327. The clarity, or light, of the resurrection body
327. THE CLARITY, OR LIGHT, OF THE RESURRECTION BODY
What is the relation between bodies and light in Heaven?
It is written (Mt 13:43): The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father, and (Wis 3:7): The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
Further, it is written (1 Cor 15:43): It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory. . . . After the resurrection the bodies of the saints will be lightsome. . . . [T]his clarity (brightness) will result from the overflow of the soul’s glory into the body . . . consequently, according to the greater clarity of the soul by reason of its greater merit, so too will the body differ in clarity, as the Apostle affirms (1 Cor 15:41). . . (S84,1).
The clarity of the glorified body results from the merit of the will and therefore will be subject to the will, so as to be seen or not seen according to its command. Therefore it will be in the power of the glorified body to show forth its clarity or to hide it. . . (S84,2).
The glory of the body will not destroy (its) nature but will perfect it. Wherefore the body will retain the color due to it by reason of the nature of its component parts, but in addition to this it will have clarity resulting from the soul’s glory. Thus we see bodies which have color by their nature aglow with the resplendence of the sun. . . (S85,1).
It will be like the clarity which He had in the Transfiguration. . . . [I]ntense clarity does not disturb the sight, in so far as it acts by the action of the soul, for thus it rather gives delight . . . though the clarity of a glorified body surpasses the clarity of the sun, it does not by its nature disturb the sight but soothes it (S84,2).
Light was the first thing created, and so light is in some ways the primary example of matter. Since the resurrection body will be a concrete material body, but a transformed one, and have relations to matter and the senses, but a transformed one, it will have a transformed relation to light. What might that be?
When Christ let Peter, James, and John see His Heavenly body at the Transfiguration, they saw light coming from it, not bouncing off of it. We too will shine from within, with His light. Perhaps it will come from the heart, as it did in the movie E.T. (Thus the song “HeartLight”.)
This light that will pervade the resurrection body, St. Thomas believes (second paragraph), will come from the soul’s “glory”. This presupposes that spiritual “glory” and physical “light” are one, and not related to each other as a mere image or metaphor is related to something literal, but as two dimensions of a single ontological reality; that in the resurrection body “glory” is not purely spiritual and “light” is not purely physical, for soul and body are not two things but two aspects of a single thing: the human person.
This new light of glory, as in this world, will have different degrees; but these will depend on the “merit” or holiness in the soul. Mary will be the brightest, “clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1).
And since perfected souls will be incapable of envy, all will rejoice in their lesser level of brightness, because it will be exactly what God wills for the common good; and all will identify with that common good as the fulfillment of their individual good, rather than a rival to it, as we fools do now.
Christ hid the glory of His resurrection body while He was on earth (except for the Heavenly foretaste at the Transfiguration). We will be able to do the same (third paragraph). Since our wills will be perfectly harmonized by the divine will, “hiding” will never be motivated by anything but love and truth.
St. Thomas deduces that bodies in Heaven will have colors, for color is part of beauty and glory, and appropriate to material bodies. Light does not rival colors, but brings them all out. The light of the body will make each color more itself, more beautiful: more perfectly white or black or brown or pink, more intense or subtle.
Like many mystics who have caught a preliminary vision, foretaste, or appetizer of Heaven’s light, St. Thomas says that the light of Heaven will be brighter than that of the sun yet will not disturb the sight. God will give us new, vastly superior eyes.