The Nature of Spirits, Souls, and Spiritual Souls
Atheists Pg > Atheists Bible Challenge
Divine & Natural Light: The Nature of Pure Spirits, non-Human Souls, and Spiritual (Rational) Souls
By Stephen Michael Leininger
Published: 09/30/2026
STOSS Books
Table of Contents
§1—Introduction
It is important for the Church and, for that matter, any religion that professes the existence of God, to have the proper understanding of the various types of souls. That is why much of this article will deal with biology, biochemistry, and, because of an increasingly atheistic/materialistic view of the human body/soul composite, the origin/evolution of man.
Materialistic evolution, i.e., Darwinism and neo-Darwinism, is a theologically dangerous, atheism-driven hypothesis promoting a strictly materialistic origin of species. It began in earnest around 1859 with the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Because Darwin could not explain how heredity worked or how new heritable variation arose, Darwinism eventually evolved into neo-Darwinism, which posits random genetic mutations together with natural selection as the mechanisms by which new species arise.
From a religious, biblical, and philosophical standpoint, this hypothesis has further evolved into, among others, Thomistic Evolution (TE), which is nothing more than an attempt to force-fit materialistic evolution into the Church’s theological teachings. In an article published in 2018, Nicanor Austriaco (both priest and biologist), one of the founders of the so-called Thomistic Evolution movement, wrote:
For many contemporary Christian theologians, evolutionary biology rules out any account of an Adam and Eve that would explain the origin of our species. In response, I propose . . . there are sound and robust reasons to think that human beings share an intrinsic essence that puts them into a natural kind. I also propose that our natural kind can be defined by our developmental capacity for language, which I suggest is needed for abstract thinking. Thus, it is still reasonable to trace the origins of our natural kind to an original individual.[1]
In other words, TE teaches that Adam and Eve were not created as Genesis 1-2 literally describes. Instead, they descended from an earlier hominin ancestor. The Foundation funding TE’s hypothesis did not support a hermeneutic that interpreted Genesis 2 as Eve being created from Adam’s rib. More colloquially, they were born, not made.
TE “[R]eceived a grant from the Evolution and Christian Faith (ECF) Program of the BioLogos Foundation [BioLogos pushes, including by funding those teaching it, the belief that Adam and Eve were descendants hominins], a multi-million dollar grants program sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.” They used grant funds to promote their biblical exegesis in Catholic schools, including by distributing free books to seminarians.
Unlike microevolution, i.e., epigenetic plasticity, the main proponents of macroevolution, i.e., sepeciation, have largely been atheists/materialists. While I do not claim that atheistic proponents of material evolution are evil, I believe that because of the a priori bias, they have, nevertheless, rendered themselves prey to Satan’s lies. In 1884, Pope Leo XIII reportedly had a remarkable audible vision. In it, Satan boasted that he could destroy God’s Church in 100-120 years. Some believe the period began in 1899, when Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[2]
Darwinism succeeded for over a century largely because the biological and cosmological sciences had not yet advanced enough to mount a solid defense against the half-truths propagated at the time. Satan uses partial truths to trick people into sinning. He began at the very beginning with Eve, telling her she would surely not die if she ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The half truth—she would not die. The full truth—her spiritual soul died, lost eternal life, immediately, but her body died much later.
Scientific arguments in several recent books present credible and numerous reasons why neo-Darwinism is slowly but steadily dying a slow and painful (for its proponents) death and losing scientists who once supported it.[3]
Why did Satan choose the dawn of the twentieth century to make his final thrust against Christ and his Church? I believe there are three main reasons among many others, each enabled by the evil use of science.
[1] The First Reason was the introduction of godless material evolution, as proposed by Darwin in 1859, only ten years after Marx and Engels wrote the atheistic Communist Manifesto. Was this important for neo-Darwinism?Paul Kengor tells us, “Engels again gave the eulogy [of Marx], invoking not God but Darwin, whom Marx had admired for dealing such a grand blow for materialism and atheism.”[4]
Furthermore, Kengor also writes:
Trotsky found his gods in Marx and Darwin. “Darwin destroyed the last of my ideological prejudices,” he triumphed. He said the “facts” about the world and life and its origins were established for him via this “certain system” of evolutionary theory. “The idea of evolution and determinism,” he wrote, “took possession of me completely. Darwin stood for me like a mighty doorkeeper at the entrance to the temple of the universe. I was intoxicated with his . . . thought.” Trotsky historian Barry Lee Woolley explained, “Trotsky took up the faith of Marx and Darwin. The conversion experience was genuine and thorough.”[5] The feeling was mutual for Trotsky’s atheist followers, who, as Woolley put it, “adored him as a god.”[6]
[2] The Second Reason is intricately intertwined with the inspired, biased scientific atheism of Darwin, Marx, and Engels. Specifically, the development, later aided by science, of artificial birth control (ABC). The pebble that started the snowball of ABC began in 1880, when Julius Schmid invented condoms, and was followed by Margaret Sanger and Kathryn McCormick, who, in 1898 and 1906, respectively, developed a strong desire to develop a means to prevent pregnancy. How does God view intentional/inherent fruitlessness? See here.[3] The Third Reason was the political ascendancy of Marxist/Communist/Socialist[7] revolutions taking root at the very beginning of the twentieth century. The Blessed Virgin Mary specifically warned us of this in 1917. Obviously, the world did not heed her warning and, to this day, still does not heed her warning or the solution she provided. We are foolish, ignorant, prideful, easily misled, disobedient, and lustful people.
The political power of Socialist/Communist governments led to the persecution of any scientist who did not support atheistic Darwinism. The level of persecution was horrendous.[8] By intimidating scientists, they could muzzle the truth. Socialism, which inevitably leads to Communism unless it dies early because it doesn’t take long to die, is also atheistic. Nazi Germany was a Socialist nation. The word “Nazi” is actually an acronym for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.[9] They, too, persecuted scientists for accepting the Big Bang (because it contradicted the eternal universe required by atheistic dogma) and for rejecting Darwinism.[10] Without the above three conditions, I don’t believe Satan would have felt confident enough to boast against God.
