcome, saying: I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Still the paralyzed man is carried by the mat, not yet carries; let him therefore exclaim: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? Let it be answered: The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When therefore we have risen, the flesh will not carry us, but we will carry it: if we carry it, we will possess it: if we will possess it, we will not be possessed by it; because freed from the devil we are the kingdom of God: and thus flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. Therefore let those slanderers be silent, who truly are flesh and blood, and can think nothing but carnally. For concerning those who persist in the same wisdom of the flesh, whence they are rightly called flesh and blood, it could rightly be said: Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God.
In this way, let this question also be resolved: because such people, who are called flesh and blood (for the Apostle also speaks of such people: We do not wrestle against flesh and blood), if they do not convert to a spiritual life, and by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, will not be able to inherit the kingdom of God.
What the Apostle wished to signify.
Nevertheless, what does the Apostle say, someone might ask? For that is the truer meaning which is revealed by the context of the reading. Therefore, let us rather hear him, and from the entire structure of the Scripture around it, let us see what he wanted to be understood in that place. For he says thus: "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are those who are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption." Let us therefore examine each bit. "The first man," he says, "is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are those who are earthy," that is, all who are mortal; "and as is the heavenly, such are those who are heavenly," that is, all who will rise again. For the heavenly man has now risen and ascended into heaven: to whom we are now joined by faith, so that he may be our head; the members, however, follow their head in due order, and that which was prefigured in the head is shown in due time in the members: but now we bear this in faith, so that in due time we may come to the very thing and appearance itself. For thus he says in another place: "If then you have been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God; set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth." Therefore, just as we have not yet risen ourselves, as Christ in the body, nevertheless by faith we are said to have risen with Christ: so he commands us to bear the image of the heavenly man by faith for the time being, that is, of the one who is already in the heavens.
How Christ, the heavenly man, is from heaven.
But if anyone asks why the man is spoken of as the second who is not in heaven but from heaven, since the Lord Himself took a body from the earth, because certainly Mary was born of Adam and Eve; let him understand that the earthly man is described according to earthly desire: and since that affectation is earthly, by which men are born through the union of a man and a woman, also drawing original sin from their parents; but the body of the Lord was created from the virginal womb without any such affection, although Christ assumed flesh from the earth, which is understood to be signified by the Holy Spirit, saying: "Truth has sprung from the earth"; yet not earthly, but heavenly man, and is said to be from heaven. For if He provided this to His faithful through grace, so that the Apostle rightly says: "Our conversation is in heaven"; how much more should the heavenly man Himself be said to be from heaven, in whom there was never any sin? For, on account of sin, it was said to man: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." Therefore, the heavenly man is most rightly said to be from heaven, whose conversation never departed from heaven: although the Son of God, also made the son of man, assumed a body from the earth, that is, the form of a servant. For He did not ascend except He who descended. For even if others, to whomsoever it has been granted, ascend, or rather are lifted to heaven by His grace, even so He Himself ascended, because they become His body; and in this way, one ascended: because the Apostle explains that great sacrament in Christ and the Church, where it is written: "And the two shall become one flesh." Whence it is also said: "So then they are no longer two, but one flesh." Therefore, no one ascends into heaven except He who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. For this reason, He added, who is in heaven, lest anyone should think that His conversation had departed from heaven, while He appeared to men on earth with an earthly body. Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly man, let us also bear the image of Him who is from heaven, meanwhile in faith, through which we have also risen with Him: so that we may have our hearts lifted up, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; and thus let us seek and savor the things which are above, not those on earth.
Something different is signified when flesh is mentioned, something different when body is mentioned.
