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Show 259: The resurrection of the dead and the General Judgement · The Uncensored Catholic

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Speaker 1: Excuse me our series on the end times, the end
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of the world, armageddon, whatever you want, call it, the apocalypse.
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The Catholic teaching, as I've said several times on this subject,
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is so very different than Protestant teaching, especially in modern times,
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which has gotten really outrageous and really away from biblical
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and revealed through the sacred tradition knowledge. Boy, they've really
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gotten out of the fringes. Has evidence by they kept
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saying the world was going to end, like every hundred years,
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or every time there was a clipse or anything like that. Right,
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Catholic teaching is much more solid and understanding. It is
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something that's both fascinating and will give you a real
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sense of peace and well really enable you to enlighten
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Protestants who knock on your door and start telling you
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the end of the world's coming, like those witnesses do
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all the time, but more importantly, to teach your fellow Catholics.
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There are very few Catholics who understand the teachings of
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the Church on the end times, and many are led
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astray by those very people coming to knock on their door,
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or a well meaning friend, or a book or a movie. Well,
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we'll get into that in just a little bit, we'll
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continue here with radio replies the Questionnaer has been challenging
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the priests on the existence of hell, and he says,
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I am human and I can't believe in a burning
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hell above all for souls Christ came to redeem, And
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the priest's answers, I cannot believe that Christ came to
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redeem people if there be no hell from which to
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save them. But beware of your imagination. If you imagine
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a hell which is in any way opposed to the
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justice and love of God, that is not the hell
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you are asked to believe in it all. God is
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just merciful and truthful. He says that there is a hell,
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and you are asked to believe in Hell, which She
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knows to exist, not in any vague speculation of your
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own as to its nature. Hell is as much a
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mystery of faith as is grace, and you are asked
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to believe in the fact of hell. Because God knows
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the truth and could not tell an untruth. You are
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not asked to comprehend fully its nature. And your inability
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to believe in hell you imagine does not mean that
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you are unable to believe in the hell which God
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created for the devil's and his angels. For the devil
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and his angels, Persons says, how could a mother be
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happy in heaven with her child in hell? And answer
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she could not, were her view of things limited by
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her president adequate ideas. But with an unclouded view of
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what really constitutes goodness and of what really constitutes evil,
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she will have very different estimates in heaven, which will
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render happiness not only possible but a fact. Let us
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try to grasp it. Hell being a fact, our lack
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of understanding makes no difference. In any case, Christ loved
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the child more than did the mother herself, Yet he
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is happy in heaven. So there must be some way out.
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You see, we cannot interpret heaven in terms of this life.
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Here we are but natural beings, our natural love directed
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directly awakened by our fellow beings. But in heaven, God
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himself will be the direct object of our love. We
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shall love God what God loves. We shall love God
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what God loves, and as God loves, all other beings
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will be loved in God. Thus Christ said, concerning the
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differences of human love in heaven, that marriage shall not exist,
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but that men will be as the angels of God
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in heaven Matthew, twenty two thirty. Merely natural love will
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change the supernatural love, and through God people will be
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lovable insofar as they resemble God. If a sun dies unrepentant,
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having identified himself with wickedness, then he will be the
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opposite of God. The mother will experience an absolute necessity
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to love God, who is pure, just, holy and truth self,
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and she will find complete happiness in doing so. Her
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natural love for her son gives way to supernatural love
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for him if he is pure, just, wholly and truthful,
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but it gives way to her love for God. If
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her child is impure, unjust, wicked, and essentially a liar,
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as is the father of lies himself. Her transfer to
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heaven has changed her reason for loving her son, and
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if he dies in such an evil disposition, she has
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no supernatural reason to love him. All her happiness is
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in God, and that happiness cannot be disturbed. This may
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sound difficult. It must, for we are trying to explain
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conditions of heaven by ideas drawn from our earthly experience,
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ideas which would not go far enough. The explanation gives
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a solution as far as the limited mind of man
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can go. And if it astonishes human reason, we should
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be more astonished still if our limited powers could fully
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grasp the matter. And now let's turn to another one
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which are limited powers have trouble grasping. And we're going
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back to for the Armagnon, I guess armand John Armagnan
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the end of this present world and the Mysteries of
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life to come, where in part three it's actually the
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third conference remembers is from a series of talks, So
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this is like chapter three, part one, if we want
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to go with that. So the resurrects of the dead
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and the general judgment the world must have an end,
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and that end will not take place until Antichrist has appeared.
