63. God gives man a soul which cannot die.

God gives man a soul which cannot die.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 63

Ave Maria series

63.  From where does man get his soul?

The human soul is created directly by God and is not “produced” by the parents.  [366-368, 382]

In “Creation of Adam”, Michelangelo envisions the reality where Genesis affirms "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). .....62

Man’s soul cannot be the product of an evolutionary development out of matter or the result of a generative union of the father and mother.  With every man, a unique, spiritual person comes into the world; the Church expresses this mystery by saying that God gives him a soul, which cannot die; even if the person loses his body in death, he will find it again in the resurrection.  To say, “I have a soul”, means that God created me not only as a creature but as a person and has called me to a never-ending relationship with him.

“The soul speaks:  I am called to be the companion of the angels, because I am the living breath that God sent forth into dry clay.”  St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179, Benedictine, mystic)

“Man is united with all living creatures by his earthly origin, but only through his soul, which God “breathed into” him, is he man.  This confers upon him his irreplaceable dignity but also his unique responsibility.”  Christoph Cardinal Schonborn (b. 1945, Archbishop of Vienna)

 [366-368, 382]

"BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE"

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.( Compare Pius XII, Humani Generis: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3896; Paul VI, Credo of the People of God § 8; Lateran Council V (1513): DS 1440.)²³⁵ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

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.)²³⁶ The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul.( Compare Council of Constantinople IV (870): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 657.)²³⁷ "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.( Compare Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3005; Gaudium et Spes 22 § 5; Humani Generis: DS 3891.)²³⁸ --CCC

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.( Compare Jeremiah 31:33; Deuteronomy 6:5; Deut 29:3; Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 36:26; Matthew 6:21

; Luke 8:15; Romans 5:5.)²³⁹ --CCC

IN BRIEF

382 "Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity" (Gaudium et Spes 14 § 1). The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God. --CCC