But because he was discussing the resurrection of the body, for he had proposed thus: "But someone will say, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" And for this reason, he had said, "The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly," so that we may hope that what has preceded in Christ's body will happen to our body; and though we have not yet fully understood this in reality, let us meanwhile hold it by faith. Therefore, he added, "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Lest we believe that we shall be resurrected to such a state in which we performed actions in corruption according to the first man, he added immediately, "But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And wishing to show what he meant by flesh and blood, meaning not the substance of the body but the corruption signified by the name of flesh and blood, which corruption will not exist then, for a body without corruption is not properly called flesh and blood, but a body. If it is flesh, it is corruptible and mortal; but if it does not die anymore, it is no longer corruptible; and therefore, with the substance remaining without corruption, it is no longer called flesh but body: and if it is called flesh, it is not properly so called, but because of a certain similarity of appearance. Just as, for the same similarity, we might perhaps call even the bodies of angels flesh, when they appeared to men as human beings; although they were bodies, not flesh, because there was no need for corruption. Therefore, because we can call even an incorruptible body flesh according to resemblance, the Apostle, being careful, wishes to explain what he meant by flesh and blood: that he said this not according to substance but according to corruption, and he added immediately: "Nor does corruption inherit incorruption," as if he were saying: What I said, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," I said this because corruption cannot inherit incorruption.
The life of the body after the resurrection should not be thought of carnally.
And so that no one might say: If incorruptibility cannot be possessed from corruption, how will our body be there? Hear what follows. As if it were said to the Apostle: What then do you mean? Did we believe in the resurrection of the flesh in vain? If flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God, did we believe in vain that our Lord rose from the dead in the body in which he was born and crucified, and in that same body ascended into heaven before the eyes of his disciples, from which heaven he called out to you: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? This occurred to Paul, the holy and blessed Apostle, and by his pious love, he labored in giving birth to his children in Christ, begotten through the Gospel, whom he was still giving birth until Christ was formed in them, that is, until they bore the image of him who is from heaven through faith. For he did not want them to remain in that ruin, thinking that they would do such things in the kingdom of God, in that eternal life, as they did in this life, in the pleasures of eating and drinking, marrying, and begetting children: for these works belong to the corruption of the flesh, not to the nature of the flesh itself. Now then, since we are not to rise again for such things, the Lord prescribed, as I have already said, in the evangelical reading that has just been recited. For the Jews indeed believed in the resurrection of the flesh, but they thought that life in the resurrection would be like the life they lived in this world; and thinking carnally in this way, they could not answer the Sadducees who proposed the question about the resurrection, asking whose wife the woman would be who had had seven brothers in succession, each wanting to raise offspring for his deceased brother from her. For the Sadducees were a certain sect of the Jews who did not believe in the resurrection. Therefore, the Jews, wavering and hesitating, could not respond to the Sadducees who proposed such a question because they thought that the kingdom of God could be possessed by flesh and blood, that is, that incorruption could be possessed by corruption. The Truth came, was questioned by the deceived and deceiving Sadducees, and that question was proposed to the Lord. And the Lord, who knew what to say and wanted us to believe what we did not know, answered with the authority of his majesty what we should believe. The Apostle explained as much as he was given: that, as much as we can, we might understand. What then did the Lord say to the Sadducees? "You are wrong," he said, "not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither do they begin to die, but they will be like the angels of God." Great is the power of God. Why do they not marry nor are given in marriage? Because they do not begin to die. For where there is no dying, there is no succession. Therefore, no such corruption will be there. And the Lord himself ran through all ages from infancy to youth, for he still carried the substance of mortal flesh: but after he rose in the age in which he was buried, do we believe he ages in heaven? Therefore, he said, they will be like the angels of God. He took away the suspicion of the Jews and refuted the slanders of the Sadducees: for the Jews indeed believed the dead would rise, but as to what works they would rise to, they thought carnally. He said, they will be like the angels of God. You heard about the power of God, now hear also about the Scriptures. Concerning the resurrection, he said, have you not read how the Lord spoke to Moses from the bush, saying: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
What the change of the good in the future resurrection will be.
