But Jesus quickly crushes that false notion by asking for food and eating in front of them.
This certainly was no casper the ghost.
Jesus appears to them in his resurrected body.
What does this mean? Like the disciples, questions rise in our hearts; as we fix our gaze on Jesus and his resurrected presence we begin to peer into the future of humanity.
All love wants eternity; God's love not only wants eternity but effects it. This love brings man whole and entire into eternity, body and soul. Man is indivisible from the beginning into eternity.
We will be raised as whole persons, not some segmented separated soul minus a body. We will be whole persons, body and soul.
What a great mystery! What a great article of faith we profess every Sunday: we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
What we do in the body will have effects in how we spend eternity!
We can never compartmentalize our spirit and bodily action; they are a unity, a unity that remains indivisible even in eternity.
This is why our faith must have affects in our bodily behavior.
Sin affects our whole person and redemption comes to the aid of our whole person. This is why St. John tells us in the 2nd reading, "my children I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin."
Why? Because sin is an attack against the very work of redemption. Sin corrupts the whole person and such corrosive behavior in the body will destroy the truth of our destiny: to be fully redeemed and welcomed into eternal life in heaven.
Our whole person, body and soul, belong to Christ and shall receive the grace of redemption.
"The body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?...You are not your own; ...so glorify God in your body." (1 corinthians 6:13-15, 19-20)
"But as God's word is sure, what is sown is raised; the earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, shall become glory to glory, and life to the living God, and a true incorruptible image of the Spirit made perfect. Here the saints sleep, here they shall rise. A great sight will a Christian country then be, if earth remains what it is; when holy places pour out the worshippers who have for generations kept vigil therein, waiting through the long night for the bright coming of Christ!" Venerable John Cardinal Newmann
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