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And if you're thinking the Antichrist, sorry it appeared, you
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need to go back and listen to the last two
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shows I did, which identify the Antichrist as someone who
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absolutely has not appeared on this earth yet and probably
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will not come for quite a while. That said, there
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have been many Antichrists throughout time. Anyone who opposes Christ
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as Church is an Antichrist. But this is that seminal
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figure who will bring the fulfillment of the battle between
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good and evil, the absolute embodiment of evil that will
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come at the end of time. No new simple water here, Oh,
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here we go. If I don't choke on the water,
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don't mind, all right. So Protestantism, this is back to
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the text. Protestantism and unbelief, reject the individuality of an Antichrist.
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They considered him to be a mere myth, an allegorical,
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imaginary person, or else they see this man of sin
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foretold by Saint Paul. It's nothing more than the leader
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of the anti Christian fight, the chief and messiah of
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freemasonry and the sex. Well, I wish that was true.
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Freemasonry is almost entirely comprised of Protestants. Catholics are forbidden
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to join the Masons, but there are many many people
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who consider themselves to be devout Protestant Christians, Baptists, Methodists,
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Presbyterians especially, who are Practicingsons anyway, But the Catholic Church
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holds that the chief of freemasonry and its sex will
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be the Antichrist. That will be the how he goes
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about establishing his one world government and all that so
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raised up in order to bring civilization to its zenith
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by liberating it forever from the darkness of superstition, in
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other words, eliminating all positive religion and every revealed truth
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from the whole surface of the earth. Among the truths
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relating to the end of our destiny and time, there
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is one which is particularly repugnant to human passions, one
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in which rationalism and freethinking a sail ceaselessly and remorselessly,
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making it the target of their most astute sophistry and
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of their most audacious denials. That doctrine, the most glorious
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and most consoling of all doctrine for our human nature,
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is the future resurrection of our bodies. Sometimes, as Saint
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Paul at Athens, unbelieving science seeks to crush the doctrine
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beneath the weight of its derision sarcasm. At other times
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has happened at the tribunal of the Prator of Felix.
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It turns pale on hearing it mentioned, and feels terror stricken.
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It is clear from this passage, and from well he
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quoted that in Latin, And as I said, I'm not
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going to read Latin because I'm not sure of my pronunciation.
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I have self taught Latin. And if I said the
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wrong word and it was misunderstood. You know, I don't
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want that to happen, so I'm sticking with the English
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in this text. It is clear from this passage, and
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from many others recurring at various points in the Epistles
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of Saint Paul, that the dogma of the resurrection of
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the dead was the favorite and popular subject of the
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apostles preaching. He expounded it boldly in the Praetorium, in
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the synagogues, and in the area poc. I can't remember
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I was pronounced arioigus. There we go of the wise
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men and philosophers of Greece. I'm getting a little catch
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in my throat here there are no sip. Sorry about that.
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Here we go, hopefully, hopefully it takes care of. In
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the eyes of Saint Paul, this doctrine of the future
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resurrection is the foundation of our hopes, the solution to
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the mystery of life, the principal crux and conclusion of
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the whole Christian system. Without it, divine and human laws
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would be devoid of all sanction and spiritual doctions. Doctrines
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would be an absurdity. Wisdom would consist solely in living
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and enjoying the animals. For if man is not to
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live again after death, the just man who fights against
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his own feelings and checks his passions would be senseless.
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The martyrs who suffered for the honor of Christ and
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let themselves be torn apart by lions, and the amphitheaters
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would have been only troublemakers and freaks. Once it is
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granted that the destinies of man are limited within the
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bounds of this present life, there is no happiness in
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this world except for the crassest and most brazen materialism.
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The only true gospel, the only sound rational philosophy, is
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that curious summed up in the worlds. Okay, Okay, this
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one I know. Let us eat, drink, for tomorrow we
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shall die. Okay. Even though he wrote in Latin, I
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recognize that one. And in order to turn souls away
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from gross cravings and raise them up to aspirations worthy
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of they're having the origins, the apostle does not cease
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to instill this great truth, and at the same time
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he draws from it the consequences which bear upon the
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ordering of life and the eternal and internal regulation of
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human acts. Behold, I tell you a mystery we shall
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all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed.
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Try it again, I said it wrong. This is what
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Saint Paul said. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We
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shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all
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be changed. But you know, in a moment, in the
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twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the
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trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again, incorruptible,
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and we shall be changed for this, for this corruptibility.
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Let's right again, For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
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and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this
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mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass
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the saying that has written death is swallowed up in victory.
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Old death wears I victory, Oh death wears I sting.
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In the preceding verses, the Great Apostle explains no less
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wonderfully the theological reason and the sovereign excellence of this
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mystery of which God has made him the interpreter and herald.