Therefore, it is said that we will rise again: and because we rise to the life of the Angels, we have heard from the Lord: in what form we will rise again, he showed in his own resurrection. Since that form will not have corruption, the Apostle says: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption; to show that he wanted to be understood by the name of flesh and blood as the corruption of the mortal and animal body. Then he resolves the question himself, which anxious listeners might inquire of him: because he is more concerned about the understanding of the sons than the sons are about the words of the parents. Therefore, he adds and says: Behold, I tell you a mystery. Let your thoughts rest, O man, whoever you are. For you had begun to think from the words of the Apostle that human flesh does not rise again, when you heard: Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God: but lend your ear to the subsequent words and correct the presumption of thought. Behold, he says, I tell you a mystery: We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed. What is this? Change is either for the worse or for the better. If therefore change is posited, so that we do not yet see what it will be like, whether into something better or something worse: therefore let it follow, and let him explain it himself; what are we to suspect? And perhaps apostolic authority does not allow you to err in your human conjecture and explains clearly what kind of change he wants to be understood. What then? When he said: We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed: I see that all will rise, both the good and the wicked; but let us see who will be changed; and from this let us understand whether the change will be for the better or for the worse. For if this change is for the wicked, it will be for the worse; but if for the good, it will be for the better. In a moment, he says, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Therefore, this change will be for the better, when he says: And we shall be changed; but it has not yet been expressed to the extent that it ought to be expressed, as far as our body is changed for the better. What is this better, has not yet been said. For even when changing from infancy to adolescence, it can be said to be changing for the better, where, although less infirm, it is still infirm and mortal.
In an atom of time, the resurrection of all the dead will occur.
Therefore, let us consider each point more diligently. "In the atom," he says. It seems difficult for men that the dead should rise again, but it is astonishing how the Apostle has removed all perplexing difficulties from the hearts of the faithful. You say: "The dead do not rise again": I say not only that the dead rise, but they will rise with such speed, faster than you were conceived and born. For how long does it take for a man to be formed in the womb, to be perfected, to be born, to be strengthened by the succession of ages? Is it perhaps that he will rise in this way? No: but "in the atom," he says. Many do not know what an atom is. An atom is named from ἄτομος, which means section: τομή in Greek means something that cannot be divided. But an atom is said to be in the body, it is said to be in time. In the body, it is said, if something can be found that is indeed said to be indivisible, some very small body that no longer has a place where it can be divided. But an atom in time is a brief moment, which no longer has a place where it can be divided. For example, so that even the slower minds can grasp what I say: there is a stone; divide it into parts, and divide those parts into small pebbles, indeed the pebbles into grains, like sands, and again divide those grains of sand into the tiniest powder, until, if possible, you reach some minuteness that can no longer be divided. This is an atom in bodies. But in time it is understood thus. A year, for example, is divided into months, the months are divided into days, the days can still be divided into hours, the hours still into somewhat longer parts of hours, which allow divisions, until you come to such a point of time, and some drop of a moment, that it can no longer be extended by any delay, and therefore can no longer be divided: this is an atom of time. Therefore you said that the dead do not rise again: not only do they rise, but they rise with such speed that in an atom of time the resurrection of all the dead will take place.
And explaining to you the speed of the atom, after he said: "in an atom," he immediately added, as much as the action and motion of time can happen in an atom: "In the blink of an eye," he said. For he knew that he had spoken obscurely: "in an atom," and he wanted to say more plainly what could be more easily understood. What is the blink of an eye? It is not that with the eyelids we close or open the eye: but by the blink of the eye, he means the emission of rays to see something. For as soon as you cast your gaze, the ray emitted reaches the sky, where we behold the sun, moon, stars, and constellations, separated by such an immense distance from the earth. Indeed, he calls the last trumpet the final sign. For he says, the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. "We," indeed, he says, the faithful, and those rising first to eternal life. Therefore, that change, because it pertains to the pious and the holy, will be for the better, not for the worse.
The transformation will be of the body, not of the flesh, when we are clothed with immortality.
