h in
His Resurrection" (Bede, on Luke 24:40). Thirdly, "that when He
pleads for us with the Father, He may always show the manner of death
He endured for us" (Bede, on Luke 24:40). Fourthly, "that He may
convince those redeemed in His blood, how mercifully they have been
helped, as He exposes before them the traces of the same death"
(Bede, on Luke 24:40). Lastly, "that in the Judgment-day He may
upbraid them with their just condemnation" (Bede, on Luke 24:40).
Hence, as Augustine says (De Symb. ii): "Christ knew why He kept the
scars in His body. For, as He showed them to Thomas who would not
believe except he handled and saw them, so will He show His wounds to
His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them, saying:
'Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted;
recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for
you, yet you would not enter.'"

Reply Obj. 1: The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither
to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory,
inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special
comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the wounds.

Reply Obj. 2: Although those openings of the wounds break the
continuity of the tissue, still the greater beauty of glory
compensates for all this, so that the body is not less entire, but
more perfected. Thomas, however, not only saw, but handled the
wounds, because as Pope Leo [*Cf. Append. Opp. August., Serm. clxii]
says: "It sufficed for his personal faith for him to have seen what
he saw; but it was on our behalf that he touched what he beheld."

Reply Obj. 3: Christ willed the scars of His wounds to remain on His
body, not only to confirm the faith of His disciples, but for other
reasons also. From these it seems that those scars will always remain
on His body; because, as Augustine says (Ad Consent., De Resurr.
Carn.): "I believe our Lord's body to be in heaven, such as it was
when He ascended into heaven." And Gregory (Moral. xiv) says that "if
aught could be changed in Christ's body after His Resurrection,
contrary to Paul's truthful teaching, then the Lord after His
Resurrection returned to death; and what fool would dare to say this,
save he that denies the true resurrection of the flesh?" Accordingly,
it is evident that the scars which Christ showed on His body after
His Resurrection, have never since been removed from His body.
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QUESTION 5