We learned about souls in the first or second grade, not long after we learned about God. Maybe it was part of getting ready for our first confession. Preparing…that’s what they called it…preparing for our first confession.
There’s a soul in us, they said, in the middle of us, and it wasn’t our heart. Other than that, they were fuzzy on the details. They didn’t tell us how it looked, like they might if it was an arm or leg, or even a stomach or brain. What I do remember was that we are born with a clean soul. Before you got old enough to sin, your soul is clean. Perfectly clean.
Then you sin, and it’s not so clean. If you sin a lot, if you commit a mortal sin, or even multiple mortal sins, your soul turns. Then, if you go to confession, and say your penance, it gets washed clean again.
Back then, I pictured the soul like a circle. It wasn’t in my heart, and it wasn’t in my head, but somewhere else inside me. It was a very nuanced part of our being, although I knew nothing of nuance and I had a very mixed up idea of what it was to be a being. So I pictured the soul like what I would describe now as a pie chart. If you’ve been good, you have a nice clean circle, and if you’ve been bad, well, you can picture that pie chart.
etikser 
That is such a sensible image for the soul. And the pie slices also works well for sins or no sins.
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Thanks. Young or old, I think we often enough wonder about the soul.
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Love this. 💘
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Thanks so much.
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I wonder about soul too. Lovely writing 💕
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Thank you so much. That’s so very kind of you.
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I like the pie chart concept. I try to imagine a lifetime chart with the shadings of good vs bad deeds. Oh, boy!
Art
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haha. Honestly, I think the soul is something like the best part of us.
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This brings back memories. I remember the idea of a clean soul.
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This memory goes way back for me. When we were that young, we didn’t often ask questions either. We would sit there and try to make sense out of what this grown-up was telling us.
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Yes, exactly! Looking back later, it can be funny or sad.
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Yes.
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