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Although we are distinguishable by our very different personalities, as were for instance Peter, or John, or Thomas, or Matthew, yet we are merged as it were in a single body in Christ by feeding on his unifying body.
- Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on
John
(How do you feed on the unifying body of Christ? How does this help you to accept and love other people?)
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PHIL 2:1-4; PS 131:1BCDE, 2, 3; LK 14:12-14
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned
child.
Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap,
so is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
USCCB lectionary
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"Make my joy complete by your unanimity, possessing the one love, united in spirit and ideals." –Philippians 2:2
To be united in marriage, family, and church, we must be of one mind (Acts 4:32; Phil 2:2 in the Greek). We all instinctively realize this, so we try to change others' minds to make them like ours. This doesn't work. In fact, when we realize that someone is trying to change our minds, we often rebel and become even more disunited.
There is one way by which we can be of one mind. We can agree to change our minds and "have this mind" among ourselves "which was in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5, RSV-CE). If you and I are of one mind with Christ, we are of one mind with each other. We are united in Christ.
When we are of one mind with Christ and other Christians, we, like Christ, come to serve rather than to be served (Mt 20:28). We look "to others' interests rather than" our own (Phil 2:4). This deepens our unity with Christ and others. As we discover the depths of love in the mind of Christ, we become one as the Holy Trinity is one (see Jn
17:21).
PRAYER: Father, I will mind You.
PROMISE: "You will be repaid in the resurrection of the just." –Lk
14:14
PRAISE: St. Martin de Porres persevered in his ministry as a caretaker and janitor in the monastery, all the while performing many healings and miracles.
mycatholic.com
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A
Christian Understanding of the Soul, by Philip St. Romain - from Caring for the Self, Caring for the Soul
2. Characteristics: Simplicity and
Immortality
The human soul is a spiritual reality oriented toward animating matter to form a body. With other pure spirits, it shares these-characteristics:
a. Simplicity. The soul is one indivisible whole with no parts. It contains the physical body, which it inform to the
smallest atom to make the body live. It also contains faculties of reason, will, memory, and so forth; but these are not divisions of the soul--only faculties to enable its operations.
b. Immortality. In a predominant philosophical tradition (scholasticism) it is held that other life forms have a vegetative soul (plant life, animal physiology) and/or animal soul (life of the senses,
instinctive reactions). These souls are perishable. The spiritual soul of a human being CONTAINS the vegetative and animal souls and is responsible for their existence and functioning. At death, however, the vegetative and animal levels cease to exist in a human being, since they are fundamentally oriented to the life of the physical body, which is left behind at death.
Pdf eBook
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