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Objection 1: It seems that Christ's body did not rise glorified.
For glorified bodies shine, according to Mt. 13:43: "Then
shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." But
shining bodies are seen under the aspect of light, but not of color.
Therefore, since Christ's body was beheld under the aspect of
color, as it had been hitherto, it seems that it was not a glorified
one.
Objection 2: Further, a glorified body is incorruptible. But
Christ's body seems not to have been incorruptible; because it was
palpable, as He Himself says in Lk. 24:39: "Handle, and
see." Now Gregory says (Hom. in Evang. xxvi) that "what is
handled must be corruptible, and that which is incorruptible cannot be
handled." Consequently, Christ's body was not glorified.
Objection 3: Further, a glorified body is not animal, but
spiritual, as is clear from 1 Cor. 15. But after the
Resurrection Christ's body seems to have been animal, since He ate
and drank with His disciples, as we read in the closing chapters of
Luke and John. Therefore, it seems that Christ's body was not
glorified.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (Phil. 3:21): "He will
reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory."
I answer that, Christ's was a glorified body in His Resurrection,
and this is evident from three reasons. First of all, because His
Resurrection was the exemplar and the cause of ours, as is stated in
1 Cor. 15:43. But in the resurrection the saints will have
glorified bodies, as is written in the same place: "It is sown in
dishonor, it shall rise in glory." Hence, since the cause is
mightier than the effect, and the exemplar than the exemplate; much
more glorious, then, was the body of Christ in His Resurrection.
Secondly, because He merited the glory of His Resurrection by the
lowliness of His Passion. Hence He said (Jn. 12:27):
"Now is My soul troubled," which refers to the Passion; and later
He adds: "Father, glorify Thy name," whereby He asks for the
glory of the Resurrection. Thirdly, because as stated above
(Question 34, Article 4), Christ's soul was glorified from
the instant of His conception by perfect fruition of the Godhead.
But, as stated above (Question 14, Article 1, ad 2), it was
owing to the Divine economy that the glory did not pass from His soul
to His body, in order that by the Passion He might accomplish the
mystery of our redemption. Consequently, when this mystery of
Christ's Passion and death was finished, straightway the soul
communicated its glory to the risen body in the Resurrection; and so
that body was made glorious.
Reply to Objection 1: Whatever is received within a subject is
received according to the subject's capacity. Therefore, since glory
flows from the soul into the body, it follows that, as Augustine says
(Ep. ad Dioscor. cxviii), the brightness or splendor of a
glorified body is after the manner of natural color in the human body;
just as variously colored glass derives its splendor from the sun's
radiance, according to the mode of the color. But as it lies within
the power of a glorified man whether his body be seen or not, as stated
above (Article 1, ad 2), so is it in his power whether its
splendor be seen or not. Accordingly it can be seen in its color
without its brightness. And it was in this way that Christ's body
appeared to the disciples after the Resurrection.
Reply to Objection 2: We say that a body can be handled not only
because of its resistance, but also on account of its density. But
from rarity and density follow weight and lightness, heat and cold,
and similar contraries, which are the principles of corruption in
elementary bodies. Consequently, a body that can be handled by human
touch is naturally corruptible. But if there be a body that resists
touch, and yet is not disposed according to the qualities mentioned,
which are the proper objects of human touch, such as a heavenly body,
then such body cannot be said to be handled. But Christ's body after
the Resurrection was truly made up of elements, and had tangible
qualities such as the nature of a human body requires, and therefore it
could naturally be handled; and if it had nothing beyond the nature of
a human body, it would likewise be corruptible. But it had something
else which made it incorruptible, and this was not the nature of a
heavenly body, as some maintain, and into which we shall make fuller
inquiry later (XP, Question 82, Article 1), but it was glory
flowing from a beatified soul: because, as Augustine says (Ep. ad
Dioscor. cxviii): "God made the soul of such powerful nature,
that from its fullest beatitude the fulness of health overflows into the
body, that is, the vigor of incorruption." And therefore Gregory
says (Hom. in Evang. xxvi): "Christ's body is shown to be of
the same nature, but of different glory, after the Resurrection."
Reply to Objection 3: As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiii):
"After the Resurrection, our Saviour in spiritual but true flesh
partook of meat with the disciples, not from need of food, but because
it lay in His power." For as Bede says on Lk. 24:41: "The
thirsty earth sucks in the water, and the sun's burning ray absorbs
it; the former from need, the latter by its power." Hence after the
Resurrection He ate, "not as needing food, but in order thus to
show the nature of His risen body." Nor does it follow that His was
an animal body that stands in need of food.
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