The Immortal Soul

Qui enim bono adhaeret, assumit inde quod bonum est; quia scriptum est: Cum sancto sanctus eris et cum electo electus eris, et cum perverso perversus eris, et cum innocente innocens eris: assiduitate enim atque imitatione quaedam similitudinis imago formatur. Ideoque addidit: Quoniam tu illuminas lucernam meam, Domine. Etenim qui appropinquat lumini, citius illuminatur, et plus in eo splendor aeterni luminis refulget e proximo. Ergo anima quae adhaeret illi invisibili bono Deo, atque immortali, et ipsa corporea haec fugit, et terrena, et mortalia derelinquit, fitque illius similis quod desiderat, in quo vivit et pascitur; et quia immortali intendit, non est ipsa mortalis. Quae enim peccat, moritur; non utique aliqua sui dissolutione, sed merito moritur Deo, quia vivit peccato. Ergo quae non peccat, non moritur; quia manet in substantia sui, manet in virtute et gloria. Nam quomodo substantia ejus interire potest, cum utique anima sit quae vitam infundit? Et cui anima infunditur, vita infunditur: a quo anima discedit, vita discedit. Anima ergo vita est. Quomodo enim potest mortem recipere, cum sit contraria? Sicut enim nix calorem non recipit, nam statim solvitur: et lux non recipit tenebras, nam statim discutit (infuso enim lumine, tenebrarum horror aufertur, sicut admoto igne, nivium rigor desinit), ita et anima quae vitam creat, mortem non recipit, et non moritur: anima autem mortem non recipit; anima ergo non moritur. Habemus ergo rationem, sed haec humana: illuddivinum, quod ait Dominus: Potestatem habeo ponendi animam meam; et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam. Vides igitur quia non moritur cum corpore, quae et ponitur et resumitur, et in manus Dei Patris commendatur. Sed forte dicas speciale esse quod Christi est, et quamvis ille quae sunt hominis susceperit, tamen quia alterius est causae et istud astruere, ne tempus teramus, audi dicentem: Quid scis an nocte hac a te tua anima reposcatur? Numquid dixit: Moriatur in te anima tua? Non; sed, reposcatur a te. Quae data est, reposcitur, vel repetunt a te. Repetitur enim anima, non interimitur. Quae repetitur, manet: quae interimitur, non manet. Quomodo enim interimitur, de qua dixit Sapientia Dei, non timendum quemquam qui potest corpus occidere, animam autem non potest? De qua dicit propheta: Anima mea in manibus tuis semper. Semper, inquit, non in tempore. Et tu commenda animam tuam in manus Domini: non solum cum recedit e corpore, sed etiam cum est in corpore, est in manibus Domini; quia non vides eam unde veniat, aut quo vadat. Est enim in te, et est cum Deo. Denique cor regis in manu Domini, et ab eo regitur et gubernatur. Cor repletur mente, quia mens animae principale est, et virtus animae. Non eam virtutem dico quae in lacertis, sed quae in consiliis, temperantia, pietate, atque justitia est. Si cor hominis in manu Domini, multo magis anima. Si anima in manu Dei est, non utique anima nostra sepulcro simul cum corpore includitur, nec busto tenetur: sed quiete pia fungitur. Et ideo homines frustra pretiosa struunt sepulcra, quasi eae animae, et non solius corporis receptacula sint. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Bono Mortis, Cap IX-X Source: Migne PL 14.559a-560b

He who adheres to the good takes up from there what is good, because it is written: 'With the holy you shall be holy and with the elect you shall be elect, and with the perverse you shall be perverse and with the innocent you shall be innocent.' 1 for the image is formed by a certain persistent imitation of likeness. Therefore it continues: 'Because you enlighten my lamp, O Lord.' 2 For he who comes near the light is swiftly enlightened and the splendor of the eternal light shines more in him who is nearer. Therefore the soul which adheres to the invisible and good and immortal God, flees things material and earthly, and forsakes mortality, becoming a likeness of what it desires, in which it lives and has sustenance, and because it is directed to immortality, it is not itself mortal. For that which sins dies, not that it dissolves itself but rightly it dies to God, because it lives in sin. Therefore that which does not sin, does not die, because it remains in His substance, standing in virtue and glory. For how is this substance able to perish, when the soul is that which bestows life and to whom the soul enters life enters, and from whom the soul departs, life departs. Thus the soul is life. For how is that able to entertain death which is its opposite? For as snow does not receive heat but instantly dissolves and light does not receive darkness but immediately expels it, since infused with light the terror of darkness is driven away, as by the activity of fire, the coldness of snow disappears, thus even the soul which creates life, does not receive death and does not die, and the soul not receiving death is a soul that does not die. Thus we have reason but it is human, this is Divine, which the Lord said: 'I have power to place down my soul and I have the power to take it up again.'3 You see, then, that that does not die with the body which He places down and takes up, and into the hand of God the Father he commends it. But perhaps you say this is a special thing of Christ, and He only may take up that which is of men, however the truth is otherwise and to confirm it, that time does not destroy it, hear it said: 'Who knows whether this night your soul shall be demanded from you? 4 Did he say, 'Your soul shall die in you? No, but that it shall be demanded from you. That which has been given may be demanded back or recalled. For the soul is called back, it is not destroyed. That which is called back persists, that which is destroyed does not. And how shall it be destroyed, concerning which the wisdom of God says that one should not fear him who is able to kill the body and not the soul? 5 Concerning which the Prophet says, 'My soul is in your hands always.' 6 Always, he says, not for a certain time. And you should commend your soul into the hands of the Lord, not only when it departs from the body, for even when it is in the body it is in the hands of the Lord, because you do not see whence is comes nor where it goes. It is in you and it is with God. Therefore 'the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord,' 7 and by him it is ruled and directed. The heart is full with the mind because the mind is the principle of the soul, and the power of the soul. I do not speak of the power which is in the muscles but that virtue which is in counsel and temperance and piety and righteousness. If the heart of a man is in the hands of the Lord, much more is the soul. If the soul is the hands of God, it is not enclosed in the tomb with the body, nor held by coffin, but with simple piety it is discharged. And therefore in vain men raise precious tombs, as if they are resting places not only of the body but of the soul. Saint Ambrose, On the Good of Death, Chap. 9-10 1 Ps 17.26-27 2 Ps 17.29 3 Jn 10.18 4 Lk 12.20 5 Mt 10.28 6 Ps 118.109 7 Prov 21.1