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The Soul and the Unsound Mind

I was recently involved in a discussion with a Protestant brother belonging to a non-denominational fundamentalist church. As many of you know, I was raised in a Christian home as a pastor's son. I will tell you that I was introduced to and accepted Christ before I can remember. This, however, was insufficient for my friend. He insisted that I must have a "moment" that I can instantly identify where I accepted Christ. According to him, that would be the necessary moment of being born again. For obvious reasons, as a Catholic, I disagreed with him. Besides, my own personal experience was one of faith in Jesus from as far back as I could remember, and even before. And despite his nominal "Scripture alone" position, that particular doctrine is nowhere expressed in Scripture. In point of fact, Christ stated, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter therein." Mark 10:15. A more powerful statement regarding salvation is difficult to find. What else is Christ saying except that it is in our frailty and humility that we receive Christ, not our wisdom and discernment. And who is more frail or weak that a tiny infant? To me, God's grace is very powerful. To be sure, it can be resisted (Calvin was wrong on just about every aspect of "TULIP"). But it is not so weak as to be incapable of reaching infants. Moreover, Paul indicates that the children of believing parents are made holy by their parents' faith. I Cor. 7:14. These two verses are at the core of an infallibly formed doctrine that infants may receive God's grace and salvation unto eternal life. (Oddly enough, it was Evangelical Jonathan Edwards that stated, "Hell is paved with the skulls of unbaptized children...")

Today, I was thinking back to this whole discussion as a visited with family at my mother's house. I sat with my grandmother whose mind was long ago decimated by Alzheimer's, and I wondered about the person who doted on me as a young boy... Where is she, I thought? Was this person in front of me still her? She didn't look like my gramma. Her bottom teeth are missing. Her hair is short and wispy, her body a mere 80 pound shell of its former self. And gone is the gentle advice, the warm words of love, and the deep and abiding affection that once filled her eyes. No longer would she casually disregard my mother's insistence that my brothers and I not be given any sweets with the non-responsive "What kind would you like, boys?" This woman was not the person that I knew.

And yet I know in my mind that the physical person in front of me is the continued being that I have always labeled gramma. So the question was and is, is there anything meaningful left of this woman?

The answer lies in the proper understanding of the person. This understanding, always taught by the Church, is that the whole of a person is made up of both body and soul. The body is comprised of not only the chest, stomach, arms, and legs, but also the mind. So often, people seem to think that our relationship to God is a product of the mind (fundamentalists will object that it is "the heart", but that is really code talk for a deeper committment of the mind). And certainly the mind may play a part in that relationship. So too does the rest of our bodies, as they are temples of the Holy Spirit. But we must also recognize that bodies are in a constant state of flux and are ultimately corruptible. The bodies (including minds) of infants are not fully developed. The bodies of the mentally and physically handicapped are incomplete (not in the destinational sense but in the original design sense). And as with my gramma, the body will ultimately deteriorate to such a degree that it is unrecognizable. So, if our relationship with the Lord depended to any large degree on our bodies, we would be in a great deal of trouble. Salvation could only belong to those between the ages of 10 and 70!

Speaking solely of our mental faculty, the infant, mentally incompetent, and aged are all in the same boat. They lack the capacity for communication. And this is where the idea that infants may not have salvation springs from. It is the somewhat arrogant notion that our salvation depends upon us. And not only us, but our ability to understand and communicate. Of course most people don't extend this notion to the mentally ill/aged, but some do. How terribly unfortunate, but also very typical of the common thought these days.

The Truth is that our worth comes not from our bodies, nor any part of it. In fact, our Savior laid down His body and gave it up to death. He asks us to do the same thing. And this is not so shocking because these bodies are destined for death anyway. Of course, we will have resurrected bodies, but first this flesh must die. So our relationship with God does not depend on our bodies. In reality, it reaches its apex only when we have shed these bodies. And at that stage, all that is left (until united to a new body) is the soul. Therein lies the core of every human being--the soul! And that is what I realized while sitting with my gramma. She may not look the same, sound the same, or think the same as she once did. She may not even be conscious of her own existence. In fact, before too long there will be no life in her old body at all. But there is much more to that woman that a body and mind. There is that breath of God first given to Adam and subsequently given to every one of us at the moment of our conception, the soul. And right now, buried in her decaying and broken body and unsound mind, is a soul that yearns to see Jesus.

My grandmother's soul is not unique in this experience. Every soul possesses this capability. That of the unborn, that of the infant, and that of the mentally ill. Whether every soul accepts Christ in a state of mental and physical incapacity is something that neither I nor indeed the Church has cared to expound upon. The relationship between the depths of the soul and its Creator is a mystery known to God alone. But two things I know. First, that the dignity of the human person has nothing to do with the immaturity or decaying status of the body, but rather exists because of the soul that lives within them. And second, God's salvation and grace are cannot be defeated by any condition of the body and mind.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the presence of the soul of the beautiful woman I have been privileged to call "Gramma". I am also thankful for the reception of the sacraments that my family received this past Sunday: baptism for my four children, Eucharist for me, my wife, and my two oldest, and Confirmation for me and my wife. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers and God bless you.

In Christ,
Dave