Day 51: Unity of Soul and Body (362-368)


Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Heavenly Father, you have made us in your image and likeness. You have made us soul and body, not that you have a body God, but that we are in your image. We have intellect and a will. We can choose. We can love. And we give you thanks. Because not only can we choose and love. We choose and love in our bodies. We also can use our bodies against you. We can use our bodies. We can use our wills. We can use our intellect to reject you or to say no to you. We just ask you, Lord God, keep us entirely yours. Keep us, body and soul, united in love for you. And at that moment, Lord God, at the end of our lives where our body and soul are separated, hold our soul in your hand. Take our soul to you so that one day, in the Resurrection of the Body, we can be reunited with our bodies giving you glory for all Eternity. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”


Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany


Bible Translation - RSVCE


CCC 362 "The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual… Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God."


Genesis 2:7 

"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."


CCC 363 "In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person."


"Soul"- original koine Greek- "psuche" - "human soul, life, breath of life"*


Matthew 16:25–26  

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life* for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?"


John 15:13 

"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life* for his friends."


Acts 2:41 

"So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls*."


“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."


Matthew 10:28–31

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."


Matthew 26:36–38 

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”


John 12:27

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour."


2 Maccabees 6:30

“When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: “It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him.”


CCC 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:"


1 Corinthians 6:19–20

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."


1 Corinthians 15:44–45

“It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”


"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."


John 6:40

“For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”


John 11:21–27

“Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”


1 Thessalonians 4:14–18

“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."


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."



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. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. "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."


1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."


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."


Jeremiah 31:33

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”


Deuteronomy 6:5 

“and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”


Deuteronomy 29:3–4 

“the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders; 4 but to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.”


Isaiah 29:13

“And the Lord said: 

“Because this people draw near with their mouth 

and honor me with their lips, 

while their hearts are far from me, 

and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote"


Ezekiel 36:26–27

“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances."


Matthew 6:21 

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”


Luke 8:15

“And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”


Romans 5:5 

“and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”