Only the Good shall Rise Glorious.

So our bodies shall rise again, the bodies of the good as well as of the wicked. But there shall be as vast a difference in the condition of these bodies as in the condition of the souls. As every soul, at the very moment of its appearance before God in Particular Judgment after death, is at once justified and vindicated or condemned, so the body of that soul, at the moment of its resurrection from the grave for General Judgment, shall assume the signs and marks of its eternal destiny. The bodies of the godless will be indeed in a deplorable condition, while the bodies of the just will arise immortal and incorruptible, all beaming with supernatural beauty, capable of enjoying eternal happiness. The bodies of the wicked will arise immortal and indestructible indeed, but they will be branded with the stigma of sin and the sign of eternal perdition.

They will be dreadful to the sight, their external appearance forming a complete picture of the unhappy, lost, and damned soul. They will be handed over to the devil and to the pains of hell, while the glorified bodies of the saints will enter into the eternal glory of the Lord. In a word, the wicked, as far as their bodies are concerned, will resemble the devil. As to the bodies of the elect: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . will reform the body of our lowness made like to the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is able to subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians iii. 21). Such is the grand reward awaiting the children of God.

The human body, therefore, is a veritable sanctuary. Like the soul it is destined to share in God's happiness. It has been sanctified in holy baptism, anointed with the consecrated oil, and even with the sacred chrism,

and made the dwelling-place of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Hence the Church treats our bodies with the greatest respect, wishing, with the Apostle, that we should honor God in these bodies. Hence it is a grievous sin to prostitute our members to the wickedness which shall certainly be made manifest at the resurrection. For the members that have sinned shall be deformed, having been the instruments of the devil.

The Church, too, shows respect to our bodies even after death. She sprinkles them with holy water in order to purify them from all stain of human infirmity. She consecrates the ground in which they are to rest, she blesses the grave-mound that covers them. Such is her tender solicitude for our bodies. Do not, then, become the destroyer of your body's future happiness: the destiny of your soul is identical with that body of yours. Sanctify it, that both it and your soul may be prepared one day to enter into the ranks of God's saints in heaven.

Difference between the Good and the Wicked at the Resurrection.

"The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds" (Wisdom iii. 7).

"And many of these that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake some unto life everlasting and others unto reproach, to see it always. But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice as stars to all eternity" (Daniel xii. 2, 3).

"We shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed" (1 Corinthians xv. 51).

The Glory of the Body after Death.

In several instances the glorified and impassible bodies of God's faithful servants were made manifest soon after death. This was the case with St. Lidwina and St. Francis Assisi.

St. Lidwina was born in Schiedam, in Holland, on Palm Sunday, the 18th of March, 1380, at the very time that the Passion was being sung at High Mass in the church. This coincidence seemed significant of the afflictions she was to suffer throughout life. Her sufferings began in her infancy. She was trained up in a life of piety by her parents, to whose wishes she conformed constantly in all things. On account of her sweet disposition and extraordinary beauty her hand was sought in marriage when she was quite young. Rejecting all such offers she begged God to deprive her of her personal attractions. Her prayer was heard, for at the age of eighteen she slipped on the ice, and falling on a heap of frozen snow, broke one of her ribs, an accident that brought on a bodily infirmity which lasted all her life. For thirty-eight years the saint bore her excruciating pains with admirable patience, and even cheerfulness. In the beginning of her sickness an ulcer made its appearance that defied all the efforts of the physicians to heal it, and weakened her to such a degree that her death seemed imminent. She rallied somewhat, yet was powerless to move without help, and it was only by the most careful efforts that her friends could carry her to the church to receive holy communion. Three years later she became so debilitated that she could not leave her bed, and for the twenty-three years following she never put her feet on the ground. In the early part of her illness she was able to partake of a little bread and buttermilk, but for nineteen years

She

afterward she took no food. For seventeen years she lay on her back with just strength enough to move her head and rest it for a few moments on her arm. continued to lose much blood, while worms generated in her wounds. Nineteen years before her death she was attacked with dropsy, and during all that length of weary years she knew neither food, drink, nor sleep. Hemorrhages, headaches, toothaches and other distressing ailments became familiar to her. Poverty was added to her other misfortunes. She had to forego her poor straw mattress and lie on bare boards even in the coldest weather. At last, on the 14th of April, 1433, she yielded her patient soul into the hands of her Creator and, as she desired, utterly alone and neglected.

After her death, unbounded was the astonishment of the neighbors who approached her coffin. All traces of her disorders had disappeared; her countenance was fair and fresh as a lily; her whole body appeared young and strong, and emitted a peculiar brightness that fairly dazzled the spectators.

When St. Francis of Assisi had died all his bodily defects disappeared. The wrinkles of age were smoothed out and in appearance he looked young and healthy. In fact it was hard to believe that he was really dead.

TWELFTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED.

"And life everlasting. Amen."

There is a Never-ending Life.

THE Soul of a man does not die with his body. It is immortal, and only enters on its true life after death. That the human soul is immortal is proved in many places of divine revelation, and it is evident, too, from

the very nature of the soul itself. In the twenty-third verse of the second chapter of Wisdom we read, "God created man incorruptible, and to the image of His own likeness He made him." How emphatically and solemnly, too, does Christ warn His disciples and all Christians not to fear those who can kill the body, but not the soul, and that they ought to fear him who can plunge body and soul into everlasting torments.

Our soul is a spirit, and has nothing in common with material things of earth. Hence it can never be subject to corruption, as is the case with the body. The soul can not die.

Heaven.-Hell.

There is, then, as the twelfth article of the Creed teaches, a never-ending life for all time. But this mysterious life without any end will be very different for different men after they leave this earth, according as they have spent their time here well or ill.

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The eternal life of the just will be one of endless, unspeakable happiness. Of this truth we are assured by St. Paul the Apostle, who was carried in spirit into heaven, when he writes, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him " (1 Corinthians ii. 9). The smallest measure of heavenly happiness is inconceivably greater than all earthly joys. In heaven there is neither sickness nor pain, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor envy, nor unrest, neither want nor superfluity. There all things combine to perfect the joys and delights of mankind.

And yet there are different degrees in the happiness of heaven. Great as is the smallest measure of hea