Resurrection of the Body and everlasting life

After death, assuming we are in God's grace, do we meet the Lord or do we "wait" for the second coming as described in Revelations?

The Church’s understanding of the human person has a scriptural basis. Paul especially recognizes that there are two aspects of being human, a fleshly existence and a spiritual existence localized in the one person. Our creed literally professes in the resurrection of the “flesh” that which is part of this world, created by God, subject to death and decay. We also believe in the immortality of the soul. That something of our human person persists after our bodily death. We share in a resurrection experience just as Christ rose from the grave.

How and when this all happens is a great mystery. We profess that there are saints in heaven who intercede for us, even while their bodies are venerated as holy relics in churches throughout the world. Somehow then, there must be a separation of body and soul.
This “already and not yet” aspect of the afterlife is a matter of faith and hope. We believe that the souls of the just are in the hand of God, but we also hope for the day when

The doctrine of Mary’s assumption into heaven helps describe this reality. In a special way, Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven. She, the most pure and spotless virgin, did not have to suffer the degradation of the body that normally comes in death. She was the first of Christ’s disciples to experience the hope of the resurrection of the dead, and as such, becomes a model for what we hope to experience one day.

Our belief is that Christ has conquered sin and death for all time; but because historical time continues on, the effects of the Christ event still must take place in history. From an eternal perspective, the souls of the just are with God in heaven, but there is still something unfinished here on earth. The way our faith reverences the bodies of our beloved dead, and the care with which we bury them in special cemeteries, all speak to our belief that what we do here on earth matters in heaven---that all creation does indeed wait for the fullness of the revelation of Christ. That is why the Church insists that our rites surrounding the death and burial of a person always demonstrate our belief in the resurrection of the body. While cremation is permitted, we are not to scatter the ashes or divide up the remains to be saved by various people. Instead the cremated remains are to be kept integral and buried or entombed as a sign of our awaiting the resurrection.