There exists the possibility of multiple lifetimes for an individual person to make spiritual advancement. This idea is soundly based on current doctrine, scripture and testimony.
Jesus Christ himself speaks of repeated incarnation (not reincarnation). In Mt 11:14,15 Jesus teaches that John the Baptist is the prophet Elijah come again.
“And if you are willing to accept it, he [prophet John]
is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them
hear”.
Let us recall the human/divine life cycle of a human person.
— It is a Catholic teaching that God creates the human soul himself, and from his own person. God uses selected
attributes of himself (withholding attributes of divinity and eternity), in the creation of a human person. The human body is of course formed indirectly, but even these physical elements have their ultimate origin in God.
These dimensions of Christ become individual human
persons at their creation. At death, a person may rejoin
the body of Christ, to again become a dimension of Christ.
This dimension of Christ may (at Christ’s decision) be given creation again. This is not a human soul
reincarnating, but Christ repeatedly incarnating.
into existence instantaneously. Too often, details which are unknown are assumed, then further assumed over time to be doctrine. This book attempts to offer possibilities for what is currently assumed.
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—The purpose of a human life is to make spiritual advancement, then bring these improved attributes to our reunion with Christ, where we join the entire body of
Christ. Christ, the Son of God, is now the entire body of Christ, of all individuals who share in his very person.
Once we fully and permanently rejoin Christ—the body
of Christ—we are no longer who we were as humans. We
are now Christ, specifically one of many individual beings (not persons), who make up the body of Christ.
Christ is not a collection of human persons, Christ is
one, single, divine person, who is constituted of many
(former) human persons. These individuals are in fact
the many former human persons, who now constitute
the single and divine person of Christ.
—Christ, may at his choice, make original or repeated creation of any of his attributes, including the assembly of attributes who were human persons on earth. This is
not reincarnation, but repeated incarnation of selected attributes. The Catholic Church does allow God to make
repeated creation from his own person, according to his
own decision.
Scripture gives an example of the prophet Jeremiah
existing as a member of the body of Christ, awaiting creation.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before
you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I
appointed you.”, (Jer 1:5).
Jeremiah 1:5 is enormous in the information which may be
extracted from it. Prior to our human incarnation we had existence; we were a dimension of Christ. We were not a human person, but we were an individual being discernible 206
within Christ, and as a member of Christ.154 As a dimension of Christ, our individual life was under the stewardship of Christ, then later under the stewardship of our own person.
As a dimension of Christ how developed were we? Was
Jeremiah fully able to understand his life and mission assigned, and consent to it. At a minimum Jeremiah 1:5 has the prophet existing within Christ as the human prophet he will be, but not yet detached from divinity so as to enter into creation.
The existence of many individual members within the body of Christ in Heaven (before incarnation, or after reunion) 154 John 3:13 tells of Jesus being the first to Heaven. Those members of Christ in Heaven incarnating prior to Jesus would presumably rejoin the body of Christ only after the coming of Jesus, such a limbo of the just occurs in 1Samuel, chapter 28. If some sort of cyclical big bang/big crunch of creation exists, it is possible that lives were lived and returned to Heaven before our current existing cycle of creation, at least one NDE
speaks specifically of this ongoing cycle of creation.
John 3:13 is not really about order of inclusion into Heaven. A close reading of John 3:13, simply says that Jesus Christ alone, has attained Heaven. And so it is, Heaven is the very person of Christ, and we may attain Heaven only as a member of Jesus Christ, who is now the entire body of Christ.
John 3:13 must also be understood within its context, Jesus was speaking to and of humans. Christ desired divine communion with all his creation as part of the original plan. The coming of Jesus Christ was not an emergency rescue operation after sin. Jesus came as planned but first had to remediate sin before communion with humanity. Union with humanity and all of creation was the original and current reason for the human incarnation of Jesus Christ. Christ came as human Jesus, not because of sin, but in spite of sin.
Angels, principalities, thrones and dominions of Heaven (Col 1:16), were likewise always intended for divine communion with Christ their maker. The angels and the Heavenly orders made communion with Christ directly, before the existence of the human Jesus. The proof of this communion is the existence of the devils. Christ attempted communion with the angels but not all made it.
Hell was not a punishment assigned to the bad angels, while the good angels remained as they were. Hell is the failed portion of Christ’s attempt to make communion with all the Heavenly orders.
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is not a matter of a bank of souls. There is one person and one soul in Heaven, and it is the soul and person of Jesus Christ.
Prior to creation, everything and every person had
existence internal to Christ, as divine dimensions of Christ.
From Jeremiah 1:5, we learn that each individual internal to Christ was discernible as an individual dimension of Christ. We do not say that internal to Christ there are many individual human persons, because Christ is one person. Each member
of Christ has a distinct and discernible life within the larger life of Christ.155
Consider that the human Jesus had a human will and intellect; these were distinct from God the Father, but freely operated within the will and intellect of God the Father. Those in Heaven (before creation or after redemption) also have distinct wills and intellects that operate within the will of Christ. Therefore, their acts chosen, constitute an individual life.
The book of Revelation reveals an entire active world of
human and angelic individuals in Heaven. This active world of 155 The Catechism of the Catholic Church states explicitly that we become Christ in at least two paragraphs: (1) CCC 1213, “Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ.”; (2) CCC 795, “…Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself…he and we together are the whole man.” The idea and term “Whole Christ”, occurs at least six times: CCC
795, 796, 797, 1136, 1187, 1188. Christ is now all who constitute the body of Christ: Jesus, Eucharistic bread and wine, humans, angels. Jesus often said, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is upon you.” The kingdom of Heaven was Jesus Christ himself, who spoke the words.
