Vigils Reading

THE REDEMPTION

OF OUR BODIES

From a sermon by Fr Ronald Knox

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I am content to think of my present body as merely the inadequate symbol

of that body which will be mine in eternity. A symbol, yes; but we must remind

ourselves again, it isn’t merely a kind of book token, entitling me to the

possession of a body in eternity; it is rather a kind of cloak-room ticket, entitling

me to the possession of my body in eternity. Our Lord’s Resurrection meant an

empty tomb; our Lord’s Ascension meant, presumably, the disappearance from

earth of a certain quantum of matter which had previously been part of earth. If

it is going to be possible to establish identity between that body of yours which

will lie in the cemetery, and that body of yours which will, we hope, attain the

enjoyment of heaven, aren’t we going to land ourselves in rather difficult

physical speculations to account for it?

What is certain is that the thing, whatever it is, which expresses itself here

and now in terms of a mass of matter about six feet high, will persist, although it

may be expressed in quite different terms, in that order of creation, whatever it

be, which will succeed when the material creation itself has passed away.

The practical importance of that truth for us is, I take it, that as Christians

we are bound to think of our bodies as part of ourselves, as included not only in

the scheme of our creation but in the scheme of our redemption, as having…a

supernatural importance, and as demanding reverence in our treatment of

them. We look forward, as St Paul says, to the redemption of our bodies; they

are not encumbrances which we drag about with us, they are first-fruits of

eternity, entrusted to our keeping…

If you lean towards Eastern spiritualism, you will find yourself talking,

like the man in that poem of Lyall’s, about your body as if it were something that

didn’t matter; it “is a garment no more fitting, is a tent that I am quitting, is a

snare, from which at last, like a hawk, my soul hath passed“. If you lean

towards Western materialism, you will find yourself talking about your body as

if it were the only thing that mattered, like that poem of Housman’s, “The

Immortal Part“, which ends up: “And leave with endless night alone the

steadfast and enduring bone“. If you avoid both those excesses, you will find

yourself talking like Thomas a’ Kempis:

Ah, frail body, earth forsaking,

In what glory wilt thou rise,

Passing fair in thy remaking,

Strong and whole and swift and wise,

Free, and joy in freedom taking,

Framed for life that never dies!

Up, and stir thee, onward spur thee;

What, though toil be hard to bear,

If God’s grace shall count thee worthy

Those unguessed rewards to share?

Brief the pains that shall prefer thee

To eternal glory there.