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118. The Production of Man's Soul

1. Plant-souls and animal-souls, after first creation,come into existence by generation; they are propagated with theliving bodies they animate.

2. The human soul, being rational, is a spirit; it cannotbe generated; it cannot come from matter, which is a thing inferiorto itself. It cannot originate except by the direct creative act ofGod in each instance.

3. The human soul does not exist before its body. By onesingle act of creation God produces the soul and joins it withmatter, and the soul constitutes this matter as a living humanbeing. The human body is generated by parents, but it is made aliving human being by the soul which God creates, and, by an actindivisible from creation, joins to matter within the body of thehuman mother.

"The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God."
Thomas á Kempis

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"It is well to choose some one good devotion, and to stick to it, and never to abandon it."
St Philip Neri

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