Andrew Marino argues that biology is especially personal and philosophically contested because it studies life itself. For over two hundred years, a central dispute has pitted mechanism, which sees living organisms as fully explainable by physical and chemical laws, against vitalism, which posits an irreducible life force beyond those laws.[11] Scientific atheists rejected vitalism because electromagnetic energy was long associated with this “life force”, i.e., spirituality, God.[12]
Although modern electrobiology rejects the mystical (i.e., New Age, Paganistic, non-Trinitarian god incapable of love) view, it doesn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. It still carries some historical, emotional, and ideological tensions. Currently, science has, in part, overcome the bias associated with electromagnetic energy’s influence on cellular physiology, as evidenced by the studies partially cited in the article. This increased acceptance seems to correlate with an increasing number of scientists who reject Darwinism.
Atheistic Darwinism requires us to abandon the idea of a soul as the body’s substantial form and accept that we are only material bodies. Period. This topic is covered in greater detail in a series discussing the Beast of Revelation, Parts One, Two, and Three.
After more than twenty years of research centered on Scripture, primarily the biological sciences, theology, and philosophy, I can state that the above phenomenon is pervasive within the scientific community. Scientists who believe in God generally accept the existence of the soul but often fail to connect the soul to its impact on biological function [see why biologists article]—what philosophers/theologians call the substantial form of a body.
Three among many examples of such problematic actions resulting from this disconnect, i.e., a lack of understanding of the true nature of a composite spiritual soul and a physical body, are:
1. The FALSE belief that a newly conceived baby is not a real Person,2. Any person who loses the ability to communicate, e.g., one in a coma, or is non-responsive for any reason, is called a vegetable, implying they are not conscious of their environment. They are judged solely on circumstantial evidence, absent any objective moral consideration. Their intellect is not functioning properly. A fairly new therapeutic approach (colloquially known as “spellers”) is showing how utterly false that assumption is. The program is relatively new, so there are relatively few peer-reviewed studies on it and zero double-blind studies. But I know from anecdotal experience that it’s a great success, revealing the high intelligence imprisoned within a body that, until recently, couldn’t express it; i.e., the biblical mouth is broken.3. Without a soul created in the image and likeness of a Good and Loving Trinitarian God who is eternally fruitful, there is no objective reason to be a moral person—to even care about one’s neighbors. Morality is whatever one’s cranial mind and biochemistry ‘say’ is good [i.e., false love/compassion].Great evil has been done due to insufficient understanding of rational man’s composite nature. Let’s now begin our deeper exploration of souls and spirits.
§1:A—Genesis 1
Four parts of Genesis 1 are particularly relevant to our discussion of souls, spiritual souls, and pure spirits. For a more in-depth discussion of the theology and science of this topic, see the article “Creation of Angels/Spirits; Genesis 1; and the Big Bang.”
1) First Day (verses 1:1-10): Genesis 1:1 describes the immediate results of what is routinely identified as the Big Bang. From that singular event, God made, creatio ex nihilo, all that would be called material creation (Gen 1:1-2). In verse 3, I believe God formed the angelic realm.2) Third Day: In the first half of the third day (verses 9-10), all the conditions required for organic life yet to appear are met. Consequently, in the second half of the third day (verses 11-13), God formed organisms with vegetative souls. The question arises: How could vegetation be created on the third day when the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day? The answer can be found here.3) Fifth Day (verses 20-23): We begin to see the creation of more complex creatures with sensitive (animal) souls. On this day, God first commands them to be fruitful and multiply. I don’t believe it is mere coincidence that this is the day living creatures, as opposed to vegetation, enter into the picture and continue into the sixth day.
To my knowledge, all animals copulate, as do almost all fish. The remaining portion of the fish still involves male fertilization of the female’s egg, but the union of egg and sperm occurs externally—not involving copulation. The latter is also true of flowering plants. God’s command to be fruitful indicates that the natural end of copulation, not just egg fertilization, is fruitfulness—not intentionally fruitless sexual recreation.
4) Sixth Day (verses 24-31): On this day, the non-human beasts/creatures (could refer to hominins in general) are created in the first half of the day (verses 24-25). These also possess sensitive, not rational, souls. We know this because at the end of verse 25, God describes their creation as merely good. Creation is termed “very good” only after God creates man, male and female, with a rational spiritual soul.
§2—The Nature of Non-Human Souls
§2:A—Aquinas
In Part I, Q.118, A.1, co. of the Summa, Aquinas discusses the nature and origin of sensitive (animal) and vegetative (plant) souls. He writes:
Some have held that the sensitive souls of animals are created by God ([Summa] I:65:4). This opinion would hold if the sensitive soul were subsistent[13]—meaning they possess a kind of independent reality or standing.]. . . .Since, therefore, it is not a subsistent form, its relation to existence is that of the corporeal forms, to which existence does not belong as proper to them, but which are said to exist forasmuch as the subsistent composites exist through them.Wherefore to be made is proper to composites. And since the generator is like the generated, it follows of necessity that both the sensitive soul, and all other like forms are naturally brought into existence by certain corporeal agents [primordial matter] that reduce the matter from potentiality to act, through some corporeal power of which they are possessed. . . .Therefore bodies not endowed with [spiritual] life, which are the lowest in the order of nature, generate their like, not through some medium, but by themselves. . . . the semen of the animal or plant [Yes, plants do have male reproductive cells—sperm cells—but flowering plants deliver them inside pollen, not in a fluid called semen[14]] derives a certain active force from the soul of the generator, just as the instrument derives a certain motive power from the principal agent. And as it matters not whether we say that something is moved by the instrument or by the principal agent, so neither does it matter whether we say that the soul of the generated is caused by the soul of the generator, or by some seminal power derived therefrom.[15]
In his reply to Objection 4, Aquinas makes some interesting statements. They are:
1. “In perfect animals, generated by coition, the active force is in the semen of the male [science has shown this active force to be only partially attributable to the sperm as will be seen in the discussion on the Zinc spark further below], as the Philosopher says (De Gener. Animal. ii, 3); but the foetal matter [i.e., organic tissue] is provided by the female.”
