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Roman Catholic Soul
Roman Catholic Soul This is an article posted by Reverend Geoffrey who is a priest of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in Ottawa and is in answer to the question “What is the nature of our soul?”
The Catholic faith has a profound respect for both the body and the soul because of their intimate connection. Our faith teaches that human beings are not spiritual creatures ‘imprisoned in a body’ but are instead a profound unity of body and soul (or spirit): “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” and this union of body and soul is to intimate, so profound, that the soul is said to be the “form of the body” (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 365). “In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person.
But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man” (CCC n. 363). When we die, our immortal souls are temporarily separated from our bodies until they are reunited once again when we are raised from the dead at the final resurrection and become once more a union of spirit and matter, but in a new, restored way that will be different than how we exist in our current life (CCC n. 366). Where does our soul come from? When we are first conceived in the womb of our mother, God creates our human soul not our parents thus it is God’s gift and a sign of His ongoing, creative work in the world. Every human person from the first moment of life in the womb is thus a unique expression of our parents’ and God’s love made in God’s image and likeness.
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