Since we’re still celebrating Easter, here’s an old column from Christopher West on Christ’s Resurrection and ours:
During this Easter season it is fitting to reflect on the resurrection not just of Jesus’ body, but of our own bodies at the end of time. Many people have an erroneous “super-spiritual” view of eternal life. Such people tend to see the body as a shell that they’re anxious to get rid of, as if death were the moment in which our souls were finally “liberated” from the “prison” of our bodies…
We often speak of the “souls” in heaven. When we buried my grandmother, I saw her body go in the ground and I’m confident that her soul is now enjoying some form of union with God. But the souls currently in heaven (“currently,” of course, is a time-bound word which doesn’t even apply to heaven) remain in an “inhuman” state until the resurrection of their bodies. It can’t be any other way for us as human beings. Since God created us as a union of body and soul, the separation of the two at death is entirely “unnatural.” Indeed, it’s a cosmic tragedy.
Our bodies will certainly be different in their resurrected state. Recall that the disciples didn’t readily recognize Jesus after the resurrection (see Lk 24:15-16). But at the end of time, we will certainly have our bodies, as does Jesus.
Brendan Roberts also has a column on the same topic at Catholic Exchange this week: Easter and the Resurrection of Your Body