But what is this transformation? What does he mean when he says: "We shall be changed"? Is the current form lost, or is it only the corruption, because it is said: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption"? So that this might not move the listener to despair of the resurrection of the flesh, he adds: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed." And lest we think the change will be for the worse: "But we shall be changed," he says. Therefore, it remains for him to say what kind of change it will be. He says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." If this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality, then the flesh will no longer be corruptible. Therefore, if the flesh will no longer be corruptible, the name of corruption in flesh and blood will cease, and the proper name of flesh and blood will also cease; because these are names of mortality. And if it is so and the flesh rises, and because it is changed and becomes incorruptible, flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. But if someone wishes to understand that transformation in those whom that day will find still alive then: so that those who were already dead will rise, but those who are still alive will be changed; it may be believed that the Apostle took upon himself their identity when he says: "And we shall be changed"; yet the same reasoning follows, because that incorruption will apply to all, when this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality. Then the saying that is written will come to pass: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "Where, O Death, is your sting? Where, O Death, is your victory?" However, a body that is no longer mortal will not be called flesh and blood, which are earthly bodies; but it will be called a body, which can now be called heavenly. Just as the same Apostle, when speaking of the different kinds of flesh, says: "Not all flesh is the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds, another of serpents. And there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial." By no means, however, would he speak of celestial flesh; although flesh can be called a body, but an earthly one. For every flesh is a body: but not every body is flesh; not only because a heavenly body is not called flesh, but even some earthly ones, like wood and stones, and anything of the sort. Therefore, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God thus: because the rising flesh will be changed into such a body, in which there will no longer be mortal corruption, and hence neither the name of flesh and blood.
The resurrection according to the spirit is believed by some to be the only true one.
But pay attention, brothers, we ask you; it is not a matter to be taken lightly, it concerns our faith: which should be guarded not so much from pagans, as from certain perverse ones, who wish to be called and seen as Christians. For there were even under the Apostles those who said that the resurrection had already happened, and they perverted the faith of some, about whom the Apostle said: They have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened; and they have overturned the faith of some. It is not without reason that he did not say: They have wandered from the truth; but: concerning the truth, yet they did not hold to the truth. Therefore death is taken away, and will not exist in a certain manner: as the Apostle says: The mortal will be swallowed up by life. For it is also said of the Lord, that he swallowed up death. For death does not depart as if having some substance of its own: but in the very body where it was, it will cease to be, so that you see the appearance, hold the appearance, seek corruption and mortality, and do not find them. So has corruption departed somewhere? No: but it was killed there, it was swallowed up there. Therefore when he said: It is necessary for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality: then the saying which is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your strife? where, O death, is your sting? And he did not say: Death has departed in victory; but: Death is swallowed up in victory. How then did they wander concerning the truth? Because they spoke of one true resurrection, but denied the other.
The resurrection of the wicked and the good is distinguished.
For there is a resurrection according to faith, in which everyone who believes rises in spirit. Indeed, one will rise well in the body who first has risen in the spirit. For those who have not first risen in spirit through faith will not rise to that change in the body, where every corruption will be taken up and absorbed, but to that penal integrity. For even the bodies of the impious will be complete, nothing will appear diminished from them; but the integrity of the body will be for punishment, and a certain, so to speak, certain firmness of the body, a corruptible firmness: because where pain can exist, it cannot be said that there is no corruption; although that infirmity in sufferings does not fail, so that pain itself does not die out. For it is not unreasonably believed that corruption itself is signified prophetically by the name of the worm, and pain itself by the name of the fire. But because the firmness will be so great that it will neither yield to sufferings into death, nor be changed into incorruption, in which there is no pain; therefore it is written thus: Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be extinguished. But the change which will have no corruption will belong to the saints. Therefore, it will belong to those who now have the resurrection of the spirit through faith; about which resurrection the Apostle says: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God: set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Just as we die according to the spirit, and rise according to the spirit: so later we die according to the flesh, and rise according to the flesh. Death according to the spirit is not to believe the vain things which one believed before, not to do the evil things which one did before. Resurrection according to the spirit is to believe the healthful things one did not believe, and to do the good things one did not do before. He who thought earthly idols and images were gods, recognized the one God, believed in Him, died in idolatry, rose in the Christian faith. He was a drunkard, he is sober; he died from drunkenness, he rose in sobriety. Thus, when one withdraws from all evil works, a kind of death occurs in the soul, and it rises in its good works. The Apostle says, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Therefore, with these members mortified, we rise in the good things that are contrary to these; in holiness, in tranquility, in love, in almsgiving. Just as death according to the spirit precedes the resurrection which is according to the spirit: so will death according to the flesh precede the resurrection which is to come according to the flesh.
