Death isn’t the human body’s final destiny

The Resurrection by Sebastiano Ricci. WIKIPEDIA

Power grooming for men is now a “buy line” of L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Nivea, Avon, and P&G, which offer an array of products (under-eye cream, anti-fatigue moisturizing lotion and an anti-tightness foaming cleansing gel) for men, in addition to endless lists of beauty products for women.

Of course, women spend more hard-earned money for their faces, hair, hands, armpits, and legs than do men. The cosmetic industry is a multibillion-dollar business, in addition to the mega-lucrative industries of mind-body fitness, massage and spa, Botox, face lifting, Liposuction, breast enhancement, sex dolls and toys, etc.

Sorry to pour cold water on today’s excitement over physical image enhancement; but when death arrives, the soul goes to its destination while our body corrupts, is reunited with earth, and “unto dust” returns.

The fountain of youth is as elusive as ever, aging comes quickly and the journey from womb to tomb is considerably fast. Our BODY BEAUTIFUL is passing and ephemeral, despite fortunes spent on it.

It’s as dead sure as paying taxes, remember?

Death is a great equalizer and a good reminder to behave and remain moderate in everything we do. While the “soil of the ground” is the origin of the human body, nephesh, God’s “breath of life,” is the beginning of our soul.

Sounds Jurassic, but when the soul is separated from the body in death, the soul is judged immediately to meet God in heaven, to be purified in purgatory; or it goes to hell for eternal punishment.

Matter (the human body) nonetheless has its destiny. It will not simply go on existing forever in its present condition; for one day it will be transformed into splendor.

We’ve spent so much to add watts to our smile and to erase years from our face but, at the end, we can’t carry our BODY BEAUTIFUL, FANTASTIC FIGURE and GORGEOUS FACE into life after death, can we?

Time of waiting

The human body (not just the soul) is destined to immortality and ETERNITY is its final destiny.

In the Catholic ethos, the journey of the human body continues after death. At the end of time, in the General Judgment or the Second Coming when Christ the King returns in majesty, there will be RESURRECTION OF THE BODY into immortality, into forevermore.

The resurrection doctrine has become the center of faith and hope for Christians since the beginning when Christ’s own Resurrection became the prototype; He who is “the first born from the dead” (Col 1:18).

When the historical Jesus rose from the dead, something in everyone’s heart said that one day the human body will experience the same glorification.

So, what happens to OUR BODY after death? Our corrupted body, as food for earthly worms, will have to wait. From the time of death until the end of time is the period of waiting for the body in its corruptible form (Catechism of the Catholic Church 988).

Why resurrect the body already resting in the tomb?

Imagine the day when all members of humankind will be in one space and time, trembling while waiting the Last Judgment. The Parousia, the end of the world, the Second Coming of Christ in majesty is the same moment as the resurrection of the dead.

The resurrected body at the end of time, at the Last Judgment, will be the very same earthly body—but this time it will be an immortal, imperishable, and incorruptible one (never to die). It’s the same earthly body but made better.

As it were, Jesus speaks to us: “My dear Christian, how I wish to do the corporal (from Latin word corpus meaning “body, physical) and spiritual works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the prisoners, provide shelter to the homeless, and bury the dead. But I have no hands and I have no feet; I have no lips with which to proclaim the Good news. Can you do it for me please?”

In order to accomplish the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, we use the human body. In doing good, we utilize our limbs and members.

On the contrary, in doing evil, we also use the same limbs and members. In bearing false witness against neighbor and disrespecting parents, people use our lips. When a suicide bomber decides to murder himself and many helpless children and women with an unclear mission to destroy world peace, he uses his own body.

I know that our Catholic teaching on eschatology competes for attention, and its competitors, in addition to the giant cosmetic industries, include Netflix’s “Sabrina,” horror films such “Halloween,” “Winchester,” and even Marvel’s “Venom.”

However, it must be said that, at the end of time, Jesus Christ on His Second Coming, will disturb all those resting in the tombs, judge us, including our resurrected body, the very instrument we use to do good or do evil, and send us to immortality (both body and soul).

Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano ([email protected]) talks candidly about death in his book The Beginning and the End(Claretian, 2016).