Half past 10 pm, my eyes were closing as I was struggling to stay up to finish my work. The solution as always: cold drinks, with the tv on, Lifetime Channel on the background even no one’s really watching. Our family-favorite reality program, MasterChef Australia would be the next show.
Unfortunately, I still had to put up with the most boring ever program called “The Ghost Inside My Child” for 30 minutes more. For every episode, they feature 2 children who claim to have “vivid memories and recollections” as another person of their “previous life.” Either from as early as they were babies, or as small children, these “memories” cause them to have severe anxieties. To be blunt about it, the children have out-of-this world weirdness in their physical looks and manners. And they constantly bug and creep out their parents by insisting they are still that “person” they were before. Night terrors and breakdown are common to them as they still have their “past life’s concerns.” They continuously recall and relive their “death” in the past life. Like any “good” parent would do, they’d reinforce their children’s belief by tracing that “person” from their former life! And voila, that person they said they were actually existed with the correct spicy details of his life! It lives up to its title for it seems the “ghost” of that person in the past life possesses their children inside in this current life!
Many children from the documentary even tell their parents that they remember being a wandering soul, until they saw their mother, and picked her in particular to be their parent, saying, “I chose you!” Up to now, I still hear parents here say to their small children, “You were a soul and you chose me for us to me your mom and dad!” having a hard time to answer the littlies where babies come from.
Just watching it would intrigue you though. With the freaky accuracies of their claims, you might even ask yourself, “What if I had a past life/lives?” That program almost bored me to death that I thought I would line up to choose my next life and this time, I’d make it sure I would live as the most famous dancer (a.k.a. the new Maddie Ziegler) of the generation!
But before you even immerse yourself with those fantasies like I was about to have that time, whether being the “It” celebrities in the next year, the next decade, or the next century, or whoever your fancy is, let’s bring our thoughts back to this life we’re now at, and view this from the only reality we’ve ever known… God, and His Catholic Church.
It’s interesting that the goal of life is stated in the Prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Life of Man – To Know and Love God. And in the United States, there is an official national Catechism for children, “A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Prepared and Enjoined by Order of the Third Council of Baltimore,” or simply the Baltimore Catechism, says that the goal of life here on earth is:
“To know, love, and serve God in this life, so that we can be happy with Him in Heaven.”
Did it ever say “… and in your next lives to come?” No! Or did it mention, “… so that you can pay dues for your deeds and karma from your past life?” Never! The Catechism DIDN’T even say “The Goal of LIVES of Man.”
As a starter for definition, from the Latin word that literally means “entering the flesh again,” reincarnation is a belief of the rebirth of a soul in a new body, whether another human or animal body, or even a plant. It means that a soul, after death, can move on from one physical body to another. When one dies, the body of the person decomposes, but the soul, or consciousness is reborn on another body.
I’m certain you’ve watched local talk shows that have “ghosthunters,” “psychics,” “mediums,” “parapsychologists,” as guests who claim they assist “ghosts” of dead people to “crossover” where they would be staying until they get “reincarnated.” Some people get so desperate with their present problem, that if they can’t solve it with their life, they look elsewhere and consult these psychics for “Past Life Regression.” They reckon that since their problems have no explanations and can’t be solved by practical means, it must be their past life and lives that is to blame. By regressing the “root cause” which is the past life, they might be able to find answers.
Ghosthuntings, Mediumship, Past Life Regression services are of the occult and are performed by occultists. They are all lies. Practicing them and believing in them is against the first commandment, “Love God above all.”
Reincarnation, which is mainly of Buddhist, Hindu, and other pagan religions or philosophies, says that a person lives multiple lives and deaths, and depending on what occult religion is talking, the reason to be reincarnated is for the person to achieve “perfection” as he lives many lives (even it takes a thousand times), and “to pay for his karmas in the past lives” until he no longer returns. The person would then live a new life from “higher” to “lower” life forms, from the richest man in the world, to a mosquito, deserving reward and punishment. It is implied then that your current life, who you are now, is a reflection of your deeds in your past life. Fundamentally, it sees your soul as recycled!
But our Catechism is clear that there is no such thing as past life or being reborn for a next life:
CCC 1013
Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When “the single course of our earthly life” is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: “It is appointed for men to die once.” There is no “reincarnation” after death. Once he is “perfected” or “purified,” he is freed from his body, which is seen as a “prison.”
