Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.—St. John 5:28-29
In the above passage, Our Lord Jesus Christ describes an important part of the Creed, namely, that on the Day of Judgment (the last day of humans on earth before “the new heavens and the new earth”) Christ will return and we will all begin the resurrection of the body.
What will happen to everyone?
Everyone in Purgatory will get their bodies back and they’ll go with their bodies to heaven. Everyone in heaven will get their bodies back to glorify God. As they glorified God in their souls, so also at the instance of the General Judgment, they will then begin to glorify God in not only their souls but also their bodies in heaven.
Also on the day Christ returns like lightning across the sky, all those still living on earth in sanctifying grace will briefly die but go immediately with their bodies to glorify God in a new heavens and a new earth (cf Isaiah 65 and Apocalypse 21.) This is the select group of people who Christ refers to in the above Scripture passage when He says the good then “shall come forth unto the resurrection of life.”—Jn 5:29. St. Thomas Aquinas and the Council of Trent both state that the elect still living on earth at the Final Judgment will briefly die before going to heaven.
However, on that terrible day of Judgment, it is a De Fide aspect of the Catholic faith that all the souls of those in hell will be horribly reunited with their bodies to live their miserable existence back as composite body-souls, continuing in hell forever. Similarly, all those who die on earth on that Last Day in a state of original sin or mortal sin will take their bodies to hell forever. This isn’t superstition. It’s right there in the Bible when Christ says those who have done evil will go “unto the resurrection of judgment.”—Jn 5:29. Keep in mind the General Judgment will happen after three and a half years of the reign of the final Antichrist.
A holy Jesuit from the 19th century describes what the Church is saying to every Catholic at Lent when ashes go on the forehead in regards to the resurrection of the body: “Remember that if you do not do penance for your sins, you will only rise again from the dust of the tomb to pass in body and soul into a place of eternal torments.”—Jesuit Meditations, Angelus Press.
It’s important we realize our bodies will be glorifying God forever in heaven. Or, our bodies will be tortured by demons forever in hell. We are not going to be judged on our emotions, but by what we did in our bodies. The Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Paul: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.—2 Cor 5:10.
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