The Assumption
This coming Friday, on August 15th, the Church celebrates the great solemnity of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother. Although this is an ancient teaching of the Church, Pius XII infallibly proclaimed ex cathedra this dogma in 1950. With his full extraordinary magisterial authority, as true Vicar of Christ and teacher of all Christian people, he declared:
“[W]e pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of Her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith” (Munificentissimus Deus, No. 44-45)
The Blessed Virgin Mary has Her glorified body in Heaven. The saints await this final perfection as their reward at the General Judgment at the end of time. All the blessed who enjoy the Beatific Vision for all eternity will receive glorified bodies. God’s having already granted this to Our Lady serves as a prefigurement and sure certainty of His promise to all His beloved Children.
The Glorified Body of Christ and the Hope of Our Resurrection
During Pascaltide, the Church meditates with profound joy on the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. His rising from the dead is not merely a return to earthly life, but a glorification – the beginning of a new and eternal mode of existence that awaits all the just. The Catholic Faith teaches that glorified bodies will possess four preternatural gifts: brightness, impassibility, agility, and subtility. These gifts are a source of deep hope for the faithful who strive to follow Our Lord. We see these same four qualities in the life of Our Lord after His triumphant Resurrection from the dead.
- Brightness
Brightness, or clarity, is the radiance that flows from the glory of the soul. It manifests visibly as a luminous splendor. St. Paul writes, “It is sown in dishonor: it shall rise in glory” (1 Cor. 15:43).
This brightness is not earthly light, but a supernatural brilliance. Our Lord demonstrated this glory partially at His Transfiguration, and fully after His Resurrection. Though hidden at times to accommodate the weak faith of the disciples, His glorified body radiated divine majesty. When He appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, His brightness was overwhelming: “a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun” (Acts 26:13). This shows that the brightness of Christ’s glorified body is not merely symbolic, but real and powerful.
- Impassibility
Impassibility is the freedom from all suffering, pain, or death. After His Resurrection, Our Lord was no longer subject to hunger, fatigue, or wounds. Though He bore the sacred marks of the Passion as trophies of His victory, they no longer caused pain or bloodshed.
When Christ appeared to the Apostles, He said, “See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself: handle, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have” (Luke 24:39). Despite these signs of the Passion, He was not suffering. “Death shall no more have dominion over Him” (Rom. 6:9).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains:
“Impassibility excludes the corruptibility and the defects of the present life; it belongs to the body in glory as a consequence of the soul’s beatitude” (Summa Theologica, Suppl., Q. 82, A. 1). And Our Lord revealed to St. John that in the heavenly Jerusalem, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away” (Apoc. 21:4).
- Agility
Agility is the power of the glorified body to move at the will of the soul with ease and speed. Just like we can immediately move in thought from one place to another, say Fatima and Lourdes, so the glorified body can instantly move from one locale to another.
After the Resurrection, Our Lord was no longer limited by the normal laws of movement. He appeared and disappeared at will, traveling great distances instantly. He walked with the disciples to Emmaus and vanished in their sight (Luke 24:31). He appeared suddenly in the midst of the Apostles though the doors were shut (John 20:19). These are not mere symbols – they are real, historical events revealing the agility of His risen body.
- Subtility
Subtility is the spiritualized nature of the glorified body, which allows it to pass through matter without resistance. It is a freedom from the material constraints of the fallen world. Our Lord’s glorified body could pass through locked doors and burial wrappings without disturbance. As St. John records: “When the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst” (John 20:19).
His risen body was the same body that suffered and died – yet it now moved freely through material barriers. This is not ghostliness, but the perfection of bodily nature, no longer weighed down by the corruption of sin.
Tradition holds that after having placed the Blessed Mother in Her tomb in the Valley of Jehosaphat, the Apostles returned with St. Thomas to pay their last respects. However, they found Her body had vanished. With the power of subtility, Her glorified body had passed through the material walls of the tomb.
The Resurrection of the Just – and of All Flesh
The Church dogmatically defines that all people will rise again in their bodies at the end of time. This belief is not mere spiritual symbolism, but a dogma of our Faith: “All men, indeed, are to rise again with their own bodies which they now bear, so that they may receive according to their works, whether good or evil” (Fourth Lateran Council, 1215 AD).
For the Just, this bodily resurrection will be a glorification. The bodies of the Blessed at Our Lord’s right will be radiant, impassible, agile, and subtle, like Jesus and Mary. The souls of the damned to His left will also be reunited with their bodies, but they will rise unto condemnation (cf. John 5:29). Their bodies will be incorruptible but not glorified – they will not share in brightness or joy but will experience eternal shame and torment in hell. In fact, the bodies of the damned will be a source of even greater everlasting pains than could be had without a body.
St. Paul writes:
“We look for the Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:20-21). This is the great promise to all who persevere in grace: Our bodies, presently subject to suffering and death, will be raised in glory to share in Christ’s Resurrection.
Conclusion
During this month of the Immaculate Heart, let us fix our eyes not only on the fact that Christ rose from the dead, but on the glorious way in which He did. He rose in a glorified body – resplendent, free, eternal – and this glorified state is the inheritance of all who follow Him faithfully. Let us strive to live in such a way that we may hear on that day: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21) and then rise in glory to behold God face to face, in both soul and body, for all eternity.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!