Death is the separation of body and soul. Once a soul leaves the body, it is subject to particular Judgment. If it carries God’s grace at the time of death, it goes to Heaven; if it carries serious unrepented sin, it goes to Hell. There was a dentist in Colombia called Gloria Pola who got struck by lightning. She went into a coma and experienced her particular Judgment saw that she was going to Hell, but God gave her a second chance, because there was a poor farmer who prayed for her recovery. God told her to witness to the reality of Judgment and today, there are many videos online detailing her experience of Judgment. Resurrection, then, is the reunion of body and soul. If God can create our bodies from nothing, He can also raise them up on the last day. But the bodies of the good and wicked are different. Those of the good resemble the glorified body of Christ and possess: brightness, subtility, agility, and impassibility. That is, their bodies shine visibly, are not restricted by spatial constraints like walls, are not restricted by temporal constraints from travelling instantly, and are not restricted by sickness and death. The bodies of the wicked, on the other hand, are ugly and painful. After particular Judgment follows general Judgment, when individual verdicts will be universally proclaimed – all our thoughts, words, and actions will be revealed to the world. We ought to be careful about these things in this life because we’ll have to account for them to God. Oftentimes, people who want to escape their own actions will also deny the existence of God. If we are upset that injustice exists in our world, we will see it rectified at the general Judgment. If we have a clean conscience, then we have no reason to fear judgment. As Christians, we ought to anticipate the judgment with hope.
Fr. Ho talks about death and resurrection
