Thank you for your responses, but now I’m a little confused.
I always considered the soul to be inhabiting the human body, animating it. But Dr. Peter Kreeft in his commentary says that’s a heresy. However, is this the official position of the Church? I wouldn’t take Dr. Kreeft’s words as the final say since he’s not the Magisterium.
In 1311, the Council of Vienne defined as a matter of faith that the rational soul is the form of the body.
Also, how is it explained when people are born into a wrong gendered body, if the soul is not separate from the human body? For example, what if one’s soul is male, but what if that person was born as a female and knew he was in the wrong type of body? This and a lot of other things (such as the body being dead but the soul being in Heaven, such as with every Saint except Mary) make no sense if the soul and body are one and the same, but it makes sense if the soul is a separate entity from the human body.
As regards “people are born into a wrong gendered body”: I suppose that you are referring to what psychologists call gender identity disorder. This seems like a psychological disorder to me, not a case of God being cruel by putting a woman into a man’s body. (Just saying it sounds absurd to me.)
As regards death: death is the separation of the soul and the body. This is not the natural conditions of our souls, which exist as the principle of our bodies; so at the Resurrection the two will be rejoined. Mary, conceived as she was without sin and therefore not subject to the penalties of original sin, was permitted by God when she died not to suffer this separation.
But what’s the point of the glorified bodies having genitalia if there is no marriage (and by extension, sex) in heaven?
The answer of Thomas Aquinas: “The other members
that is, parts of the human body, including genitals] belong more to the truth of human nature than hair and nails. Yet these will be restored to man at the resurrection according to the text.
It is written (Luke 21:18): ‘A hair of your head shall not perish.’] Much more therefore does this apply to the other members. Further, ‘The works of God are perfect’ (Deuteronomy 32:4). But the resurrection will be the work of God. Therefore man will be remade perfect in all his members.”
Since you like Kreeft, have you read his essay
Is There Sex in Heaven? He says there: “As we have seen, sexuality, like race and unlike clothes, is an essential aspect of our identity, spiritual as well as physical. Even if sex were not spiritual, there would be sex
the word ‘sex’ here refers to what you call gender, not sexual intercourse] in Heaven because of the resurrection of the body. The body is not a mistake to be unmade or a prison cell to be freed from, but a divine work of art designed to show forth the soul as the soul is to show forth God, in splendor and glory and overflow of generous superfluity.”
:thumbsup:excellent explanation.
I’m surprised by all the answers that our souls have a sexual identity. I have always understood gender to be a purely biological attribute, for procreation and such. I assumed that the soul would have no gender because the soul is spiritual, not biological. I thought God created people male and female in accordance with other animals and to serve higher purposes in this earthly life. Because there will be no marriage in heaven, I thought perfect bodies would have no gender, because with no marriage or procreation it would be meaningless.