Testimonies of the double resurrection from the Apostle.
Therefore, let us recognize both, the spiritual and the bodily. The spiritual pertains to what is said: Arise, you who sleep; and arise from the dead; and that: Those who sat in the shadow of death, a light has arisen for them; and what I mentioned a little earlier: If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. The bodily resurrection, however, pertains to what the Apostle now says, who had proposed such a question to himself: But someone will say, how do the dead rise? And with what body do they come? Therefore, he was dealing with the resurrection of the body, in which the Lord preceded His Church; concerning this he thus says: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Because of what he had said: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. However, we have in another place very clear testimony of the apostle Paul regarding the resurrection according to the spirit, and the resurrection according to the flesh. For the mortal body, which is or was animated, is called flesh. Thus, the Apostle speaks: But if Christ is in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Behold, the resurrection of the spirit is now understood to be accomplished through righteousness: see whether the resurrection of the body is also to be hoped for. For he did not wish to call the mortal body mortal, but dead; and he nevertheless indicates in what follows that he meant this. Thus, he follows and says: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised our Lord Jesus will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Wherefore, those erred concerning the truth, who denied one resurrection. For if they denied it in every way, they would stray from the truth, not concerning the truth. Because they erred concerning the truth, they confessed one, which is according to the spirit; however, they denied the other, which is hoped for through the resurrection of the flesh, saying that the resurrection has already happened: which unless they said in such a way as to prevent belief and hope in the one that is to come in the body, it would not be said of them: They subvert the faith of some.
The testimony of the Lord Himself in the Gospel according to John.
But now hear the most manifest testimony of the Lord Himself in the Gospel according to John, in one place declaring both resurrections, both the one that is happening now according to the spirit, and the one that will later according to the flesh, so clearly that no one who in any way considers himself a Christian and is subject to evangelical authority can doubt; so that there remains no room for calumniators, as if wanting to overturn Christians through Christian faith by inserting their poisons to kill the souls of the weak. But listen from the very text. For this reason, not only do I perform the office of a disputant, but also that of a reader, so that our discourse may be supported by the authority of the sacred Scriptures, not built upon human suspicions on sand, in case something is not remembered. Therefore, listen to the Gospel according to John. The Lord speaks: Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me, has eternal life; and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Amen, amen I say to you, that the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself; and He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice: and will come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I indeed think that many understand from the Lord Himself in this place both resurrections, and according to the spirit through faith, and according to the flesh, declared distinctly and clearly by that well-known trumpet. Yet let us carefully consider these same words, so that it may be clear to all who hear. Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me, has eternal life; and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. A resurrection according to the spirit, which happens now through faith. But lest it might seem to have been proposed in such a way as if it were still far off; although He did not say: He will pass from death into life; but: He has passed from death into life: yet, lest He might seem to have used a past tense figuratively, as is: They pierced my hands and feet, which was still to be foretold; He follows and explains this very thing more plainly: Amen, amen I say to you, He says, that the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. What He said above: Has passed from death to life; He now says: they shall live. But lest what He said: The hour is coming, might be hoped for at the end of the world, when also the resurrection of bodies will take place; He added: and now is. For He did not say only: The hour is coming; but: The hour is coming, and now is. But those who hear this voice shall live; namely, the life which He signified earlier, saying: Has passed from death to life. Therefore, here He signified those who do not pertain to the penalty of judgment; because they anticipate judgment with their faith, and pass from death to life.
