The Ultimate Goal
Fr. Dwight Campbell
02/16/2025
6th Sunday Yr C: The Ultimate Goal: To Rise in Glory on the Last Day
Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D., JD.
Today our readings focus on to themes: The first concerns the ultimate goal of the Christian life. The second is: How we attain that goal.
What is the ultimate goal of the Christian life? To rise from the dead in bodies glorified on the Last Day, when Christ comes again as universal King to judge the living and the dead.
All the dead will rise – both good and bad – and those who have died in the grace of Christ will receive once again their bodies – but not as they were during our earthly life; rather, we will receive our bodies back in a glorified state – a body glorified like that of Jesus, when He rose from the dead.
It is only then that we will be fully redeemed, because then we will enjoy the happiness of Heaven for eternity in body and soul –
in bodies that will experience no sickness or disease, no hunger or thirst; in bodies that will be beautiful, perfectly proportioned (no dieting or working out will be necessary); in bodies that will never die, never grow old and feeble; in bodies that will live forever.
The common opinion of great Saints and theologians is that our glorified bodies will be 33 years of age – the age of Jesus when He rose from the dead.
This is what we mean when we say in the Creed every Sunday: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
We should all be looking forward to that Great Day of the Lord, believing – in faith, and in confident hope – what Saint Paul says in our 2nd reading, 1 Cor.: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
We believe, in faith, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, after He was put to death on the Cross and laid in the tomb on Good Friday.
Believing that Jesus rose from the dead requires faith. Many people refuse to believe this fundamental truth of our Catholic faith.
As is evident in our second reading today, during St. Paul’s life there were people who refuse to believe this truth; nor did they believe in our resurrection from the dead on the Last Day.
When Paul was preaching in Greece, some philosophers were listening to him preach about Jesus; but as soon as he said that Jesus rose from the dead, they walked away from him, thinking he was crazy.
In our reading today, St. Paul asks: “If Christ is raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead? . . . If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain. Then those who have died/fallen asleep in Christ have perished” – in other words, there is no hope for those who think that this earthly life is all that there is, that when we die, life is over.
This is why St. Paul goes on to say: “If for this life only we had hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.”
We profess belief in our own resurrection from the dead on the Last Day, in bodies glorified, precisely because we believe that Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead in a glorified body; and He promises that we will rise from the dead if we believe in Him and follow His teachings.
This leads us to the second theme of our readings: How we attain this goal, the risen life of glory in Heaven.
To be authentic followers of Christ we cannot trust in ourselves; rather, we must trust in the Lord, as the Prophet Jeremiah says in our first reading: “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, . . . whose heart turns away from the Lord. . . . Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.”
Our Psalm today, from the very first Psalm (of the 150 Psalms), says:
“Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, . . . but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night.”
Our gospel today is St. Luke’s account of the Beatitudes, in which Jesus describes ways of conduct by which we will be blessed, and attain the happiness of Heaven; and then contrasts this with the woes of those who follow not the way of the Lord:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of heaven is yours” – in other words, we must not set our hearts on the earthly possessions, but rather on the things of Heaven.”
“But woe to you who are rich – [who will have set your hearts on earthly wealth, and honor, and power], for you have received your consolation” – that is, your reward consists in the mere enjoyment of earthly goods, the passing things of this world.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you, and announce your name is evil on account of [me] the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy, [for] your reward will be great in heaven.”
“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.” Yes, the world often praises and bestows honors on those who walk in the evil ways of the world. Woe to those who do so!
Recall that elsewhere, Jesus says, “It profits a man nothing to gain the whole world, but lose his soul.”
To always do the right thing, and stand up for the truth, and for Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life – especially when it is unpopular to do so, and when it’s likely that we will be scorned and ridiculed by others – is most difficult; but if this happens, Jesus says that we must not be saddened, but rejoice – and leap for joy – for our reward will be great in Heaven.
In chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that there is another essential means of attaining our final goal – being raised up on the Last Day in bodies glorified:
In this chapter, Jesus feeds 5,000 on fives loaves of bread and few fish. The next day people come to Him seeking to be fed again.
Jesus tells them, “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. . . . Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the Last Day. For my flesh is true food, and by blood is true drink.”
The words of Our Lord were really a prophecy that He fulfilled at the Last Supper, when He took bread and wine and said, “Take and eat, this is my body . . . Take and drink, this is my blood.”
With these words He instituted the Eucharist, the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, the food which is the gateway to our eternal life in bodily glory.
We believe, and the Church has always taught, that the Eucharist is truly Jesus in His risen, glorified Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity, the same Jesus who now reigns in Heaven; and that as such, the Eucharist is the pledge of our future resurrection in bodies glorified: “Eat my flesh and drink by blood, and I will raise you on the Last Day.”
To quote St. Paul once again: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Jesus is the first who died and rose from the dead in a glorified body; if we receive His glorified Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we also will rise on the Last Day; because the Eucharist IS Jesus, in His risen, glorified state – the pledge of our future glory.
Yes, Jesus promises that if we receive His glorified Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we will rise on the Last Day from our sleep of death – to a state of incredible glory, to enjoy everlasting happiness, eternal beatitude, in the heavenly Kingdom. Let us live this great truth, and proclaim it to others!