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The body of man is sown for corruption. It shall
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rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor it shall
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rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall
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rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it
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shall rise in a spiritual body. The first man, Adam,
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was made into a living soul, the last man in
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to a quickening spirit, the first man of earthly, the
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second man from heaven heavenly. Therefore, as we have borne
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the image of the earthly, let us also bear the
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image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that
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flesh and blood cannot possess the Kingdom of God. Neither
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shall corruption possess incorruption. That's all from Corinthians. I believe
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it's Chapter fifteen. In fact, here we have a statement
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drawn up by a master hand, clear and concise, and
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any interpretation which the human word might seek to add
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would serve only to weaken its vigor and clarity. Such
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is also true Catholic faith, such as also the true
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Catholic faith which the Church has inscribed in the Creed
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which we recite, in which you ordains to be sung
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in our places of worship and solemn feasts. I believe
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in the resurrection of the body. I await the resurrection
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of the dead. Both Saint Athanasius and in his Creed
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and the fourth latter and Council expressed this truth in
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terms no less precise and even more explicit. All men,
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they say, must rise again with the same bodies with
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which they were united in the present life. In fact,
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if after being dissolved and returned to the dust from
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which they came, our bodies were not to be reborn
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with their entire limbs and totally of their corporeal corporeal
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constituent parts, if they were not to reappear with the
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same faces and the same features, so that when we
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saw one another again in the day of judgment, we
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would recognize ourselves immediately. There would be no point in
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recalling our rebirth a resurrection, in calling our rebirth resurrection,
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but a new creation. Thus, it is quite certain that
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at the judgment we shall be in every respect the same.
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The feet which will support us will be the exact
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feet which have borne us and sustained us during our
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exile and the days of our pilgrimage in time. The
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tongue through which we shall speak will be the one
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which once gave voice and divine praise, or in blasphemy,
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or stumbled over almost every word today, for some reason,
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I don't know what's going on. The eyes which will
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enable us to see will be the self same ones
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which open the rays of the sun which shines upon us.
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The heart will which will beat in our breasts, will
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be the very heart which the ardors of divine love
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will have consumed, or which will have let itself be
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devoured by impure flames of lust. Such was the unshakable
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hope of Job as he sat on his dunghel, wasted
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away by putrification, but with an unruffled countenance and shining eyes,
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the whole span of the ages flashed through his mind
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in an ecstasy of joy. He contemplated, in the brightness
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of prophetic light, the days when he would shake off
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the dust of his cough and exclaimed, I know that
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my Redeemer liveth, who whom I myself shall see, and
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my eyes shall behold, and not another. The doctor of
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this resurrection is the keystone, the pillar of the whole
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Christian edifice, edifice, the pivot and center of our faith.
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Without it, there is no redemption. Our beliefs and our
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preachings are futile, and all religion crumbles at the base.
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Rationalists writers have Rationalists writers have declared that this belief
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in the resurrection was not contained in the Old Testament
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and the dates. Only from the Gospel. Nothing could be
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more erroneous. We need only read through the long light
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and mosaic tradition, listening to the great voices of the
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patriarchs and the prophets, to see that they all tremble
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with joy and hope at the prospect of the promised immortality,
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and celebrate this new life which will become theirs beyond
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the grave and will have no end. It is said
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in the Book of Exodus, I am the God of Abraham,
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the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And
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Saint Matthew Christ uses this passage to prove to the
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Jews the truth that the resurrection, and concerning the resurrection
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of the dead. Have you not read that which was
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spoken by God saying to you, I am the God
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of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God
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of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead,
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but of the living. Did not the mother of Maccabee,
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standing amidst the blood and scattered mutilating limbs of her son,
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strike the evil Antiacus, dumb with fear, which she said
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to him, But thou a wicked and of all men,
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most wow, what is that word flagit fledgattius, But it
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can't be right. I'm gonna spell it f l A
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g I T I O U S fled flagitious. I
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have never heard that word before anyway, and I'm sure
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I've read it, but I must have skipped over it.
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Sometimes when you say things out loud, you realize, I'm
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not familiar with that word. But thou a wicked and
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of all men, most flagitious, be not lifted up without
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calls with vain hopes, whilst thou art raging against his servant.
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For my brethren, having now undergone a short pain, are
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under the covenant of eternal life. For the saints of
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the Old Testament, this belief in the resurrection was not
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only a symbol and a speculative doctrine. It was their
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fundamental faith, expressed in the marvels and works their lives,
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of which the institutions they left us were representative types.