That Catechism teaching is quoted from the Bible verse, “Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
Right after death, a person’s soul goes either to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory:
CCC 1022
“Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of Heaven– through purification or immediately, – or immediate and everlasting damnation”
What then are those claims of reincarnation by those children, and visions from Past-Life Regressions?
They are nothing but deceit of the Devil, evil spirits or demons. It is both too dangerous, physically and spiritually, to consult a psychic about past life or to be hypnotized for you to see a “past life”. Because if you do so, your psychic abilities would be open, and it would serve as a doorway for demons for extraordinary demonic attacks on you: Possession, Oppression, Obsession, and Infestation (Catholic Handbook on Deliverance Prayers). Those children I watched had this unusual glaze in their eyes, which according to Catholic exorcists, is a symptom of a person possessed by demons. And they don’t act and behave like normal children do. “Disturbed” is a suitable word to describe them. They do seem like there’s a ghost inside them. But we all know that these “ghosts” are evil spirits attaching, or possessing them at worst. Trust me on this that it is very hard to remove these spirits and their effects on every aspect of your being. Basically, these demons or evil spirits can ruin your life. They are not metaphors. Demons are bad spirits or fallen angels that exist.
And for those parents who tell your children that they were once a soul who chose you in particular to be their own parents, please stop to do so. There’s no truth in any of it. It sounds like a tale, and might be entertaining for kids, but you confuse them from the true teachings for us Catholics. It is God alone who can choose who the parents of the children would be. There is no pre-existence on human souls. Soul is created by God only at the moment of conception:
CCC 366
The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God (at the point of conception) – it is not “produced” by the parents – and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.
There is only one that eternally existed, has neither beginning nor end, and has existed even before all the Creation and time exist, and that is Jesus.
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
Our souls as humans are implanted to our body to create “life” temporarily. Jesus, on the other hand, was not a spiritual soul who “needed” a body to live. As Saint John says, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) The Word “became flesh” means that in the person of Jesus became a permanent union of humanity and divinity. Jesus then was “incarnated.” But Jesus was not “reincarnated.”
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The Body of the Risen Christ was the same body He had that suffered through Crucifixion. Philosophically, reincarnation is impossible. The soul gives the form to the body, not the other way around. If you are reborn in another body, then it is not “You” anymore. Since it’s the same “He” when Jesus resurrected, His Body came back to life with His Soul. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI describes the “I” is in his book “Eschatology,” that it is impossible for a human soul to animate a body from a completely different set of parents.
How is the Resurrection of Jesus related to us?
The Resurrection of Jesus mirrors our destiny. At this time, those who have died have gone on either to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory without their bodies. But on the Final Judgment, just as the Apostles Creed that we recite, “I believe in… the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting,” the soul of EVERY person that ever lived in history would be resurrected and be united again with their bodies (not reincarnated), and then would be judged whether they are spending the eternity in Heaven or Hell (There is no Purgatory anymore. By then, all the souls who spent their time in there are all perfectly “purified” so they can all go to Heaven.).
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
– Romans 6:5
He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.
– Philippians 3:21
What Jesus said to the good thief who was crucified beside Him is another thief that there is no such thing as reincarnation:
He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
– Luke 23:43
Jesus did not say “You’d be reborn in a new body and be with me in the next life.”
Some people who believe in reincarnation say that it’s alright to commit many evil things, including immoralities and sins of the flesh, because they don’t consider that there is a God who would punish them for eternity. They argue that whatever the consequence of their sinful actions is, it would be their next life that would “take care of it.” The Roman Catholic Church condemns “Reincarnation.” So there is not any reason for you to consider it. My brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t fall into these traps. Be reminded that our life is not never-ending in the world, neither we’d be reborn to have a do-over. Reincarnation might give us fun in fantasizing having immortal earthly lives, but it is absolutely not real. God is merciful, but He would also deliver perfect justice for everybody in the end. His mercy would depend on what we do while we’re alive. But we’d only be able to present God on the Day of Judgment the actions we did when we were still alive. We die ONCE and it’s over for us. There’s nothing we can do to save our souls after death. While we’re alive, we must try to make things right. Remember, we’ve got one life to live.
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
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