Understanding of Resurrection

The following is a summary report of the last topic in unit two for R&S.

In the Catholic tradition, resurrection refers to the dynamic belief in the reunification of the entirety of the human person, body and soul, to completion, in a glorified spiritual body (I Cor. 15:45), in the New Life that is after death. The core belief in resurrection is expressed in the Nicene Creed, “We believe in the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting” and is based upon the belief in the Risen Christ who is called “the Resurrection and the Life” in John’s Gospel, and who, according to all canonical Gospel accounts, rose to New Life from death, therefore “he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men.” (Catechism)
Catholic believe that “For those who die in Christ’s grace it is a participation in his death, so that they can also share his Resurrection.” (Catechism) The understanding is that each person is a member of Christ’s Mystical Body (I Cor. 12:12) and therefore shares in the death of Jesus to experience the victory of his resurrection. (Rom. 6:1-12) – “To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ.” (Catechism)Death is thus made sense of as merely “the end of earthly life” (Catechism), not constituting a complete end.
The core belief in resurrection is expressed throughout the Christian Writings, in all canonical gospel accounts and particularly in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The Catholic ritual of Eucharist, involving the transformation of bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ, also recalls the Resurrection. Funeral liturgy is filled with symbolism, prayer and ritual that reflects human hope for resurrection.
Over the course of time, the core belief in resurrection has been subject to reformulation, renewal and changes in understanding and expression as a response to a range of internal and external stimuli, including the persecution and death of the early Christians’, Constantine’s conversion, the bubonic plague and the pivotal Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)

The death of the early Christians, particularly the first apostles, challenged initial understandings of resurrection. Initially, the early Christians believed that resurrection was a present reality and that the Kingdom was imminent. Such notions were supported by Jesus’ statement that “This generation will not disappear until all these things [the Kingdom] take place.” (Mt. 3:32) However, the first and second generation of Christian believers’ did gradually pass away without the Kingdom’s arrival or resurrection. The response to this challenge led to a reformulation of the belief and the understanding that “No one knows the day nor the hour” (Mt. 24:36) of resurrection, save that it is a future reality.

The persecution of the early Church by imperial Rome led to the understanding of resurrection as a reward for faithfulness in the face of adversity. Such notions may have had their origins in the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly 2 Macc. 12:45: “In his firm and devout conviction that all of God’s faithful people would receive a wonderful reward” and 2 Macc. 7:9: “The King of the Universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, for we have died for his laws.” In the Christian Writings also, Jesus states, “Your reward in heaven is great. For that is how they persecuted the prophets before you.” (Mt. 5:12) A clear connection is made between faithfulness and reward, coupled with the oppression of the times which led to the view of resurrection as a reward for remaining faithful.

The conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity marks the point where the Church received imperial status and the belief in resurrection progressively became ‘Church-confined’, developing the doctrine of ‘no salvation beyond the Church.’ To illustrate, consider the words of Pope Innocent III: “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” Pope Boniface XVI elaborates, stating that, “It is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” Resurrection, and in broader terms, salvation, became understood as exclusively available to members of the Catholic Church. By this view, all societies and cultures outside the jurisdiction of the Pope were quite simply damned- a view that seemed to permeate Church-thought until Vatican II (1962-1965) heralded a change.

The bubonic plague of the Middle-ages’ marks the point where resurrection is viewed with heavy pessimism and is thought of more in terms of judgment, as the prayers of the period suggest. For example, funeral liturgy prayers which read, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, O Lord” and “The day your wrath is let loose upon mankind.” The artwork also reflects this highly pessimistic view of judgment, portraying the vast majority of humanity as eternally damned; unworthy of resurrection. Prayers from the pre-Vatican II Roman Missal demonstrate this pessimistic view, some of which called the created world a “valley of tears” and considered humans as the “poor banished children of Eve.” This understanding of resurrection, riddled with fear would dominate until Vatican II heralded a change.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was called together to address a Church that was considered ‘out-of-touch’ with the people. It encouraged the Church to “open its doors to the world” and allow the “winds of the Spirit to blow through” and in the case of belief, renew a positive, open and confident understanding of resurrection, which emphasised confidence in God’s love and mercy. To illustrate, consider funeral rite prayers which reflected trust in God’s mercy “to gather us together again in the joy of his Kingdom” (OCF) as each person is “entrusted in God’s loving care.” (OCF)
Funeral rites illustrate this hopeful view of resurrection incorporating a vast variety of symbolism, prayer and ritual. For example, the Easter Candle is lit to represent the light of the Risen Christ and his conquest over darkness and death. The ritual of sprinkling the casket recalls that “In the waters of baptism [deceased] died with Christ and rose with him to New Life.” (OCF) The priest’s vestments (dependent on cultural context) is usually white to recall Easter and the hopeful joy of resurrection. The placing of the pall recalls the deceased’s Baptism and the understanding that “to rise with Christ, we must die with Christ.” (Catechism) The words of the Eucharistic liturgy mirror this hopeful view of resurrection, reading that, “Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood will have eternal life.”

The belief in resurrection has developed significantly in understanding and expression. It has been perceived as a present reality, a reward, exclusive and Church-confined, limited and finally the contemporary Catholic understanding of an all-inclusive and encompassing experience of reunification and transformation. The Catholic tradition has developed to understand resurrection in terms of the notion that, “God created each person for eternal life, and that Jesus, the Son of God, by his death and resurrection has broken the chains of sin and death that bound humanity.” (OCF)