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Saint Jerome, the chief translator of the Bible, wrote, chief
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among them was Able, whose blood, crying out to the Lord,
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bore a witness to his hope and the resurrection of
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the dead. Next comes Enich, carried off so that he
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may not see death he is the type and image
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of the resurrection. Thirdly, Sarah, who's barren womb, exhausted with
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old age, conceived and brought a son into the world,
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gives us hope of resurrection. Fourthly, Jacob and Joseph left
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instruction for their bones to be gathered up and honorably buried,
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thereby confessing their faith in the resurrection. Fifthly, the withered
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rod of Erin which blossomed and gave fruit, and the
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rod of Moses, which at God's command became alive and
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turning to a snake, offer us a shadow and an
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outline of the resurrection. Finally, did not Moses, who blessed
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Reuben said let Reuben live and not die, when Reuben
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had long since departed from this life, acknowledged that he
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desired for him resurrection and eternal life. And if these
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various testimonies were deemed to be mere allegories or mystical testimonies,
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we would conclude that this list. Conclude this list with
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the very explicit words of Daniel, which leaves no doubt
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about the constant and universal faith the Old Testament in
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the future resurrection. That being, and many of those that
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sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some
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into life everlasting, and others unto approach to see it. Always.
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This truth, affirmed by Scripture is proclaimed no less boldly
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and by reason, and by Christian philosophy. Philosophy covers in it,
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in its vast field all that pertains the nature of God,
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the nature of man, and that of the world. Now,
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the the resurrection belongs to the ideas which philosophy gave
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us on these three subjects, which follow that its realm
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and are matters of investigation. In the first place, the
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dogma of the resurrection follows from the idea which philosophy
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gives us on the nature of God. Christian philosophy teaches
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us that God is the efficient, the first cause, and
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the final cause of all the creatures in the world.
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Having freely created them with absolute sovereignty and independence, he
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has marked them all to a greater or lesser degree
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with the character of his own likeness and his infinite,
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infinite perfections. However, the human body, made by his own
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hands and enlivened by his breath, is the epitome of
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his marvels and the masterpiece of his wisdom and divine goodness.
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By the beauty and elegance of its construction, the nobility
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of its bearing, and the splinters which shine through it.
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The body of man is infinitely superior to all the
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material beings which have come from the hand of God.
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It is through the body that the mind reveals its
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power and exercises its king kingship. It is in the
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body Tertullian says, which is the origin of the divine
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life and the sacraments. It is the body which is
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washed by the water baptism, so the soul may obtain
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its purity and clarity. It is the body which is
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anointed by the oral oil and the unction of the
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holy ghosts, so that the soul may be consecrated it's
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confirmation by the way. It is upon the body that
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hands are imposed, so the soul may be enlightened and
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can communicate blessings. It is the body which receives the
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Eucharus and whiches its thirst with divine blood, so that man,
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becoming one with Christ and sharing him with him, the
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same life may subsist eternally and again. It is the
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body which crosses the hands in prayer and bowels and itoration.
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It is the body which is emaciated by fasts and mortifications,
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which offers itself as a holocaust, and the scaffolds and steaks,
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and is consumed in martyrdom, which state is not absolute
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and irrevocable until it is sealed by death and expressed
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in blood. And could the body of man, instrument of
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the most heroic deeds, channel of all graces and blessings,
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champion of the Christian witness, priests of the altar of
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the Sacrifice, and virginal spouse of Christ, be like the
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grass and the fields, bursting forth into life for a moment,
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only to become the prey of worms and the guests
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of death forever. That would be a blasphemy against the Providence,
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and a blaspheming against Providence, and an affront to His
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infinite goodness. The dog by the resurrection of the dead
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follows from the ideas which Christian philosophy gives us about God.
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It follows, in the second place, from the idea which
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this philosophy gives us about the nature of man. Man
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is really composed of two substances, spirit and body. These
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two principles are united by links so intimate and profound.
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There is in between them such a close reciprocity and
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inter relationship. That were it not for the instrumentality of
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the body, the spirit, by severe nature, would be inept
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to exercise any of its functions, or unable to, like
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a puff of wind, which, in the absence of an organ,
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could not resound, or a liar with loose and broken cords,
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which would no longer disturb the air and would remain
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without tune or echo. Thus, without the body, the soul
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cannot enter into a relationship with the eternal visible world.
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It has neither the use of sight nor the use
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of hearing. It cannot exercise its action and its sovereignty
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over matter, nor gain control over the elements, nor savor fruit,
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nor breath, breathe in fragrance. The mouth itself, the mouth
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which may have held forth in words of wisdom, which
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is so often open to teach or to praise, is
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no more than a withered, arid member, which the soul
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can no longer use to move hearts and enlightened minds.
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No doubt is Saint Thomas teaches, God will confer upon
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the separated souls after their death a form of existence
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which will enable them to know one another, to hold
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corp to hold communication among themselves without the aid of
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corporeal corporal organs, of which they will have been deprived. That, however,
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will be a marvelous and exceptional means beyond normal conditions
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laws of human beings. What is certain is that, in itself,
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and leaving aside that capacity which God by his power
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will add to our inner constitution for death, the soul
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deprived of its body, is but an isolated, mutilated substance,
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cut off from all communication with the world of the living.