However, this interpretation reflects the lack of biological science available at the time of Aquinas’ writings. The fertilized egg from which the fetal matter of all sensitive souls is derived recombines the chromosomes of both parents.
2) “In this matter, the vegetative soul exists from the very beginning.”
Also partially wrong. Flowering plant fertilization occurs via male sperm cells, though the delivery system varies by species.[16]
3) “[N]ot as to the second act, but as to the first act, as the sensitive soul is in one who sleeps. But as soon as it begins to attract nourishment, then it already operates in act.”[17]
In scientific reality, the transition from potentiality to actuality begins with electrochemically generated electromagnetic energy (i.e., light, a spark of life) involving the interaction of the primordial elements calcium and zinc immediately upon the sperm’s fertilization of the egg. See the “The Science and Theology of the Spark of Life” section below for greater detail. Aquinas also informs us that the powers of the sensitive and vegetative souls are exercised through their corporeal/physical organs[18], but I would add that those powers could not be acted upon without electromagnetic energy in conjunction with the presence of biologically structured water molecules.
Four Scripture passages (Lev 17:14, Deut 12:23, Gen 9:4, and Acts 15:20) equate blood with being the life of any creature of flesh. Science is now coming to understand that water in the blood is a critical component of bioenergetics, i.e., biological light. All metabolic processes of organic life either consume, generate, or transform high-grade, well-ordered energy. This grade of energy is vital to life. It is produced via a process known as the Energy of Electron Excitation (EEE). Photons of high-grade energy are produced when “water [particularly the electrons of the Oxygen molecules of water] arranges an indivisible system with the structure elements [of a cell] making possible electronic excitations which otherwise are highly improbable.”[19] Water is essential to combustion flow in living cells.[20] In fact, water itself combusts (burns, releasing light energy) via water splitting.[21]
Hmmm? Is the splitting/dividing of water in the Bible (see Ex 14:16, 15:8, 21–22, 26–29; 2 Kgs 2:8, 13–14) a description, using phenomenological language, of the biological physiology of water in blood and the watery cytosol within intracellular cytoplasm?
§2:B—Ramifications of the Dogma of Omnipresence of God in Understanding Vegetative and Sensual Souls
According to the Modern Catholic Dictionary, the Omnipresence of God can be understood as:
God being simultaneously [present] wherever he is, since he is present everywhere [this “presence” should not be confused with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is only possible for Man prior to the fall or after the Redemption and followed by valid Baptism, i.e., in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit]. Divine omnipresence is twofold: by nature and by grace.
By nature, God is present in all things by essence, knowledge, and power. This is the presence of a cause in the things that share in God’s goodness. By his essence, he is substantially in all things, including the created spiritual essences (angels, demons, human souls) as the immediate origin of their existence. By his knowledge, he exercises his wisdom directly in all creation, down to the least detail[emphasis added]. By his power, he operates with divine activity as the First Cause of everything that creatures do [which, in my opinion, would necessitate involvement, to one degree or another, with the physiology of every cell. More on that in section “Other Bible Miracles Involving Animals: Spirit, Created Spirits Good or Bad,” further down].By grace, God is further present in the souls in whom he dwells as in a temple. Hence, the creature is joined, as it were, to God’s substance, through the activity of mind and heart, by faith cleaving to the First Truth, and by charity to the First Good. He is therefore present by grace as the known is to the knower and the beloved is to the lover. This presence is more than a cause of an effect. It is the possession of God on earth, similar to his being possessed by the angels and saints in heaven.[21]
Let’s apply the above to what St. Hildegard and science teach us about the “spark of life”.
§2:C—The Science and Theology of the Spark of Life
§2:C:i—St. Hildegard of Bingen
St. Hildegard of Bingen provides reason to believe that the soul, as a lower power of the spiritual soul, employs electromagnetic energy instrumentally. She writes:
The soul has also a fiery nature. On this account, it warms up all the life processes it brings to the heart and rouses them to the point of unity. At the same time, the soul controls them so that not one of them is separated from another. The soul fills them up so that none of them lacks anything, and in this way it arranges in wisdom and care the total structure of the human organism.[22]
She continues:
Whatever the soul achieves within us has a fiery substance. The soul arouses the entire human organism and gives life to the body. Because the soul has a fiery nature, we are warm-blooded creatures. Its paths are windy in nature. The soul inhales the breath of life into the body and then expels it. By inhaling, we dry out, which is good for us since our flesh remains healthy and flourishes as a result of the dryness. By exhaling, the fire of the organism is diminished and warmth is removed. Thus the whole body is constructed with the greatest sensitivity so that we can be alive, so that we can control all five senses of the body with their cluster of functions. If that warmth were not discharged from the body, the fire of the soul might burn the body, just as a house might be completely destroyed by the heat of a fire.
The power of the soul clothes us with flesh and blood and completes us as a total unity, just as all the fruits of the Earth are ripened by the blowing of the winds. Through the fiery capacity of the soul, we are also able to realize that we possess God, and through the breath of the spirit, we understand that we can act within our body.[23]
Animals do not have a spirit—only a sensitive soul. Miracles involving the Holy Spirit and organic matter, especially the human heart, show that Divine Light dramatically and physically affects genetic function.
