What do we mean when we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body”?

Mission Lab

When we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” we mean that we believe that, at the end of the world, all the bodies of those who have lived on earth will be raised from the dead and will be united again with their souls.

If the whole man—body and soul—has loved and served God, even at the cost of pain and sacrifice, it is just that the whole man, body as well as soul, enjoys that eternal union with God which is the reward of such love.

If the whole man has rejected God by unrepented mortal sin, it is just that the body should share, with the soul, in the eternal separation from God which the whole man has chosen.

Our bodies will no longer need food or drink or rest, and will be in some sense “spiritualized.” In addition, the bodies of those who are in Heaven will be “glorified”; they will possess a perfection and beauty which will be a sharing in the perfection and beauty of the soul that has been united to God.