Catholics proclaim in the Apostles’ Creed that they believe in “the resurrection of the body”. This means not only that the immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our bodies will come to life again (CCC 990). Saint Augustine of Hippo noted the difficulty that such a doctrine raises with many people: “On no point”, he lamented, “does the Christian faith encounter more opposition than on the resurrection of the body” (CCC 996).

The doctrine of the resurrection of the body stands to reason since God created us “in the flesh” and Christ, our Saviour, came in the same flesh. Being created in the “image and likeness of God”, we are also redeemed in the flesh.

How the resurrection of the body happens is not clear, and an understanding of it is only accessible by faith (cfr CCC 1000) but we do know that in some way our bodies will be “transfigured in Christ”. Just as Christ, after the resurrection, did not return to an earthly life, yet still was raised with his own body, so too for us at the end of all things.

In a certain way we already share in this resurrection of the body, since, with baptism, a Christian’s life participates in the death and resurrection of Christ, as Saint Paul says: “And you were buried with him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead ... If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 2,12; 3,1).

SInce our bodies, being endowed with a supreme dignity, are destined for eternal life, then they must be treated with respect. After all, the body is meant, “for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? ... You are not your own; ... So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6,13-15; 19-20). Sins against the body, such as fornication, drunkenness, masturbation and pornography, offend its dignity, and should be avoided for our own good, so as to retain them for eternal life.