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If you ask why God saw it fit to unite
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in one and the same creature two principles so disparate,
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so different in their essences and properties as mind and body,
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why he did not wish man to be like the angels,
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a pure spirit, I will reply that God so active,
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or that man might be truly the King and the
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epitome of all his works, so that he might, after
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the manner of Christ, incorporate in his personality the totality
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of created elements and beings, so that he might be
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the center of all things made, and by bringing together
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mind and body, the visible and invisible order, bringing together
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the visible and invisible order, to serve as the interpreter
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of both and to offer them simultaneously to the Most
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High in his homage and adoration. Hence, it is that
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if man were to be deprived forever of his body,
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the material in visible Creation would no longer have any
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mediator or pontiff, no longer have any voice to address
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its hymn of gratitude and love to God, and the
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link which unites inanimate being to the Creator would be
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irreversibly broken. So if God has not resolved to cast
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his work back into the void forever, if this earth,
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sanctified by the footsteps of Christ is destined, once radiant
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and renewed to subsist eternally, then man must rise again
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in a future life to reconquer its scepter and kingship. Hence,
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once more it follows that death means not one but restoration.
26:02
If God is declared that our earthly abode shall one
26:04
bay day be dissolved, is not for the purpose of
26:08
despoiling us of it, but to render its subtle, immortal
26:11
and impassable. His aim may be compared with that of
26:15
an architect, says Saint John Christostum, who has the house
26:19
owner leave his house for a short period in order
26:21
to have him return with greater glory to the same house,
26:24
now rebuilt in greater splendor. The propriety and necessity of
26:29
the resurrection follows from the nature of man. They follow
26:32
lastly from the laws and nature of the world. The
26:35
law of the world, says Certulian, is that everything is
26:38
renewed and nothing perishes. Thus the seasons follow one another
26:41
in their course. The trees lose their fruit in autumn,
26:44
and their leaves turn yellow and dry, like an adornment
26:46
which has faded. But when autumn gives way to spring,
26:49
the trees become green again. Their buds spring forth, their leaves,
26:52
adorning themselves in a new crown of flowers of fruit.
26:56
Thus the grain of the seed laid in the furze
26:58
of the land whither and a pure dissolve from the
27:00
effects of humidity and the action of the air. But
27:03
by the time the harvest, they will have broken through
27:06
the surface of the soil and been born again in
27:08
greater splinter, rejuvenated and renewed as an ear of corn.
27:12
In the same way, the sun at the close of
27:14
the day disappears in the shades of its twilight, and
27:17
seems to sink beneath the depths of the ocean, but
27:21
in the morning it appears anew at the appointed time
27:23
to illuminate the earth and enkindle the air with its
27:26
light and fire. Death is only slumber, a latent state.
27:30
It is a state of rest and silence, where creatures,
27:33
apparently motionless and buried, take on a new shape and
27:37
assume a new vitality and a new energy. In the
27:40
tomb where they asleep, they undergo a process of incubation
27:43
and recasting, from which they will emerge more free and transformed,
27:47
like a torch which has gone out and is rekindled
27:50
with a greater brilliance by the vivifying breath of men,
27:53
or again like the insect which pulls itself over the
27:56
mud of the ground, and which, having been enclosed in a show,
28:01
emerges with a new strength, spreads out its shining wings,
28:05
and oh lights upon the flowers. At this point, certain
28:09
questions need to be elucidated. It is said that the
28:12
dead will awaken the sound of the trumpet. It is
28:15
said that all rise again, but that all will not
28:17
be changed. That's the word I kept stumbling over, not
28:21
be changed. Finally, it may be asked whether men will
28:25
arise again in the state and at the same age
28:29
when they died in this world. In other words, if
28:32
you die at age one hundred, would do you rise
28:34
again at age one hundred? You know, that's something people
28:37
have questioned. In the chapter on the Fear of Judgment,
28:41
quoting for the words of Saint Paul, the last trumpet,
28:46
at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound, Saint
28:49
Jerome says, at the sound of the trumpet, the whole
28:52
earth will be stricken with fear. And further on, whether
28:54
you are reading or sleeping, writing or keeping watch, let
28:57
that trumpet always resound in your ear. Will this trumpet,
29:02
the echoes of which will penetrate the murky cowins of
29:05
the caverns of the abyss, and awaken the fathers out
29:08
of the human race from their long slumber, give out
29:11
an audible sound. It seems probable the angels who on
29:15
that day will assume assume araform bodies erraform another word
29:22
I'm not familiar with, but you know, bodies of the air,
29:25
essentially and or to be seen by all men may
29:29
also construct out the elements and diverse substances of the air.