From Mt 25:40 we learn that when we feed, clothe, or show any sort of kindness to the least of people, of the body of Christ, we do these things to Jesus, who is now the entire body of Christ. From Acts 9:4 we learn a similar lesson that any evil done to a member of the body of Christ is done to Jesus, who is now the entire body of Christ.
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individual lives all occurs within the single person and life of Christ. Such an active world is also possible within Christ prior to the creation of persons.
In thinking of Heaven as being the person of Christ, consider that all of creation existed first as thought and will internal to Christ. Every person, tree and atom were first a distinct thought of Christ.
Those humans and angels rejoining Christ, retain all their individual awareness and attributes, but are now individual members of the single divine person of Christ. We do not live alongside Christ in Heaven, but as a member of the person of Christ—the body of Christ.
The purpose of all this creation and reunion is the spiritual advancement of each individual and ultimately of God. Those making moral growth in our world, reunite with Christ bringing new dimensions of love and virtue . God who cannot gain in virtue has found a way to do just that. Spiritual advancement is the reason any person is given created existence.
In the matters of possible future lives and consensual incarnation, near death experiences (NDE’s) are highly instructive. Millions of NDE’s occur each year, with many but not all, proceeding to a visit to Heaven, or a conversation with those of Heaven, or to some sort of spiritual revelation about the workings of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. NDE’s are private revelations, like the apparitions of Mary, and may be considered authentic, upon evaluation by the Church.
The author of this book, also authors “A Catholic Understanding of the Near Death Experience” . The book is available in print or e-book on Amazon.com, or free at
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Relative to our spiritual advancement is the idea of consensual incarnation. This idea has an individual existing within the body of Christ, agreeing to his creation (from Christ), and even having specific goals for his life as a human person.
This would be a situation of Christ asking a dimension of
himself to consent to incarnation. Can a dimension of Christ make a meaningful free decision within the person of Christ?
We recall that Jesus Christ made thousands of free decisions; these were instances of Jesus Christ acting as a free individual within Trinitarian Christ. The current community of persons who make up Christ as the body of Christ did not lose their individual free will, they now exercise it as dimensions of Christ who exist within Christ.
As an individual proceeds from an internal dimension of
Christ to incarnation as a human person, that person is given a mission for his life, (see Jer 1:5). Furthermore, out of justice God obtains our consent to be incarnated. Our human free will begins with our consent to become free humans.156 If we are 156 This is essential y Christ asking one of his dimensions if it wants to enter into the realm of creation. Can a dimension of Christ give a meaningful free answer? Consider that Jesus was a dimension of Christ, extended into creation. The divine will of Jesus was a subset of the divine will of Christ, the Son of God. Jesus freely acted within the boundaries of the will of the Son of God. Yet Jesus was free to drink the cup of suffering or to do not. This was a matter of a member of Christ acting morally free within Christ.
When considering these mystical possibilities, which stretch our current doctrine, we should consider how mystical our standard dogma is: God became a man; we are called to share in the very divinity of God (CCC
398); matter, spirit and time exists in whatever form God chooses, etc. We recall also, that what we do not yet understand is far greater than what we do understood. It is not so much that additional future revelation is expected; it is a matter of our current understanding of Heavenly matters being enlarged. We simply do not have complete knowledge of existing Divine and Heavenly matters.
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to make truly free acts in our life, we must be free first in choosing life.
The idea of consent for incarnation is largely new, but it fits the human model much better than the unsupported idea that we are incarnated without any consent. God’s own ideal
of human free will demands our consent. The idea of non-consensual incarnation is a prevailing, vague, unstudied and unsupported teaching, and it must go.
“If you are given life, it is because you need it.”, these were the words of Virgin Mary to Frenchwoman Estelle Faguette, who was terminally ill. Virgin Mary went on to explain that mastering the challenges of life, and the merit it brings is the reason anyone is given life by God.
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In this chapter on possible future events in spiritual advancement, most will require some sort of divine
confirmation to become doctrine. The idea that Virgin Mary is the “Immaculate Incarnation” (prior chapter), might be confirmed by some future Marian apparition.
To say that any of these possibilities are impossible is nearly heresy…because “with God all things are possible”. Nor can they be considered current reality, simply because they are possible. The author believes that at some point, they will be declared, “worthy of belief”.
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Appendices:
(1) Spirit, (2) Christology; (3) Didache
A p p e n d i x: S p i r i t
The topic of spirit should be dealt with before most other topics, since spirit is the “mechanism” as created by God by which creation operates. Events in creation are not a consequence of God pulling strings from Heaven, they are a consequence of humanity pushing levers on earth. These interconnecting levers are spirit: respect, moderation, reverence, love, hate. Just like matter, spirit is a creation of God. God is not a creation of the spirit world; rather, God creates and what he creates is first of all, spirit.
Spirit is intangible but as real as matter; and it has real
effect. Spirit is immaterial being. Being is anything that
exists: a rock, an idea, energy, emotion, logic, a person.
Patience, respect, hate, reverence, morality, memory, free
will are all spirit, and all have real effect in our world. Spirit
is the underlying framework of all creation, and corruption of
the willed moral virtues degrades the operation of all