Changed

Photographs often appear next to obituaries: in the newspaper and online. Much of the time, the photographs are recent, depicting the deceased near the end of their lives. Sometimes the picture is from the prime of their lives. Sometimes, even if they lived to a ripe old age, the photograph seems to be from their high school yearbook.

This brings up the question: What shall we look like in heaven?

Shall we appear as we do when we die? Shall we appear as we did in the prime of life or as we did in the full bloom of early adulthood?

In today’s Gospel (John 21:1-14), as elsewhere, our Lord appears to His disciples after His resurrection, but he looks so different that not only is he not recognized from a distance, but even when he is close at hand, recognition is not automatic (even though the disciple know it to be the Lord).

He is Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Savior, but He is not merely resuscitated: He is changed.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Saint Paul foretells the same for us.

Behold, I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all fall asleep,
but we will all be changed,
in an instant, in the blink of an eye,
at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound,
the dead will be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.

May our risen Lord give us the grace to persevere faithfully through all the challenges, opportunities, and struggles of life, so that at the end of all things, we may be transformed by the glory of resurrection.