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634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead." 483 The

descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to
complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic

mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real
significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men

of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been
made sharers in the redemption.

645 By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen

Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites
them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above

all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is
the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still

bears the traces of his Passion. 508 Yet at the same time this
authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious

body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how
and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be
confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's

divine realm. 509 For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the

sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a
gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples, precisely to
awaken their faith. 510

646 Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as

was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had
performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of

Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the
persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to

ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die
again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen

body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond
time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with

the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his

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