§2:C:ii—Light in The Biological Sciences
Werner R. Loewenstein believes that photons are the guiding principle of biological organization, forming information circles along a path of least information cost.[24] The relationship between energy and information is quantified by a thermodynamic equivalence, in which 1 kilocalorie of energy corresponds to approximately 1023 bits of biological information.[25] The solid-state gear, which embodies the deterministic information core of living beings, primarily consists of DNA, RNA, and their products, such as proteins. Vast amounts of information go into making such macromolecules, and all that information ultimately comes from the instrumentality of photon energy.[26]
According to Loewenstein, “The agent for transmission of information between molecules, the sole agent, as we have seen, is the electromagnetic force, and such transmission works only when the transmitter and receiver molecules have complementary shapes.”[27] As noted above, the complementary, information-transmitting molecules include, in part, DNA, RNA, and their products, such as proteins.
Scientist Mae-Wan Ho tells us that structured bio-living water (a term I coined) molecules are integral to information transmission. She writes:
In the book Electromagnetism & Life, literally hundreds of scientific studies are cited, demonstrating the many and varied biological changes throughout the body resulting from exposure to electromagnetic radiation.[30] However, all electromagnetic energy used in these experiments was generated mechanically; it was not natural light. As a result, the biological effects measured in these experiments were deleterious to the body.[31] Ipso facto, reenforcing the understanding that all EME effects cellular function for better or for worse.
While EME generated by the body is coherent beyond our imagination[32], mechanically generated electromagnetic radiation is generally disordered in relation to organic beings. Furthermore, studies now indicate that such an abnormal electromagnetic environment usually poses a health risk.[33]
The effects of EME appear to be separable into two broad categories: those involving functions of the central nervous system (CNS) and those involving postembryonic growth and healing processes.[34] Many scientific studies have shown the crucial role of the oscillatory energy of both photonic light and sound waves in cellular function.[35]
According to Becker:
Growth effects include the alteration of bone growth by electromagnetic energy[, such as the EME generated by the beating human heart[36], the restoration of partial limb regeneration in mammals by small direct currents, the inhibition of growth of implanted tumors by currents and fields, the effect upon cephalocaudal axis development in the regenerating flatworm in a polarity-dependent fashion by applied direct currents, and the production of morphological alterations in embryonic development by manipulation of the electrochemical species present in the environment. . . . This suggests that bioelectromagnetic phenomena are fundamental attributes of living things.[37]
Fluorescent red light has been shown to regulate (turn on or off) the expression of specific proteins in yeast cells.[38] The human body is a liquid-crystalline structure[39], suggesting a critical role of bio-living water in cellular function. The crystalline component of that liquid-crystalline structure is DNA. The electrical conductivity of organic tissue increases sharply with water content.[40] The solid-state functional approach proposes a complex crystalline structure that exhibits semiconducting, photoconductive, and piezoelectric properties.[41]
From the article, Thirty-Four Biological Mysteries Hidden in Scripture, we read:
The human body generates and emits electromagnetic fields at various frequencies, including microwave and optical[42] (although too weak to be seen by the naked eye). German biophysicist Fritz–Albert Popp discovered that the ultra-weak light emitted by living organisms is so coherent across the UV-to-red portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that human beings behave like a laser, but with a few significant differences.
Those differences are:
1) The radiation intensity from the living organism is several orders of magnitude weaker than that of a laser;2) The degree of coherence of the radiation in the living organism is many orders of magnitude higher than that of a technical laser; and3) The radiation from the living organism is coherent over a range of wavelengths (polychromatic), while a laser is coherent in only one wavelength (monochromatic).[43]
Many, if not all, living organisms were designed by God to radiate light (EME), even to mediate Divine Light. More than one credible mystic has observed that prefallen Adam & Eve radiated light in the visible wavelength spectrum.
St. Hildegard and Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich offers three quotes to support this. They are:
1) “In place of [Adam’s] luminous garment, Adam was given a sheepskin [a clear reference to the mortal flesh of fallen man—SML], and God substituted for Paradise a place of exile.”[44]2) “[O]f all the strengths of God’s creation, Man’s is most profound, made in a wondrous way with great glory from the dust of the earth and so entangled with the strengths of the rest of creation that he can never be separated from them[emphasis added].”[45]3) “[Adam and Eve] were like two unspeakably noble and beautiful children, perfectly luminous, and clothed with beams of light as with a veil. . . . I saw Adam’s heart very much the same as in the men of the present day, but his breast was surrounded by rays of light. In the middle of his heart, I saw a sparkling halo of glory. In it was a tiny figure as if holding something in its hand. I think it symbolized the Third Person [the Holy Spirit] of the Godhead.”[46]
Related to the quote above, the Church has a prayer recited by billions every day. It is called the Glory Be (the Doxology). It starts with the words, “Glory be to the Father” and ends with the words, “World without end. Amen.” What does that last phrase mean? One thing is certain: at the Resurrection of the faithful, our glorified physical, but not mortal, bodies are reunited with our spiritual souls for all eternity. So, from that standpoint, our primordial dust of the earth will never cease to exist. Consider also that the incarnate Son of God possessed a physical human body. At his resurrection, he still possessed a physical, but no longer mortal, glorified body composed of the primordial dust of DNA.
