Questions About My Soul

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My wife and I saw (on EWTN – Fr. Groschel, I think) a brief reading from Sr. Faustina’s diary. She described Jesus (or maybe God or the Holy Spirit) conversing with the soul of a recently deceased person. Jesus ask the soul several times if it wanted to join Him in Heaven. Each time the soul refused, one time “wrapping itself in darkness.”

My wife then ask, “How can I make sure my soul does what I want it to do?” Since then I’ve been wondering what/who my soul is and how it’s different from me.

When I die I will hopefully be ask the same thing by Jesus. Assuming I’m worthy, will “I” be ask or will “my soul” be ask? What’s the difference? How can I make sure my soul doesn’t decide to wrap us in darkness?

Thanks in advance for helping a new candidate.
 
Hello Ramalama.
Ramalama said:
My wife and I saw (on EWTN – Fr. Groschel, I think) a brief reading from Sr. Faustina’s diary. She described Jesus (or maybe God or the Holy Spirit) conversing with the soul of a recently deceased person. Jesus ask the soul several times if it wanted to join Him in Heaven. Each time the soul refused, one time “wrapping itself in darkness.”
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I sounds a bit strange to me. If the soul was in Heaven or Hell, Jesus wouldn’t have asked this question. So it must have been in Purgatory. The Lord, I imagine, was expecting the soul to appeal to His mercy but felt unable to do so due to the sins on its soul. Only the perfectly pure can enter Heaven.
Ramalama said:
My wife then ask, “How can I make sure my soul does what I want it to do?” Since then I’ve been wondering what/who my soul is and how it’s different from me.

When I die I will hopefully be ask the same thing by Jesus. Assuming I’m worthy, will “I” be ask or will “my soul” be ask? What’s the difference? How can I make sure my soul doesn’t decide to wrap us in darkness?
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I’d be surprised if we were asked to go to Heaven but rather I expect we would have to wait until we’ve paid the penalty of our sins. In Purgatory, we would have no body, so only the soul could be asked this question.

God bless,
Noel.
 
Remember that what St. Faustina is seeing may not be what the soul is seeing. Christ comes to us often not in the form of his glorious self saying “I am Christ, worship and adore me.” Rather they must know his voice such as Mary Magdalene when Jesus spoke her name or the disciples at the breaking of the bread on the road to Emaus. He is the shepherd; his sheep know his voice. This soul was not part of his flock, did not recognize his voice and turned away from him. St. Faustina knew Christ and therefore saw it was him while this soul did not see Christ possibly. Therefore, people who remian in his love by being obedient to his commandments and in a state of grace will desire union with him and recognize him. This soul might not have loved the commandments of the Christ and therefore did not desire union with Christ. I cannot say exactly, but when looking at revelations of the mystics, we do not know the whole picture (even the mystic will admit they do not fully understand), and so its hard to specifically say, but the above is my two cents on the matter.
 
I found the reading at this site:

our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/book5/

Here it is . . .

Conversation of the Merciful God with a Despairing Soul.

Jesus: O soul steeped in darkness, do not despair. All is not yet lost. Come and confide in your God, who is love and mercy.

But the soul, deaf even to this appeal, wraps itself in darkness.

Jesus calls out again: My child, listen to the voice of your merciful Father.

In the soul arises this reply, “For me there is no mercy,” and it falls into greater darkness, a despair which is a foretaste of hell and makes it unable to draw near to God.

Jesus calls to the souls a third time, but the soul remains deaf and blind, hardened and despairing. Then the mercy of God begins to exert itself, and, without any co-operation from the soul, God grants it final grace. If this too is spurned, God will leave the soul in this self chosen disposition for eternity. This grace emerges from the merciful Heart of Jesus and gives the soul a special light by means of which the soul begins to understand God’s effort; but conversion depends on its own will. The soul knows that this, for her, is final grace and, should it show even a flicker of good will, the mercy of God will accomplish the rest.

The question still stands, how do I make sure my soul does what I want it to do?
 
Um… you can’t have your soul “do what you want it to do”, it’s not separate from you like that. What I would do in your case is to just lead a life that would keep you faithful to God so that you won’t back away from Jesus at the end of your life.
 
I concur with Nevarlander, the soul is the agent of the will since the body; a physical entity, is governed by immutable laws of science (except at times when God decides otherwise), and information it senses and is able to bring together in intelligence informs the Will so that it can act. Your soul is at work when it freely chooses to do something, like read stuff now. To see your soul as seperate is dualism; a heresy. You are a ensouled body, or an angimal as Christopher West calls it (angel and animal).
 
Ramalama said:
I found the reading at this site:

our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/book5/

Here it is . . .

Conversation of the Merciful God with a Despairing Soul.

Jesus: O soul steeped in darkness, do not despair. All is not yet lost. Come and confide in your God, who is love and mercy.

But the soul, deaf even to this appeal, wraps itself in darkness.

Jesus calls out again: My child, listen to the voice of your merciful Father.

In the soul arises this reply, “For me there is no mercy,” and it falls into greater darkness, a despair which is a foretaste of hell and makes it unable to draw near to God.

Jesus calls to the souls a third time, but the soul remains deaf and blind, hardened and despairing. Then the mercy of God begins to exert itself, and, without any co-operation from the soul, God grants it final grace. If this too is spurned, God will leave the soul in this self chosen disposition for eternity. This grace emerges from the merciful Heart of Jesus and gives the soul a special light by means of which the soul begins to understand God’s effort; but conversion depends on its own will. The soul knows that this, for her, is final grace and, should it show even a flicker of good will, the mercy of God will accomplish the rest.

The question still stands, how do I make sure my soul does what I want it to do?
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Ramalama, in your OP you said that this was a conversation with the soul of a dead person. How do you know he/she was dead? I reckon this is an example of what might happen between the soul of a person and Jesus at the hour of death.

Noel.
 
nkelly said:
Ramalama, in your OP you said that this was a conversation with the soul of a dead person. How do you know he/she was dead? I reckon this is an example of what might happen between the soul of a person and Jesus at the hour of death.

Noel.
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That was just what I thought, Noel. I’m new – I get mixed up a lot! :o
 
Ramalama said:
That was just what I thought, Noel. I’m new – I get mixed up a lot! :o
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OK 🙂
My advice would always to be ready for death because you never know the hour nor the day as the bible frequently advises us. I think some people live under the illusion that they can lead a sinful life and confess just before they die. This is a crazy way to live. We must try always to do the will of God and persevere to the very end. A person dying in a state of grace will be saved, otherwise it’s “curtains”.

God bless,
Noel.
 
Hi Ramalama,

If you have a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, check out paragraph #362-368. It’s online here if you don’t have the Catechism. (Just scroll down to #362.)

vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1B.HTM

Here’s the definition given in the glossary in the back of the Catechism:

Soul: The spiritual principle of human beings. The soul is the subject of human consciousness and freedom; soul and body together form one unique human nature. Each human soul is individual and immortal, immediately created by God. The soul does not die with the body, from which it is separated by death, and with which it sill be reunited in the final resurrection.

Nita
 
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