29:33
Material instruments capable of emitting real sounds. If how let's see. However,
29:38
if we feel reluctant to accept this explanation, we can
29:42
keep to the interpretation of Saint Thomas, who tells us
29:45
that Saint Paul uses the term trumpet only allegorically as
29:49
an image, just as among the Jews, the trumpet was
29:52
used for summoning the people to the great feasts, urging
29:56
the soldiers in battle, and giving the signal to I'm
30:00
given this signal to strike camp. So the voice of
30:03
the Angel is called trumpet by analogy, by reason of
30:08
its power and the ability will have some of all
30:11
men in an instant to the same place. Secondly, it
30:18
is said that all men will rise again, but that
30:21
not all will be changed. It is certain that the
30:24
damned will rise again, possessed of all their physical and
30:27
intellectual faculties and all their whims, and that their bodies
30:30
would not be subject to any illness or change. But
30:33
lacking the nuptial robo charity, they will not be clothed
30:37
with the quality of the glorified bodies. They will be reborn,
30:41
neither transfigured, nor luminous, nor subtle, but such as they
30:44
were on earth, passable of paque, shackled to matter, and
30:47
the law of gravity. They will not feel the intensity
30:51
and violence of the fire any less. Thereby, and this
30:54
fire will cause them greater suffering, because in a perfect
30:58
state of health, and in full possession of their physical
31:00
intellectual vigor, they will be able all. They will be
31:03
all the more conscious of its energy and action. The
31:07
fire of the damned is fire lit by the breath
31:10
of God's justice, created solely to punish. Consequently, its severity
31:15
severity is not at all proportionate to the weakness or
31:18
diversity of temperaments. It is measured according to the number
31:21
and gravity of the crimes to be punished. As it
31:24
is said, Oh that's in Latin again, Um, I could
31:29
probably read this one ignancy or om non extinguisher. The
31:33
fire will not will consume without destroying, It will cling
31:38
to its victims as to a prey, without their organs
31:41
being affected by it, and their flash air feeling tear
31:45
or injury. Lastly, will men rise again the same age
31:50
as when they die. The most probable opinion, and the
31:53
one most in harmony with scripture, is that they will
31:56
rise again in the state of perfect man, according to
31:59
the age and full of Jesus Christ. In view and
32:02
perfection and the perfect man. Let's see, in other words,
32:06
when all men have been restored to the type and
32:10
image of Christ, at least as far as the benefits,
32:12
the number and degree of their merits, they will be
32:15
reborn in the maturity of manhood, in the full development
32:18
of their being, in physical constitution, just as Christ on
32:22
the day of his resurrection ascension, entering upon his bliss,
32:25
he took possession of his eternal sovereignty. Okay, so we
32:28
now believe Jesus who have been about thirty three or
32:32
so at that point, so we could say everybody will
32:35
be resurrected about the age of thirty three if you're
32:40
a Christian at least, it's really hard to nail that
32:44
date down, you know, even I think in like the
32:47
second generation after the Apostles, we're talking about like what
32:53
you know, polychop origin ignacious, we're talking like a Clement
33:02
there's another one. Trying to remember that was like in
33:03
the first century, second century. But basically people who had
33:09
learned directly from the Apostles or those taught by the Apostles,
33:15
you know, those who either knew Jesus or those who
33:17
were taught by people who knew Jesus. There was still speculation,
33:22
you know, seems like it was Polycarp but I could
33:26
be wrong. Speculated that Jesus was around forty, so about
33:31
ten years older than we think him to be. Now,
33:33
you know, I take from that what you will. I
33:36
don't think that, you know, God existing outside of time.
33:40
When the bodies are resurrected to be eternal, are they
33:43
going to be a specific age? Probably not, but probably
33:46
at the peak of your physical health and strength and
33:51
I guess attractiveness and all that. So yeah, anyway, Finally,
33:56
will Jesus be the sole author of the resurrection or
33:59
will be brought about through the ministry of the angels.
34:03
We say that it will be accomplished directly by the
34:05
power of Christ, but that the angels, too, are who
34:08
are His ministers, will be caught upon to cooperate and
34:11
lend their assistance. Where is said in Saint John chapter five,
34:14
the hour cometh, and now is when the dead shall
34:17
hear the voice of the Son of God. Furthermore is
34:20
said in Matthew twenty four. And he shall send his
34:23
angels with a trumpet at a great voice, and they
34:27
shall gather together his elect from the four winds thus
34:31
Jesus Christ, as King and leader, will give the signal.
34:34
He will utter his command and leave his angels a
34:37
task of gathering together the scattered elements which have belonged
34:40
to our bodies, and which are destined to reconstitute them.
34:44
To these truths found in on Holy Scripture, mocking skeptical
34:49
science raises objections drawn from the laws which bind it
34:52
to the present order, and which it considers decisive and irrefutable.