Structured light carries (transmits) specific, rather than random, information. From a scientific standpoint, this indicates information derived from an intelligent source. This can be seen in modern devices that record, transmit, and/or read information via structured light, such as DVDs, CDs, and phone calls transmitted via fiber-optic cable.[47]
According to Stephen C. Meyer:
Note that this information is not the same as rational human consciousness. Keeping in mind that our cranial brain is part of the scriptural mouth through which the overflow of the spiritual-intellectual soul, the substantial form of the body, is sent into the physical world. Our “biological thoughts” are acted upon via electrochemical bursts of light that direct neural pathways, thus guiding and producing “acts”.[53]Biologists have also come to understand the utility of information, in particular, for the operation of living systems[48]. . . . The software stored and sold on a compact disc resulted from the design of a software engineer. The great works of literature began first as ideas in the minds of writers—Tolstoy, Austen, or Donne. Our experience of the world shows that what we recognize as information invariably reflects the prior activity of conscious and intelligent persons[49]. . . .[I]nformation technology guru George Gilder, for example, notes that developments in fiber optics have allowed more and more information to travel down smaller and smaller (and lighter and lighter) wires. Thus, he notes that as technology advances, we convey ever more [intelligence-based] thought [emphasis added] across ever less matter—where the numerator in that ratio, namely, thought, corresponds precisely to information.[52]
Our DNA is composed of primordial crystalline dust and salt of the Earth. This assertion reflects biological and geological facts.
§2:C:ii:a—The Zinc/calcium-based Spark
Science has discovered that a zinc-calcium-induced spark of electromagnetic energy is produced when a sperm cell penetrates an egg cell of a female mammal. This spark is not coincidental with fertilization, but a direct result of it. The sparks are explosive releases of zinc ions (Zn2+) from mammalian eggs upon fertilization. The spark acts as a “switch,” releasing the egg from metaphase II arrest and allowing the mature egg to continue transitioning into an embryo. The “spark” is triggered by calcium (Ca2+) oscillations, during which billions of zinc ions are ejected through the egg cell membrane, thus reducing intracellular zinc content.[54]
§2:C:ii:b—Created Light’s (EME/EMR) Role in Cell Division and Differentiation
What do scientific studies tell us about light’s role in cell physiology? In a survey of 20 peer-reviewed papers, ConsensusAI found 100% agreement that light, across different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, plays a major role in cell division and differentiation. The following are a few examples of those many papers:
1) Liebmann, J., M. Born, and V. Kolb‐Bachofen, “Blue-light irradiation regulates proliferation and differentiation in human skin cells,” The Journal of Investigative Dermatology 130, no. 1 (2009): 259-69, https://doi.org/10.1038/jid.2009.194.2) Kao, Wei-Zhen, Huai-Ching Hsieh, Yi-Ju Lee, Jin-Yu Su, P. Shen, and An-Chi Wei, “Enhancing human-induced pluripotent stem cell proliferation and cardiac differentiation through 810-nm photobiomodulation,” Lasers in Medical Science 41 (2026): https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-026-04821-8. Note: This study strongly supports STOSS’ assertions that Eve was formed from hematopoietic stem cells from Adam’s rib bone marrow.3) Pinto, H., Paloma Goñi Oliver, and E. Sánchez-Vizcaíno Mengual, “The Effect of Photobiomodulation on Human Mesenchymal Cells: A Literature Review,” Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 45 (2021): 1826–1842, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-021-02173-y.4) Emelyanov, A., and V. V. Kiryanova, “Photomodulation of Proliferation and Differentiation of Stem Cells By the Visible and Infrared Light,” Photomedicine and Laser Surgery 33 (2015): 164–174, https://doi.org/10.1089/pho.2014.3830.5) Chunyan, Yutong Ye, Xinyu Shi, Na Li, Yufei Chen, Xiafei Shi, and Hongli Chen, “Photobiomodulation promotes osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and increases P-Akt levels in vitro,” Scientific Reports 15 (2025), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02428-7.
As demonstrated above, science increasingly shows that created light (EME/EMR) governs virtually every bodily function. For example:
1) Which skin cells need to be ejected from the body and the process by which that occurs are governed by electromagnetic energy.[56]2) Using magnetic fields to influence tiny nanoparticles inside or outside cells offers a quick, gentle way to control what cells do.[57]3) Pulsed electromagnetic fields, such as those generated by the beating human heart, have been used clinically to slow down osteoporosis and accelerate the healing of bone fractures for many years.[58]
We should not be surprised to learn that electromagnetic energy, to one degree or another, directs all cellular physiology. Think about this: In the Nicene Creed, we say, “God from God, Light from Light . . . I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” All Creation was made, in part, to help us know, understand, and love God. At the Big Bang, pure energy, from which visible light comes, was created in an instant. We can grasp the source of the Bang on a limited scale through the image left on the Shroud of Turin. ENEA and STURPA scientists believe that a short but very intense burst of some form of structured, directional EMR (scattered photons could not have produced the image) is responsible for the image’s coloration and three-dimensional characteristics. They point out that the energy powerful enough to produce the vacuum ultraviolet radiation necessary to reproduce the image on the Shroud would be roughly thirty-four thousand billion watts.[59] Imagine how much greater the pure, ordered, coherent energy of the Big Bang was!
§2:C:ii:c—Instrumental Use of Light to Produce Miracles§2:C:ii:c—Instrumental Use of Light to Produce Miracles
§2:C:ii:c:i—Divine Light’s Impact on the Light-generating Human Heart
St. Paul writes, “May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:23). He also writes, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).
Regarding the body-spiritual soul composite, the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites Gaudium et Spes. The cited paragraph reads:
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world [such as primordial matter and photons]. Through him they [i.e., the elements of the material world] are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator.[60]
This text is theologically rich. God revealed to St. Hildegard that man was created as a microcosm of all creation,[61] which began at the Big Bang. When man glorifies God, all creation glorifies God (cf. Rom 8:18-25). When man fell, all of creation fell. The works of man are manifested through the body, and in the language of the body, which is experienced both sensibly and meta-sensibly.
