Sunday, August 9, 2015
Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 62 Part II.
(Youcat
answer - repeated) The soul is what makes every individual person a man: his
spiritual life-principle and inmost being. The soul causes the material body to
be a living human body. Through his soul, man is a creature who can say “I” and
stand before God as an irreplaceable individual.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 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): 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. (CCC 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, CPG § 8; Lateran Council V
(1513): DS 1440).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) Men are
bodily and spiritual creatures. A man’s spirit is more than a function of his
body and cannot be explained in terms of man’s material composition. Reason
tells us that there must be a spiritual principle that is united with the body
but not identical to it. We call it the “soul”. Although the soul’s existence
cannot be “proved” scientifically, man cannot be understood as a spiritual or
intellectual being without accepting this spiritual principle that transcends
matter.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 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 Th
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; GS 22 § 5; Humani
generis: DS 3891).
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