Time and Manner of the Resurrection of the Body

The resurrection of the body will take place at the endof the world, not previously.

The time of the end of the world, and of theconcomitant rising of men, is not humanly known; nor will it be known. Scripture says (Matt. 24:36): “Of that day and hour noman knoweth; no, not the angels of heaven.” When the apostlesasked our Lord about the time of the world’s ending (Acts 1:7),he said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in his own power.”

As to the hour of the bodily resurrection,many think that because Christ rose from the dead in the early partof the day while it was yet dark, the resurrection of men’s bodies will be in the nighttime.

The resurrection of the body will take place in an instant, and not by degrees. St. Paul, speaking of the bodily resurrection, says (I Cor. 15:51-52): “We shall all indeed rise again … in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”