and the first earth were gone.... And I heard a
great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God
with men, and He shall dwell with them.... And God shall wipe away
all the 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. xxi.

It was the thought of rising in glory, with a body free from
suffering, that gave comfort to the holy man Job when the storm of
adversity had burst upon him. Listen to his beautiful words: "I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day, I shall rise out of the
earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I
shall see my God. Whom I myself shall see, and not another. This my
hope is laid up in my bosom."* Lay up that hope in your bosom as he
did, and when the storm of adversity bursts upon you, the thought of
rising in a glorified, impassible body, and in a new world, will give
you patience and resignation.

* Job xix.

But rising with the gift of impassibility does not mean that our
bodies will be unfeeling as marble statues. It only means that they
shall be free from the power of suffering; but that does not exclude
the power of receiving pleasure. Glory does not destroy nature, but
perfects it. The bodies of the blessed will remain sensible to
impressions from suitable objects, and, according to St. Thomas, the
blessed will use their senses for enjoyment in all that is not
repugnant to a state of incorruption.*

* . . . . Et corpus igitur perfectum per animam proportionabiliter
animae, immune erit ab omni malo, et quantum ad actum, et quantum ad
potentiam: quantum ad actum quidem, quia nulla erit in eis corruptio,
nulla deformitas, nullus defectus: quantum ad potentiam vero quia non
poterunt aliquid pati quod sit eis molestum, et propter hoc
impassibilia erunt; quae tamen impassibilitas non excludit ab eis
passionem quae est de ratione sensus; utentor enim sensibus ad
delectationem secundum illa quae statui incorruptionis non
repugnant.--S. Thom., Cont. gent., lib. 4, c. 86.

2. We now come to consider the crowning glory of all the glorious
supernatural attributes wherewith God will clothe our bodies on the
last day. I say it is the crowning glory. For the splendor of form,
the vigor of youth, and the complete perfection of our human
nature--which are all included in the promise of rising conformable
to the glorified body of Jesus Christ