107. The risen Christ, who bore the wounds of the Crucified, was no longer bound by space and time.

The risen Christ, who bore the wounds of the Crucified, was no longer bound by space and time.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 107

Ave Maria series

107  Through his Resurrection, did Jesus return to the physical, corporeal state that he had during his earthly life?

The risen Lord allowed his disciples to touch him; he ate with them and showed them the wounds of his Passion.  Nevertheless, he body belonged no longer only to this earth, but rather to the heavenly kingdom of his Father.  [645-646]

The unrecognized Jesus with two disciples along the road to Emaus after his resurrection. Afterwards  they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”  (Luke 24:32) ....107

The risen Christ, who bore the wounds of the Crucified was no longer bound by space and time.  He could enter through locked doors and appear to his disciples in various places in a form in which they did not recognize him immediately.  Christ’s Resurrection was, therefore, not a return to a normal earthly life, but rather his entrance into a new way of being: “For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Romans 6:9).

(Jesus appears to Mary Magdaline, who does not recognize him immediately.)  Jesus said to her, “Mary,” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  John 20:16

[645-646]

The condition of Christ's risen humanity

645 By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion (compare Luke 24:30,39-40,41-43; John 20:20,27; Jn 21:9,13-15).⁵⁰⁹ Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm (compare Mathew 28:9, 16-17; Luke 24:15,36; John 20:14,17,19,26; Jn 21:4).⁵¹⁰  For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their faith (compare Mark 16:12; John 20:14-16; Jn 21:4,7).⁵¹¹ —Catechism of the Catholic Faith, Second Edition

646 Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven (compare 1 Corinthians 15:35-50)".⁵¹² –CCC

JR  Jesus