When will the Spring season of Resurrection begin and proclaim the hidden glory?

St. Macarius likens our life in the Lord to the lives of those who live in very cold lands. They see around them trees that lose all their beauty and their fruits in winter and appear to

888 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 5.7–8: pp. 51–52, amended.

889 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 10.4: p. 78, amended.

be dead. Then, as spring arrives, the trees become covered with new leaves, flowers, and fruits within a short period of time. Their life is hidden in the winter; then in the spring what was hidden is revealed. Likewise, in the springtide of the general resurrection, the work of the Holy Spirit that was hidden will become manifest as we journey towards heaven.

Even the dead and decomposed bodies will be enlightened and will enjoy the power of the Holy Spirit, who becomes to them a covering, food, drink, elation, and joy. Whatever they have acquired in their inner selves during their journey in the world will become outwardly manifest in the eternal life. And as the glory of the Spirit radiated from the face of Moses so that none could bear to gaze upon him, so shall our bodies be.⁸⁹⁰

We ought to strive here, in this life, asking the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, so that we are not found naked on the day of the Lord, but rather find our bodies covered by divine glory and filled with the glory of the Spirit. St. Macarius says, “Every one of us therefore ought to strive, and take pains, and be diligent in all virtues, and to believe, and to seek from the Lord that the inward man may be made partaker of that glory here and now, and that the soul may have fellowship in that sanctity of the Spirit , in order that we may be cleansed from the defilements of wickedness and may have at the resurrection wherewithal to clothe our bodies as they rise naked, and to robe their uncomeliness, and enliven them, and refresh them in the kingdom of heaven … Then shall the bodies of these be arrayed with divine glory from their good works, and shall be full of the glory of the Spirit , which they had in their souls even here; and thus being glorified in the divine light, and caught up into heaven to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17), as it is written, we shall ever be with the Lord , rejoicing with Him to ages without end. Amen,”.”⁸⁹¹

St. Macarius says, “That heavenly fire of the Godhead, which Christians receive in their hearts now in this present world, that same fire which now ministers inwardly in the heart becomes outward when the body is dissolved, and recomposes the members, and causes a resurrection of the members that had been dissolved. As the fire that ministered on the altar at Jerusalem lay buried in a pit during the time of the captivity, and the selfsame fire, when peace came and the captives returned home, was renewed, as it were, and ministered in its accustomed manner (2 Macc. 1:19), so now the heavenly fire works upon this body that is so near us, which after its dissolution turns to mire, and renews it, and raises up the bodies that had decayed. The inward fire that now dwells in the heart becomes then external, and causes a resurrection of the body.”⁸⁹²

890 See St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 5.8–10: pp. 52–54.

891 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 5.12: pp. 54–55, amended.

892 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 11.1: p. 79.