Hildegard writes:
The elements are indeed subjected to man, and they each perform their duties as they themselves are affected by the works of man. For if people meddle with one another in battles, horrors, in hatred, envy and sinful offenses, the elements change into another and opposite kind of heat or cold or violent effusions and deluges. This stems from the first determination of God, because God arranged the elements in such a way that each one should behave corresponding to the works of men, since they are affected by these works when man creates with and in them (Causes and Cures, p. 95).[62]
Gaudium et Spes tells us:
For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.[63]
After human death, the natural/primordial instrument of the spiritual soul (EME / EMR, which is distinct from the sensitive and vegetative souls) is replaced by the glorified light of the spirit, through union with Jesus, as its substantial form. At the resurrection, the light of our glorified spirit in union with the Son of God replaces the created instrumental material EME of our soul (the lower power of the spiritual soul). As Revelation tells us, “And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God . . . And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:10, 23).
§2:C:ii:c:ii—Holy Spirit’s Role in Miracles of the Human Heart
The power of the Holy Spirit to use the body’s functionality as an instrument of grace can be dramatically seen in miracles affecting the myocardial tissue’s cellular function of Sts. Phillip Neri, Gemma Galgani, Padre Pio, and St. Paul of the Cross. The linked article explains why Divine Light caused the saint-involved miracles and how we know it to be so. It also shows that the same Divine Light of the Holy Spirit caused both cell division and differentiation.
The Gospel passages that mention people touching Jesus’ tassels, fringe, or “hem” are: Mt 9:20-22, 14:34-36; Mk 6:56; Lk 8:43-48*.
The power of Jesus’ Holy Spirit was mediated primarily through the salt / dust of Jesus’ DNA, and secondarily through his garments’ DNA, into the woman, thereby producing in her Gratuitous Actual Grace. The Holy Spirit, Divine Light, the finger of God (cf. Ex 8:19, 31:18; Deut 9:10; Lk 11:20), the Power of God in the world[64], is the final efficient cause of all healings.[65] That EME is used instrumentally in healings does not render the events non-miraculous. Although Man’s natural human nature has a limited ability to heal, it cannot self-heal major biological anomalies. Dramatic healing occurs only through the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit.*Significantly, Luke’s telling of the healing of the hemorrhagic woman is very informative. Keep in mind there were no synthetic garments in those days. All garments at that time were made of animal or plant fibers containing DNA. After the healing, Jesus perceived that the power (of the Holy Spirit) had gone forth from him.
§2:C:ii:d—Natural Light vs Unnatural Light: Each Produces Functional Changes
It is without serious scientific doubt that the light created by God, i.e., energy created by the Big Bang and depending on its wavelength, will affect the function of any living organism with which it comes into contact. The effect depends on the source of that light.
Regarding natural light, Andrew A. Marino writes:
The earth has a natural electromagnetic background, produced by the earth itself and by cosmic sources, and the age-old question as to whether this background can be detected by living organisms has now been answered in the affirmative—the earth’s electromagnetic background is an important environmental factor for all living things. Clinical uses of electromagnetic energy are increasing and promise to expand into important areas in the near future. But the coin has another side. . . . The body’s intrinsic electromagnetic phenomena [emphasis added] have been rediscovered, and the evidence suggests that, far from being unimportant byproducts of biochemical activity as previously believed, they play a vital role in diverse physiological processes.[66]
Describing unnatural light, he says:
The environment is now thoroughly polluted by man-made sources of electromagnetic radiation with frequencies and magnitudes never before present. Man’s activities have probably changed the earth’s electromagnetic background to a greater degree than they have changed any other natural physical attribute of the earth—whether the land, water, or atmosphere. The evidence now indicates that the present abnormal electromagnetic environment can constitute a health risk.[67]
Throughout Marino and Becker’s book, they document hundreds of studies showing the deleterious physiological effects of man-made, non-natural, artificial electromagnetic radiation on living organisms.
§2:C:ii:e—Some Bible Miracles Would Require Some Sort of Spark to Trigger Meiosis and Mitosis
§2:C:ii:e:i—Miracles Involving Regrowing/Repairing Cells in, For Example, Ears, Limbs, and Cancers
· Matthew 8:16-17: “That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’ ”· Acts 5:16: “The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”· 2 Kings 5:1–14: Naaman’s leprosy is healed; the description that his flesh became like a child’s suggests a dramatic tissue-level restoration.· Numbers 12:9-14: Miriam is struck with a leprous condition and later restored after Moses intercedes.· In Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-44, and Luke 5:12-13, Jesus cleanses a leper; the emphasis is on immediate cleansing, which would have been followed by priestly verification.· Luke 5:20-25: Jesus heals a paralytic.· In Luke 17:11-14, ten are cleansed as they go to show themselves to the priests.· Luke 22:49–51 (Servant’s ear cut off by Peter is replaced): Jesus touches the servant’s ear and heals him. The parallel arrest accounts that also mention the ear being cut off are Matthew 26:51, Mark 14:47, and John 18:10–11, but only Luke records the healing.· John 9:1-7: Jesus’ healing of the blind man using spit and dust uses phenomenological language[68] to point to the Holy Spirit’s instrumental use of Jesus’ perfectly ordered body/flesh-spirit composite to communicate grace, thus intervening in the material world, even to our cellular function.· Matthew 12:10–13, Mark 3:1–5, and Luke 6:6–10: Jesus heals the man with the withered hand, restoring appearance and function to a damaged limb.· Ezekiel 37:1–14: The valley of dry bones includes bones coming together, being covered with flesh, and receiving breath; this is a vision of national restoration, not a literal medical healing.· 2 Kings 5:1–14: Naaman’s leprosy is healed, and his flesh becomes like a child’s, which is the closest biblical language to tissue restoration.
The above involve cellular mitosis and differentiation, all of which require light for proper cellular development and function.
§2:C:ii:e:ii—Miracles in the Bible Showing Multiplication of Organic Cells
The concept of multiplication of organic matter is discussed in Scripture passages involving five loaves and two fish: the key texts are Mt 14:13–21, Mk 6:30–44, Lk 9:10–17, and Jn 6:1–15 (this passage is especially important because it connects the multiplication miracle with Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, Jn 6:32-58). Passages about seven loaves and a few fish are Mt 15:32–39 and Mk 8:1–10.
