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The Life of the Soul . . . 'The Grace of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.'

  • The Mineral Kingdom

 

  • MINERALS DO NOT HAVE SOULS.

Examples:

  • Coal and Iron cannot grow.

    That would be supernatural for them.
  • The Plant Kingdom

 

  • PLANTS HAVE MORTAL SOULS.

"Mortal" meaning they have an earthbound or temporary life.

All mortal souls have a "life principle."

Examples:

  • Trees and flowers grow; but they cannot walk, talk or think.

    That would be supernatural for them.
  • The Animal Kingdom

 

  • ANIMALS HAVE MORTAL SOULS.

All animals also have a mortal soul as well; meaning they have an earthbound or temporary life.

Examples:

  • Dogs and cats grow and walk; but they cannot think or reason. "Fido" {or whatever the name of your dog is} will never tell anyone what kind of a day he had at the kennels.
  • A dog or cat who has just given birth to puppies or kittens, will never think about taking out a life insurance policy for their newborn's well-being.
  • A pet fish will never be able to manage a successful Hi-Tech company.

    That would be supernatural for them.
  • The Human Kingdom

 

  • HUMANS HAVE IMMORTAL SOULS.

"Immortal" meaning imperishable or everlasting.

All Men and women have "Immortal" souls that are destine for everlasting life.

Nothing in the

  • Mineral,
  • Plant, or
  • Animal Kingdom

is destine for everlasting life. Each person has his own free will to choose. He/she has been created by God for a specific purpose in this earthly life. The choices he/she make in this life determine what type of everlasting life they will have:

  • with God in Heaven or
  • without God in Hell.

    All immortal souls, not only have a "life principle.", they have an intellect {to think and reason} for the good or, if they choose, for the evil.
  • Men and women grow and walk and think. By themselves, with the grace of God, they have learned to:

    • talk
    • to tame the animals,
    • to light fires,
    • build large and small computers
    • as well as hydrogen and other types of bombs for evil purposes.

This is the work of human life (intelligence and will), but that is the limit.

To live God's life would be supernatural for man.

  • The Life of God

 

  • GOD IS LIFE.

God is not only Life, He is the un-Created Creator who is the author of ALL Life, but He does not keep it to Himself. HE SHARES IT WITH HUMAN BEINGS! He creates man and draws him into His own family circle.

"He has bestowed on us precious and very great promises, to enable us to ... become partakers of the divine nature."
(2 Peter 1:4)

"See what kind of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be children, not merely in the name but in reality."
(1 John 3:1)

"And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father'"
(Galatians 4:6)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also tells us:

II. "Body and Soul but Truly One"

362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

363 In Sacred Scripture the term soul often refers to human life or the entire human person. (cf. Matthew 16:25-26; John 15:13; Acts 2:41) But soul also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, (cf. Matthew 10:28; 26:38; John 12:27; 2 Maccabees 6:30) that by which he is most especially in God's image: soul signifies the spiritual principle in man.

364 The human body shares in the dignity of the image of God: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 15:44-45)

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 14 # 1; cf. Daniel 3:57-80)

365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the form of the body: (cf. Council of Vienne (1312): Denzinger-Schonmetzer (DS) 902) i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not produced by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection. (cf. Pius XII, Humani Generis: DS 3896; Paul VI, Solemn Profession of faith: Credo of the People of God # 8; Lateran Council V (1513): DS 1440)

367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people wholly, with spirit and soul and body kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming. (1 Thessalonians 5:23) The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. (cf. Council of Constantinople IV (870): DS 657) Spirit signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God. (cf. Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: DS 3005; Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 22 # 5; Humani Generis: DS 3891)

368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God. (cf. Jeremiah 31:33; Deuteronomy 6:5; 29:3; Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 36:26; Matthew 6:21; Luke 8:15; Romans 5:5)






In Brief

1015 The flesh is the hinge of salvation (Tertullian, De res. 8, 2:PL 2, 852). We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.

1016 By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day.

1017 We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess (Council of Lyons II: DS 854). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a spiritual body (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

1018 As a consequence of original sin, man must suffer bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes # 18).

1019 Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God, his Father. By his death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men.




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