What the resurrection will be like.
Therefore, it remains to show that the future judgment will distinguish between the good and the bad: for here he only mentioned the good as pertaining to the present resurrection, which is according to the spirit. It follows then, and he says: And he gave him the power to execute judgment, because he is the son of man. He hinted at in what way he received the power of judgment: because, he says, he is the son of man. For as the Son of God, he has eternal power with the Father. He now consequently explains what the future judgment will be like: Do not marvel at this, he says, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice; and they will come out, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Earlier when he said: The hour is coming; he added: and is now, lest that hour, which is to come at the end of the world, be thought to be foretold as the resurrection of bodies. Here, therefore, because he wanted it to be understood, when he said: The hour is coming; he did not add: and is now. Likewise, earlier he said the dead would hear the voice of the Son of God, but he did not mention the tombs, so that we might distinguish the dead through the error of the mind who are now resurrected through faith, from those dead whose corpses are in the tombs to be resurrected at the end of the world. Here, therefore, so that the resurrection of bodies might be hoped for at the end: All, he says, who are in the tombs, will hear his voice, and come out. Likewise, earlier he said: They will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. Why was it necessary to add: Those who hear, when it could have been said simply: They will hear the voice of the Son of God, and live; unless it was because he was speaking of those who are dead through the error of the mind, of whom many hear and do not hear, that is, do not obey, do not believe? But those who hear as he wished, when he said: He who has ears to hear, let him hear, they will live. So many will hear, but those who hear will live, that is, those who believe. For those who hear in such a way that they do not believe, will not live: whence it appears from what kind of death, and from what kind of life he was speaking in that place: namely, from the death which pertains only to the wicked, precisely because they are wicked; and from the life which pertains only to the good, precisely because they become good.
Here, however, where he declares that they will rise according to the bodies, he does not say: they will hear his voice, and those who have heard will come forth. For all will hear the final trumpet, and will come forth, because we will all rise again. But because not all will be changed, he follows and says: those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. So above, where they revive according to the spirit through faith, all revive to the same lot; so that their life is not distributed into happiness and misery, but all belong to the good part. And therefore, when he had said: those who hear, will live; he did not add: those who have done good, to eternal life; but those who have done evil, to eternal punishment. For this same thing that he said, will live, he wished to be understood only in the good; just as above he said: He has passed from death to life; nor did he say to which life; because to be revived from death by faith, cannot be a bad life. Here, however, first, not: they will hear his voice and live; for he wished for live to be understood in the good throughout this entire reading; but he said: they will hear, and will come forth, by which word he signified the bodily movement of bodies from the places of their burials. But because coming forth from the graves will not be to the good for all: those who have done good, he said, to the resurrection of life; here too he wished life to be understood only in the good; but those who have done evil, he said, to the resurrection of judgment, judgment clearly being placed for punishment.
What kind of body, and what kind of life of the saints after the resurrection.
So now, brothers, let no one seek with perverse subtlety what kind of figure the bodies will have in the resurrection of the dead, what stature, what movement, what gait. It is enough for you that your flesh will rise in that form in which the Lord appeared, in the form of a man indeed. But do not fear corruption because of the form: for if you do not fear corruption, you will not fear that statement either: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor will you fall into the snare of the Sadducees, which you cannot avoid because you think that men will rise again for this purpose, to marry wives, and to beget children, and to do the works of mortal life. If you ask what the life will be like, who among men can explain it? It will be the life of the Angels. Whoever can show you the life of angels will show you their life; for they will be equal to the Angels. But if the life of Angels is hidden, let no one inquire further; lest through error he does not arrive at what he seeks, but at what he has devised for himself. For he seeks rashly, and seeking hastily. You walk along the way; you will come to the homeland if you do not desert the way. Therefore, hold on to Christ, brothers, hold on to faith, hold on to the way: it will lead you to what you cannot see now. For in that head appeared what is hoped for in the members; in that foundation is demonstrated what is to be built on in our faith, so that later it may be perfected in form: lest perhaps, while you think you see, something may appear to you through a false image as being what it is not, and having left the way you stray into error, and do not reach the homeland to which the way leads, that is, to the form to which faith leads.