Many people considerably under-appreciate the distinction between multiplication and addition. The simplest way I can think of to distinguish between the two is this: Multiplication increases a particular entity’s quantity by using that same entity’s primordial matter as the source for producing subsequent entities of the same species. This occurs in every human body. Each of us starts from a single cell. But that cell divides and multiplies using the predecessor cell’s primordial matter. In other words, the individual body contains a net increase of cells, numbering in the trillions.
Addition, on the other hand, is simply the cumulative increase in the quantity of completely independent entities of the same type within one location, followed by adding more entities of the same type from a different location. In other words, “addition” produces a net increase of zero in that species’ existence. For example, if I have ten tennis balls in both bucket A and bucket B, then move five from bucket A and put them in bucket B, I now have five in Bucket A and fifteen in bucket B. I did not multiply the balls in bucket B. There are still only twenty balls. No net increase.
So, when God tells us to be fruitful and multiply, He means generating new beings within each species.
§2:C:ii:e:iii—The Theology and Biology of Healing and Multiplication
According to Aquinas, no aspect of creation could ever be annihilated. The human cells of one in a state of Original Justice, e.g., Adam and Eve prior to the fall, are, in my opinion, unlikely to experience cell death that would necessitate ejection from the body. A dead cell is not annihilated. It simply undergoes natural decay. Death came to Adam and Eve as a result of Original Sin (see blog Parts One, Two, and Three), resulting in disordered cellular function from, for example, disease, old age, sickness, etc.
When Jesus heals, he wouldn’t annihilate those faulty-functioning cells. He would restore them to full health, which is similar to what a Good God did for fallen creation. When Adam and Eve fell, God did not annihilate creation, which was no longer “very good.” Instead, a truly loving Trinitarian God would immediately put a plan in place to heal/Redeem creation—to make a New Creation. Any healing/repair, spiritually and biologically, would require extensive intervention, using light as an instrument. More specifically, Divine Light is sent into creation through the humanity of the Son of God, Jesus, within whom God fully dwells.
According to Michael J. Behe, biological healing/multiplication would also involve:
Molecular machines [literally, molecular machines composed of proteins (p. 70)] haul cargo from one place in the cell to another along “highways” made of other molecules, while still others act as cables, ropes, and pulleys to hold the cell in shape. Machines turn cellular switches on and off, sometimes killing the cell or causing it to grow. Solar-powered machines capture the energy of photons and store it in chemicals. Electrical machines allow current [i.e., electromagnetic energy—light] to flow through nerves. Manufacturing machines build other molecular machines, as well as themselves. Cells swim using machines, copy themselves with machinery, [and] ingest food with machinery. In short, highly sophisticated molecular machines control every cellular process. Thus the details of life are finely calibrated, and the machinery of life enormously complex.[69]
When Jesus multiplies, does he create new fish or barley loaves ex nihilio? If so, that would not be multiplying the fish and loaves; it would be adding new fish and loaves, which is what the Apostles thought needed to be done (Mk 14:37) when they told Jesus we don’t have enough money to buy what was needed. Thus, in cases of healing, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, repaired the cells so they functioned perfectly. All cellular repair involves each cell’s DNA, which is necessary to produce the cellular “machines” needed for the healing process.
The DNA polymer aligns with the geological requirement, as defined by the International Mineralogical Association, arising from NGP (Natural Geological Processes). How so? The concept of abiogenesis—that primitive life emerged from interactions among crystalline dust and water (clay, mud)—frames biological molecules as derivatives of primordial geological matter.
After abiogenesis, biogenesis took over, and all life continued through reproduction, i.e., multiplying this same elemental substrate, thus passing on that primordial matter to succeeding generations. Hence, every DNA molecule ultimately traces back to the primordial materials formed through NGP. Within the hermeneutic of STOSS, speciation may occur through Divine manipulation of primordial matter preexisting in the nucleus of undifferentiated stem cells. Of course, as we will see later, God isn’t bound by nature to create all new life from a single first cell. Scripture provides many examples saying He could do so directly from primordial matter.
Aquinas teaches that after the original fiat, “Let there be,” all primordial material of creation was made ex nihilo—from nothing—in an instant (as described in Gen 1:1. The rest of the six days involves making, bringing forth, and forming from preexisting primordial matter). Aquinas wrote:
1) The “work of creation/first creation” was creatio ex nihilo,[70]2) The first stage of the second creation was opus distinctionis (work of distinction)[71], and3) The final stage of the second creation was opus ornatus (work of adornment).[72]
The latter two would involve pre-existing matter.[73] Scripture reveals God’s power to create organic entities using primordial matter. Examples are:
1. Turning dust into gnats (Ex 8:16-17);2. Turning stones into bread (Lk 4:3; Mt 4:3). Note: Satan is evil but not stupid. He wouldn’t waste time tempting Jesus to do what he couldn’t do;3. Commanding stones to become children (rational human beings) of Abraham (Mt 3:9; Lk 3:8.);4. Turning water into wine at the wedding ceremony in Cana (Jn 2:1-11). In my view, the entire purpose of Jesus’ attendance at the wedding at Cana was, at the very beginning of his mission, to foreshadow what would be accomplished at the completion of his mission—i.e., Redemption, Purification, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-9, cf. Isa 25:6-8 and Lk 14:13-14), the Eucharist, and Mary’s role in the Church.
Some might say Jesus created the wine ex nihilo. But that would contradict Aquinas’ teaching regarding Genesis 1. One might assume Jesus used grape sediment already present in the six stone jars. But that would violate Jewish Purity Laws.[74] Any organic matter, such as grape sediment, would have rendered the water and the priest who blessed it ritually impure.