34:59
How they say, will the angels, or indeed any other
35:01
superior beings, however great be their degree of perception, ever
35:05
managed to gather up and separate the remains and particles
35:09
of human bodies scattered over every continent, dispersed beneath every firmament,
35:15
engulfed in the seas, some dissolved, others having turned into
35:18
vapor and vegetable sap, some of them having served in
35:22
turn to form a multitude of organized living beings. Since
35:26
the same particles of subjects will have belonged at different
35:29
times to an infinite diversity of bodies, will it be
35:32
within the power of the angels to assign to them
35:34
one particular person rather than another. It is easy for
35:39
us to reply that when the angels receive the command
35:41
to gather together the ashes of the dead, whether with
35:44
the aid of their natural knowledge or assisted by a
35:46
revelation from above, they will immediately know which are the
35:49
elements and material parts that must form each body. They
35:53
will know in which place, on sea or land these
35:55
material parts lie, and in what form they subsist. There
35:59
is a pice belief that each angel will concern himself,
36:02
particularly with the human creature whom God had once entrusted
36:06
to his care, your guardian angel. In other words, can
36:09
it be supposed that these good angels forsake the remains
36:12
of those creatures over whom they had watched with such
36:15
loving kindness and solicitude, that they do not follow them
36:18
through all their transformations, and that at the required moment
36:22
they do not have the means and power to find
36:24
the ashes. Furthermore, are not the angels God's delegates? How then,
36:30
can it be admitted that God, who sees all things,
36:32
and is present in the atom, in the blade of grass,
36:35
in each grain of sand on the seashore, will be
36:37
unable to make them distinguish the particles of our bodies
36:41
which his gaze embraces, and in which he lives substantially
36:44
by his immensity. Let Us note, however, that the ministry
36:50
of the angels will be limited to gathering together at
36:52
the appointed place the remains and particles of our bodies.
36:55
As for the arrangements of these different places. The spirit
36:58
of life which will again be infused and into our
37:01
reconstructive bodies, that, says Saint Thomas, is a creative work
37:05
which exceeds the power of angelic nature itself, and which
37:08
will be wrought by the direct immediate power of God.
37:11
Hence the reason why the resurrection will be instantaneous. It
37:14
will be accomplished in the twinkling of an eye, sys
37:16
Saint Paul, in an imperceptible instant in a flash. The dead,
37:20
asleep in the slumber of many centuries, will hear the
37:23
voice of the Creator and will obey him as promptly
37:26
as the elements obeyed him during the six days of
37:30
creation dixidict Factus on. They will shake off the binding
37:36
clothes of their age long moment. They will shake off
37:41
the binding close at their age long night, their time
37:45
being dead, and free themselves from the grip of death.
37:48
There with greater nimbleness than a sleeping man awakening with
37:51
a start, just as of old Christ came forth from
37:55
his tomb with the speed of lightning, cast off his
37:58
shroud in an instant, had the sealed stone of his
38:01
suppulture lifted aside by an angel, and hurled the guards,
38:04
half dead with fright to the ground. So says isaiahs
38:09
an equally imperceptible time or space of time, an imperceptible
38:13
space of time, death will be cast forth, and again
38:18
we're back into Latin. So death will cease to exist.
38:22
Ocean and land will open up their depths to eject
38:24
their victims, just as the whale which has followed up
38:27
Jonas opens its jaws to throw them out on the
38:30
shore of all of Tarsus. Then human beings free, like Lazarus,
38:36
that the bonds of death will rush, transfigured into a
38:38
new life, and will insult the cruel enemy, which had
38:42
felt sure that it would keep them fettered in endless captivity.
38:46
They will say, oh deathwaars i victory, Oh death wears
38:49
I steam. There is one There is one senseless and
38:55
crass objection which we might think right to point out.
38:58
It is one raised by the material of their time.
39:01
They say that the human body is composed and recomposed
39:05
unceasingly through age, sickness, changes of elements, and especially by nutrition.
39:10
It is subject to constant perpetual loss and renewal. The
39:13
limbs can wither or grow fat, the hair falls out
39:16
and rows again. It has been ascertained that of the
39:20
blood and humors which made up the material structure of
39:23
the child, not when single particle remains in old age.
39:27
In other words, your cells are constantly regenerating, and you're
39:30
not really physically who you were right now when you
39:34
were born. Right Okay, With all this dust, all this different,
39:40
incalculable remains which have gone to form this organic life,
39:45
will it be restored demand once he arises from ashes,
39:49
if they're not given back to him, If he is
39:51
he still deprived of them, how can it be said
39:54
that he will be born again with the same body
39:56
to which he was united in this life. If, on
39:58
the other hand, he rises with the totality of the
40:01
elements which have gone to make up his constitution, then
40:04
the bodies of the resurrected elect which it is said
40:07
must be filled with harmony and perfection, will in fact
40:11
just be a mass of shapeless, defective elements. Imagine if
40:14
you were comprised of everything you ate. In other words,
40:17
true science has long since made short work of the
40:20
inconsistency and absurdity of such a theory. In our times
40:24
it publishes of great profundity, and imminent theologian knowledgeable in
40:28
the natural sciences as well as the sacred sciences, has
40:31
disproved by an irrefutable argument in these doctrines, which are
40:35
as base as they are presumptuous and foolish, he stated,
40:39
And the body of a man there is both something
40:42
essential and something run about by events and accessory. The
40:51
essential part is what he shares with no one, what
40:54
he alone possesses, and which will possess forever. It is
40:58
the part of him insisted at the moment he was informed, animated,
41:02
and vivified by his soul. These essential elements he will
41:06
always keep. They will always be his. The rest, that
41:09
which is produced by nutrition, digestion, assimilation, is not he.
