n the wings of electricity
across a whole continent, or the vast expanse of the ocean; after the
resurrection, we shall possess that power in our very bodies, because
they shall rise spiritual bodies, entirely under the control of the
soul.

Subtilty means that our risen bodies will be endowed with the power
of penetrating all things, even the hardest substances, as easily as
the sun's rays penetrate a clear crystal. This is the power which our
blessed Lord possessed and exercised, when He arose from the dead,
without removing the stone that covered the mouth of the sepulchre.
He simply passed through it with his glorified body. Again, after
eight days, when the Apostles were gathered together, "Jesus cometh,
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to
you."* This is a supernatural gift with which we shall be clothed,
because we must rise conformable to the glorious body of Jesus
Christ.

* John xx. 26.

These, then, are some of the attributes of a spiritual body. They are
evidently the natural properties of spirits. But God will clothe the
bodies of his children with them, as a reward for their love of Him
and the holy lives they have led in this world.

CHAPTER VII.

THE IMPASSIBILITY AND IMMORTALITY OF THE RISEN BODY.

Besides the attributes which immediately flow from the fact that our
animal bodies will rise spiritualized, there are two more qualities,
which we shall now consider; namely, the impassibility and
immortality of our risen bodies.

1. Impassibility implies the total loss of the power of suffering.
What an enormous capacity we have for suffering! The power of
receiving pleasure through our senses is only as a drop in the ocean,
when compared to our manifold capacities for suffering, in every
faculty of the soul, in every organ, member, and nerve of our frame.
Every one of them is susceptible of tortures, which, while endured,
make the enjoyment of life and its pleasures impossible. A violent
headache or a burning fever drives a man almost to distraction, and
destroys any pleasure he might otherwise experience. What
consolation, therefore, to think that this body of suffering shall
rise impassible! No more disease; no more pain or pang; no more
suffering either of mind or body; for we shall enter a new world from
which suffering is forever banished. St. John had a glimpse of this
new world, when he said: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For
the first heaven