In the perpetual future sabbath, there will be no works, not even works of mercy.
You ask: How do the Angels live? It is enough for you to know this, that they do not live corruptibly. Indeed, it is easier for you to be told what there will not be there rather than what there will be there. For even I, my brothers, can briefly run through some things that will not be there: and I can do this because we have experienced these things and we know what will not be there. But what will be there we have not yet experienced. For we walk by faith, not yet by sight: as long as we are in the body, we are away from the Lord. So, what will not be there? Marrying a wife so that children may be born; because there is no death there. There will not be growing because there is no aging. There will not be refreshment, because there is no depletion. There will not be business, because there is no need. Nor will there be those commendable works of innocent men, which the need and necessity of this life compel them to do. For I do not say only that there will not be the work of robbers or usurers, but even those things that innocent men do because they need to alleviate human necessities will not be there.
The Sabbath will be perpetual, which is celebrated by the Jews temporarily, but is understood by us eternally. There will be an ineffable rest, which cannot be explained; but, as I said, it is explained in some manner when things that will not be there are spoken of. We strive for that rest, we are spiritually regenerated for that rest. For as we are born carnally to labors, so we are reborn spiritually to rest: with Him crying out: Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Here He feeds, there He perfects: here He promises, there He returns: here He signifies, there He demonstrates. But when in that blessedness we are perfected and saved in both spirit and body, these businesses will not be; nor will those things be there which are praised here in the good works of Christians. For who is not praised as a Christian for giving bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, making peace for those in conflict, visiting the sick, burying the dead, consoling the mourner? Great works, full of mercy, full of praise and grace. But those too will not be there: because the necessity of misery created the works of mercy. Whom do you feed, where no one is hungry? To whom do you give drink, where no one is thirsty? Will you clothe the naked, where all are clothed in immortality itself? You heard a little earlier about the tunics of the saints, when the Apostle spoke: This perishable nature must put on the imperishable. Where 'putting on' sounds, it indicates clothing. Adam lost this garment to take up skins. Will you welcome the stranger, where all live in their homeland? Will you visit the sick, where all will thrive in the same firmness of incorruption? Bury the dead, where all live forever? Make peace for those in conflict, where all things are in peace? Console the sad, where all will rejoice eternally? Therefore, as miseries will simultaneously cease, these works of mercy will cease too.
Amen and Alleluia will be our entire activity with perpetual delight.