41:14
He can lose it, and does lose it without ceasing
41:17
to be himself. It will be with these essential personal
41:21
elements that God will resurrect the glorious spiritual bodies. As
41:25
also he will resurrect the same corruptible of the dam
41:29
corruption of the damageers the soul being the same, the
41:34
real kernel, the constituative element remain the same. The rest
41:38
is of little importance, and his identity will subsist eternally. Moreover,
41:44
it has been painstakingly demonstrated, first that in the body,
41:49
that in a body as large as the Earth, there
41:52
are enough gaps and pores for it to be conceived
41:54
as being reduced to the volume of a grain of sand. Secondly, that, conversely,
42:00
grain of sand, there are enough separable parts atoms and
42:02
molecules for a globe as large as the Earth to
42:05
be formed from them. In view of these two utterly
42:08
overwhelming mysteries of nature, we are in dispute. Well, in
42:14
view of these two utterly overwhelming mysteries of nature, dare
42:17
we dispute the possibility or impossibility of the reconstruction of
42:21
the human body with its essential origin elements. Yeah, so
42:30
this is this is eighteen nights. We were just getting
42:32
into atoms and such. The translator makes note that the
42:39
Earth could not be reduced to a single grain of sand.
42:43
You know, there's far too much matter in the earth.
42:46
But at the time that was a very popular theory.
42:48
There is, however, in one single grain of sand, essentially
42:52
a universe of atomic particles and energy, which you know,
42:59
absolutely amazing. Actually so, he says, let us conclude this
43:04
account of the resurrection by recalling its magnificence and subliminity,
43:08
the resurrection of which the resurrection will be a grand,
43:12
imposing spectacle, surpassing all those of which the Earth has
43:15
ever been the setting, and eclipsing even the solemnity of
43:20
the first creation, the former. The most beautiful picture depicted
43:24
for us comes to the prophet Ezekiel, chapter thirty seven.
43:28
He says, the hand of the Lord was upon me
43:30
and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord,
43:32
and set me down in the midst of the plane,
43:34
and that was full of bones, and he led me
43:37
about through them on every side. Now there were very
43:40
many upon the face of the plane that were exceedingly dry.
43:43
And he said to me prophesy concerning these bones, and
43:46
say to them, ye, dry bones, hear the words of
43:48
the Lord, and I will try not to imitate. Louis Armstrong,
43:55
say that you know a great old spiritual He said, thus,
43:58
saith the Lord, go to these behold, I will send
44:01
spirit into you, and you shall live. And I will
44:04
sin yous upon you, and you will cause the flesh
44:06
to grow over you, and will cover you with skin.
44:10
And I will give you the spirit and show, and
44:13
you shall live, and you shall know that I am
44:15
the Lord. And I prophesized that he commanded me. And
44:19
as I prophesized, there was a noise, and behold a commotion,
44:22
and the bones came together, each one to its joint.
44:25
And I saw and behold the sinews and the flesh
44:28
come upon them, and the skin was stretched out over there.
44:30
But there was no spirit in them. And he said
44:32
to me, prophesy to the spirit. Prophesiah, O, son of man,
44:36
and say to the spirit, thus saith the Lord God,
44:39
comes spirit from the four winds, and blow upon the slain,
44:42
and let them live again. And I prophesize he has
44:45
commanded me. And the spirit came into them, and they lived,
44:48
and they stood up upon their feet an exceedingly great army.
44:52
And he said to me, son of men, all these
44:55
bones are the house of Israel. They say, our bones
44:57
are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we
44:59
are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus
45:02
saith the Lord God. Behold, I will open up your
45:05
graves and I will bring you out of the sepultures,
45:07
all my people, and I will bring you into the
45:09
land of Israel. All right, let's wrap that one up there. Yes,
45:15
we have talked quite a bit about the resurrection of
45:17
the dead, and we'll continue next week with this topic.
45:24
As we continue to talk about the end times, one
45:28
key aspect of which is the resurrection of the dead.
45:32
See y'all have a great week, and I'll talk to
45:36
you next time.