Fortunately, I think you have to go to the Testaments about Jesus to hear the answer to this. And just like the Jews have their seperate books where the Rabbis received instructions, Catholics have seperate [extant] testimonies of the saints that are part of Catholic Sacred Tradition.
There are two notations in the Book of Jude:
1:9. When Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee.
[Contended about the body, etc... This contention, which is no where else mentioned in holy writ, was originally known by revelation, and transmitted by tradition. It is thought the occasion of it was, that the devil would have had the body buried in such a place and manner, as to be worshipped by the Jews with divine honours. Command thee... or rebuke thee. ]
1:14. Now of these Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying: Behold, the Lord cometh with thousands of his saints
This is called the Revelation of Moses [excerpt] and is found with scriptural content of the Early Church Fathers: [excerpted]
[...]
And Seth went with his mother Eve near paradise: and they wept there, beseeching God to send His angel, to give them the oil of compassion. And God sent to them the archangel Michael, and he said to them these words: Seth, man of God, do not weary yourself praying in this supplication about the tree in which flows the oil to anoint your father Adam; for it will not happen to you now, but at the last times. Then shall arise all flesh from Adam even to that great day, as many as shall be a holy people; then shall be given to them all the delight of paradise, and God shall be in the midst of them; and there shall not any more be sinners before Him, because the wicked heart shall be taken from them, and there shall be given to them a heart made to understand what is good, and to worship God only. Go again to your father, since the measure of his life has been fulfilled, equal to three days. And when his soul goes out, you will behold its dreadful passage.
[...]
And then the angels took it up, and laid it on the rock until his father died. And both were buried, according to the commandment of God, in the regions of paradise, in the place in which God found the dust. And God sent seven angels into paradise, and they brought many sweet-smelling herbs, and laid them in the earth; and thus they took the two bodies, and buried them in the place which they had dug and built.
And God called Adam, and said: Adam, Adam. And the body answered out of the ground, and said: Here am I, Lord. And the Lord says to him: I said to you, Dust you are, and unto dust you shall return. Again I promise you the resurrection. I will raise you up in the last day in the resurrection, with every man who is of your seed.
And after these words God made a three-cornered seal, and sealed the tomb, that no one should do anything to him in the six days, until his rib should return to him. And the beneficent God and the holy angels having laid him in his place, after the six days Eve also died. And while she lived she wept about her falling asleep, because she knew not where her body was to be laid. For when the Lord was present in paradise when they buried Adam, both she and her children fell asleep, except Seth, as I said. And Eve, in the hour of her death, besought that she might be buried where Adam her husband was, saying thus: My Lord, Lord and God of all virtue, do not separate me, Your servant, from the body of Adam, for of his members You made me; but grant to me, even me, the unworthy and the sinner, to be buried by his body. And as I was along with him in paradise, and not separated from him after the transgression, so also let no one separate us. After having prayed, therefore, she looked up into heaven, and stood up, and said, beating her breast: God of all, receive my spirit. And straightway she gave up her spirit to God.
And when she was dead, the archangel Michael stood beside her; and there came three angels, and took her body, and buried it where the body of Abel was. And the archangel Michael said to Seth: Thus bury every man that dies, until the day of the resurrection. [end excerpt]
We believe that all of the Fathers written about in the Scriptures from Adam to Joseph of Nazareth, were resurrected with Jesus Christ in the First Resurrection, and this would include Moses.
Because His Death and Resurrection were about opening a passage to Heaven, and He as the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, went to release the prisoners from the abode in the Land of the Dead.
For many bodies of the Saints which slept arose, and they came out of the graves after His Resurrection, and went into the Holy City. Matthew 27:52-53
Writing of St. Cyril of Jerusalem: 381 A.D.
Death was struck with dismay on beholding a new visitant descend into Hades, not bound by the chains of that place. Wherefore, O porters of Hades, were ye scared at sight of Him? What was the unwonted fear that possessed you? Death fled, and his flight betrayed his cowardice. The holy prophets ran unto Him, and Moses the Lawgiver, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; David also, and Samuel, and Esaias, and John the Baptist, who bore witness when he asked, Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another Matthew 11:3? All the Just were ransomed, whom death had swallowed; for it behoved the King whom they had proclaimed, to become the redeemer of His noble heralds. Then each of the Just said, O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting? For the Conqueror has redeemed us.
2007-01-22 07:53:12
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answer #1
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answered by QueryJ 4
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