What then will be done there? Did I not say earlier, it is easier for me to say what will not be there than what will be there? This I know, brothers, that we will not be sleeping doing nothing, because sleep itself was given as a support for the soul's weakness. Indeed, a fragile body could not bear the continuous strain of mortal senses, unless it were repaired by being put to sleep so that it may bear the same strain; and as there will be a renewal from death, so now there is wakefulness from sleep. Therefore, it will not be there. For where there is no death, there will not be an image of death. Nor let any fear of tedium creep into anyone, when it is said to them that they will always be watching, and not doing anything. I can say, and indeed I cannot say how it will be, because I cannot yet see it: nevertheless, I can say something not impertinently, because I say it from the Scriptures, what our activity will be there. Our entire activity will be Amen and Alleluia. What do you say, brothers? I see that you hear and are glad. But do not be saddened again by carnal thought, because if perhaps one of you stood and said daily: Amen and Alleluia, you would wither with tedium, and in those very voices fall asleep, and wish to be silent: and therefore think life to be despicable to you, and not desirable, saying to yourselves: Shall we always say Amen and Alleluia, who will endure it? I will say then, if I can, as much as I can. We will not say Amen and Alleluia with passing sounds, but with the affection of the soul. For what is Amen? What is Alleluia? Amen is true: Alleluia, praise God. Because therefore God is unchangeable truth, without defect, without progression, without loss, without increase, without any inclination of falsity, perpetual and stable, and always remaining incorruptible; these things we do in the creature and in this life, are like figures of things through the signs of the body, and certain things in which we walk through faith; when we see face to face what now we see through a mirror in a mystery, then in a far different and ineffable manner we will say: It is true; and when we say this, indeed we will say Amen, but with an insatiable satisfaction. Because nothing will be lacking, hence satisfaction: because indeed what will not be lacking will always delight, hence there will be, if it can be said, an insatiable satisfaction. As much as you will be insatiably satisfied with truth, so insatiably with truth you will say: Amen. How can anyone say: what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man? Therefore, without any weariness and with perpetual delight, we will see the truth, and with the most certain evidence we will contemplate it, kindled with love for that truth and clinging to it with a sweet and chaste embrace and that incorporeal one, we will praise it with such a voice, and we will say: Alleluia. Rejoicing indeed, inflaming one another with the most fervent charity towards equal praise and towards God, all the citizens of that city will say: Alleluia, because they will say: Amen.
The rest of the blessed in the contemplation of truth.
This, therefore, will so fulfill the life of the saints, along with their bodies transformed into a heavenly and angelic state, and will so invigorate them immortally that from that most blessed contemplation and praise of the truth, no corruption of necessity will avert or distract them. Thus for them, food will be the truth itself: and rest itself, like reclining. For it is said that the reclining ones will feast, as the Lord says: "Many will come from the east and the west, and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of my Father": this signified that they will be nourished with the great rest of the food of truth. For such food refreshes and does not fail; it fills and remains whole: you are consummated, but it is not consumed. Such is that food, not like this one, which fails in order to refresh, and lest life end for the one who takes it, it ends instead. Therefore, that reclining will be eternal rest: those feasts will be immutable truth: that feasting will be eternal life, that is, the knowledge itself. Because this is, he says, eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Testimonies of the Scriptures concerning the blessed life in which we will be free for God.
For because that life in the contemplation of truth will not only remain ineffably, but also delightfully, many places in Scripture testify, which we cannot all recount. Hence it is that: Whoever loves me will keep my commandments; and I will love him; and I will show myself to him. As if indeed a fruit and reward were being sought from him, because his commandments are kept: I will show, he says, myself to him; placing perfect happiness, that he may be known as he is. Hence also it is that: Beloved, we are now children of God, but it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him; because we shall see him as he is. Therefore Apostle Paul says: Then, he says, face to face; because he also said in another place: We are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. And in the Psalms it says: Cease, and know that I am the Lord. Then therefore he will be seen best, when we will be at our most idle. But when will we be at our most idle except when the laborious times have passed, the times of necessities, by which we are now bound, as long as the earth brings forth for sinful man thorns and thistles, that in the sweat of his brow he may eat his bread? Therefore with the times of the earthly man entirely passed, and the day of the heavenly man entirely perfected, we shall see most highly; because we shall be most idle. For with corruption and need ended in the resurrection of the faithful, there will be no reason for labor. As if it were said: Recline and eat; so it is said: Cease and see. Therefore we shall be idle and we shall see God as he is; and seeing we shall praise God. And this will be the life of the saints, this the activity of the tranquil, because without failure we shall praise. We shall praise not for one day: but just as that day has no end of time, so our praise will have no end of cessation; and therefore we shall praise for ages of ages. Also listen to what Scripture says to God, which we desire: Blessed are they who dwell in your house; they will praise you for ages of ages. Turned to the Lord, let us pray to him for ourselves and for all his people standing with us in the courts of his house: which he may deign to keep and protect; through Jesus Christ his son our Lord, who with him lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.