ever: “And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles.”[1] This, my dear brethren, was but a figure of the beauty of Our Lord’s body after His resurrection from the dead. “The city hath no need of the sun,” says St. John in the Apocalypse, speaking of the dwelling-place of God, “nor of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof,”[2] who makes the clear day of heaven. Our bodies in the resurrection shall be like this most beautiful body. What more glorious lot can be imagined, what greater happiness can a poor mortal wish and hope for? But, dear Saviour, is it not enough, for the poor service that I can render Thee here below, to give an immortal life to my soul? No; the body, which is its companion in labor, shall also accompany it in glory, and that too after it has been made like to the body of His glory, “like to My body.” Like Mine in brightness, it shall outshine the sun; like Mine in agility, it shall be able to go anywhere in a moment; like Mine in subtility, it shall be able to pass through stone and iron; like Mine in majesty and glory, it shall cause the demons to tremble; like Mine in impassibility, it shall be incapable of feeling pain or discomfort; like Mine in immortality, it shall live forever.
And they shall live with those bodies forever in heaven. And where shall my body thus live in beauty and glory? In what land shall it dwell? Our Saviour Himself answers us: “Where I am, there also .shall My minister be;”[3] namely, in heaven, in the land of those joys and pleasures that no human eye has seen or heart can conceive; in riches without any fear of losing them; in dignity without envy; in rest without disturbance; in sweet love without jealousy; in authority without care or trouble; in satiety without disgust. Where I live, there must My servant live with Me. Oh, what a consolation for Christians! Should not this hope impel me to crucify and chastise my body with its sensuality, after the example of the crucified and suffering Jesus, that I may be admitted to the companionship of His glory and majesty? Should not this hope at least encourage me to bear all the crosses and trials of this life with cheerfulness and patience for God’s sake? What harm can all human suffer-
- ↑ Respondens autem Petrus, dixit ad Jesum: Domine, bonum est nos hic esse;…si vis, faciamus hic tria tabernacula.—Matt. xvii. 4.
- ↑ Civitas non eget sole, neque luna, ut luceant in ea, nam claritas Dei illuminavit eam, et lucerna ejus est Agnus.—Apoc. xxi. 23.
- ↑ Ubi sum ego, illic et minister meus erit.—John xii. 26.
