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Objection 1: It would seem that clarity is unbecoming to the
glorified body. Because according to Avicenna (Natural. vi,
2), "every luminous body consists of transparent parts." But the
parts of a glorified body will not be transparent, since in some of
them, such as flesh and bones, earth is predominant. Therefore
glorified bodies are not lightsome.
Objection 2: Further, every lightsome body hides one that is behind
it; wherefore one luminary behind another is eclipsed, and a flame of
fire prevents one seeing what is behind it. But the glorified bodies
will not hide that which is within them, for as Gregory says on Job
28:17, "Gold or crystal cannot equal it" (Moral. xviii,
48). "There," that is in the heavenly country, "the grossness
of the members will not hide one's mind from another's eyes, and the
very harmony of the body will be evident to the bodily sight."
Therefore those bodies will not be lightsome.
Objection 3: Further, light and color require a contrary
disposition in their subject, since "light is the extreme point of
visibility in an indeterminate body; color, in a determinate body"
(De Sensu et Sensato iii). But glorified bodies will have color,
for as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii, 3), "the body's
beauty is harmony of parts with a certain charm of color": and it will
be impossible for the glorified bodies to lack beauty. Therefore the
glorified bodies will not be lightsome.
Objection 4: Further, if there be clarity in the glorified bodies,
it will need to be equal in all the parts of the body, just as all the
parts will be equally impassible, subtle and agile. But this is not
becoming, since one part has a greater disposition to clarity than
another, for instance the eye than the hand, the spirits than the
bones, the humors than the flesh or nerves. Therefore it would seem
unfitting for those bodies to be lightsome.
On the contrary, It is written (Mt. 13:43): "The just
shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," and (Wis.
3:7): "The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like
sparks among the reeds."
Further, it is written (1 Cor. 15:43): "It is sown in
dishonor, it shall rise in glory," which refers to clarity, as
evidenced by the previous context where the glory of the rising bodies
is compared to the clarity of the stars. Therefore the bodies of the
saints will be lightsome.
I answer that, It is necessary to assert that after the resurrection
the bodies of the saints will be lightsome, on account of the authority
of Scripture which makes this promise. But the cause of this clarity
is ascribed by some to the fifth or heavenly essence, which will then
predominate in the human body. Since, however, this is absurd, as
we have often remarked (Question 84, Article 1), it is better
to say that this clarity will result from the overflow of the soul's
glory into the body. For whatever is received into anything is
received not according to the mode of the source whence it flows, but
according to the mode of the recipient. Wherefore clarity which in the
soul is spiritual is received into the body as corporeal. And
consequently according to the greater clarity of the soul by reason of
its greater merit, so too will the body differ in clarity, as the
Apostle affirms (1 Cor. 15:41). Thus in the glorified body
the glory of the soul will be known, even as through a crystal is known
the color of a body contained in a crystal vessel, as Gregory says on
Job 28:17, "Gold or crystal cannot equal it."
Reply to Objection 1: Avicenna is speaking of a body that has
clarity through the nature of its component parts. It is not thus but
rather by merit of virtue that the glorified body will have clarity.
Reply to Objection 2: Gregory compares the glorified body to gold
on account of clarity, and to crystal on account of its transparency.
Wherefore seemingly we should say that they will be both transparent
and lightsome; for that a lightsome body be not transparent is owing to
the fact that the clarity of that body results from the density of the
lightsome parts, and density is opposed to transparency. Then,
however, clarity will result from another cause, as stated above: and
the density of the glorified body will not deprive it of transparency,
as neither does the density of a crystal deprive crystal.
Some, on the other hand, say that they are compared to crystal, not
because they are transparent, but on account of this likeness, for as
much as that which is enclosed in crystal is visible, so the glory of
the soul enclosed in the glorified body will not be hidden. But the
first explanation is better, because it safeguards better the dignity
of the glorified body, and is more consistent with the words of
Gregory.
Reply to Objection 3: The glory of the body will not destroy nature
but will perfect it. Wherefore the body will retain the color due to
it by reason of the nature of its component parts, but in addition to
this it will have clarity resulting from the soul's glory. Thus we
see bodies which have color by their nature aglow with the resplendence
of the sun, or from some other cause extrinsic or intrinsic.
Reply to Objection 4: Even as the clarity of glory will overflow
from the soul into the body according to the mode of the body, and is
there otherwise than in the soul, so again it will overflow into each
part of the soul according to the mode of that part. Hence it is not
unreasonable that the different parts should have clarity in different
ways, according as they are differently disposed thereto by their
nature. Nor is there any comparison with the other gifts of the body,
for the various parts of the body are not differently disposed in their
regard.
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