June 24 – St. Macarius the Great of Egypt from the Spiritual Homilies
Let us therefore strive by faith to be possessed of that clothing, that when we resume the body, there be nothing wanting which may glorify our flesh in that day. For every one, so far as he has been thought worthy by faith to be made partaker of the Holy Spirit, in the same proportion shall his body also be glorified in that day. For that which the soul has treasured up within, in this present life, shall then be made manifest outwardly in the body.
For as the trees that have got over the winter do, by an invisible power, put forth from within, and shoot out leaves, flowers, and fruits as their clothing; and in like manner, as the flowers of the grass come out of the bosom of the earth and the earth is covered and clothed, so, in the day of the resurrection, and through the power of the a Sun of Righteousness, there shooteth out from within the glory of the Holy Spirit, covering the bodies of the saints, which glory they had before, within hidden in their souls. For whatever [the soul] has at present, the same comes forth at that time outwardly in the body.
Therefore ought every one of us to strive, and be diligent in all virtue, and to believe and to seek it of the Lord; that the inward man may be made partaker of that glory in this present life, and have that holiness of the Spirit, that we may have at the resurrection wherewith to cover our naked bodies, and refresh us to all eternity in the kingdom of heaven. For Christ will come down from heaven and raise to life all the kindred of Adam that have slept from the beginning of the world and he shall separate them all into two divisions; and them that have his own mark, that is, the seal of the Spirit, he shall place on his right hand. And then shall the bodies of these shall be surrounded with a divine glory from their good works, and themselves shall be full of the glory of the Spirit which they had in their souls in this present life. So that, being thus glorified in the divine light and snatched away to “meet the Lord in the air, we”, as it is written, “shall ever be with the Lord”, reigning with him, world without end. Amen. — Homily 4, para 7-9: There is a wide difference between Christians and the men of this world.