The six jars were hewn from stone because only stone would not defile the water.[75] Thus, Jesus must (recall, according to Aquinas, after the work of creation, nothing subsequently was creatio ex nihilo[76]) have formed the best wine from the dust / stone of the earth. The origin of the stone particles used in the miracle could have been either units of stone taken directly from the jar(s) themselves, which would make it likely that six separate jars (symbolizing the creation of man) were involved, or stone sediment present in the water drawn from the spring or cistern. Furthermore, the fact that wine was drawn from the scriptural mouth of the jars indicates that all of this would come through Jesus’ humanity.
Furthermore, the wine’s quality amazed the master of the banquet, showing that Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, directly intervened in the grape cells’ genetic and cellular functions.
Note: In the four examples above, nothing is annihilated. The primordial matter remains, but becomes a constituent component of a new substantial form, i.e., organic life. Since each new organic entity would originate from a single cell, the entire gnat, for example, would result from cell multiplication. Each new gnat cell would use the parent cell’s primordial matter. This brings up a related topic, i.e., time.
Would it take time for the gnat to fully develop? Neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit is bound by sequential time. Consequently, the gnat’s full growth in our example would occur naturally, but observers would experience it as instantaneous or nearly instantaneous. The multiplication of fishes and loaves is another example of this phenomenon.
In summary, all miraculous healings are accomplished through Gratuitous Grace given by the Holy Spirit.[77] The miraculous healing of a cell through the Holy Spirit’s intervention to restore its proper functioning entails the complete restoration of its cellular machines! Jesus would not heal/create a biological entity imperfectly. Thus, it can be seen that Divine Light mediated through Jesus’ humanity, i.e., his Sacred Human and Spiritual Heart, impacts the physiology of others. This is especially experienced by those able to receive the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass, but only in proportion to the holy desire for union with Jesus within the heart of those receiving him.[78] The healing (when properly disposed to receive the Eucharist, see 1 Cor 11:27–30) of body/soul disorder generally occurs over time and in increments. Thus, too many people interpret their failure to recognize that slow, gradual healing of disorder as it not occurring at all. However, we can often recognize the loss of order when we lose it through mortal sin.
§2:C:iii—Divine Light: Holy Spirit’s Role in the Substantial Form of an Organism
As was shown above, the presence of light in the fertilized egg is essential to the very first stages of meiosis and mitosis. If, as was shown above, light plays a vital role in mitosis and differentiation, the substantial form of the body must be active at that beginning. Otherwise, the organism would be absent in said form. As a result, light-driven cell division and differentiation would occur in an undirected, unspecified, and completely random manner.
§2:C:iii:a—Other Bible Miracles Involving Animals: Spirit, Created Spirits Good or Bad
Several biblical miracles and divine signs involve animals acting in extraordinary ways—sometimes by God’s direct command, sometimes as instruments of provision, judgment, rescue, or revelation. The clearest examples are below.
Animals acting unusually:
- The serpent speaks to Eve—The serpent, directed by an evil spirit, converses with Eve in Eden (Gen 3:1–5).
- Balaam’s donkey—The donkey sees the angel of the Lord blocking the road, refuses to proceed, and is enabled to speak to Balaam (Num 22:21–35).
- Ravens feed Elijah—Ravens bring Elijah bread and meat morning and evening during the drought (1 Kgs 17:2–6).
- A great fish swallows, then releases Jonah—God appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah and vomit him onto the exact location God wanted him (Jonah 1:17; 2:10).
- Lions do not harm Daniel—God shuts the lions’ mouths while Daniel is in their den (Dan 6:16–23). The miracle is primarily divine protection, manifested in the animals’ restraint.
- A fish provides the temple-tax coin—Jesus tells Peter to catch a fish; its mouth contains a coin sufficient for both their temple tax (Mt 17:24–27).
Animals in divine provision or judgment
- Quail feed Israel—God sends quail to provide meat in the wilderness (Ex 16:13; Num 11:31–32; Ps 78:27–29; 105:40).
- Bears punish those who mock Elisha—Two female bears come from the woods and maul forty-two youths who had mocked the prophet (2 Kgs 2:23–24).
- A lion kills but does not consume the disobedient prophet—A lion kills the man of God who disobeyed a divine command, yet remains beside the body with the donkey without attacking it (1 Kgs 13:20–29).
- A ram is provided for Abraham’s sacrifice—Abraham finds a ram caught in a thicket and sacrifices it in Isaac’s place (Gen 22:13–14). Hmm. Jesus receives a crown of thorns. The event is chiefly God’s providential provision.
Related but less clearly miraculous:
- Animals enter Noah’s ark—Creatures come to Noah in pairs as God preserves life through the Flood (Gen 6:19–20; 7:8–9).
- The Gadarene swine rush into the sea—After Jesus expels demons, they enter a herd of pigs, which then rush down the bank into the sea (Mt 8:28–34; Mk 5:1–20; Lk 8:26–39). The miracle is the exorcism; the animals’ behavior is its visible consequence. It is an example of spirits directing biological light (EME) to drive cellular function, particularly the EME generated at the brain’s synapses. During demonic possession, the possessed gives permission of the will for the spirit to overpower the person’s own soul.
How does the Holy Spirit or other spirit, either good or bad, direct biological function? Answer: By the instrumental use of EME/EMR. The same electrochemical zinc-calcium-induced spark produced when the sperm enters the fertilized egg is also present in the firing of neuronal synapses.
Put simply, calcium and zinc work together as chemical messengers when nerve cells communicate. A burst of calcium inside a neuron can release zinc stored safely inside the cell. The released zinc then helps regulate how much calcium enters the cell and influences other signaling systems, including which pathway the nerve’s electrical signal takes. Together, they fine-tune how readily neurons at a synapse fire, how connections between neurons strengthen or weaken during learning, and how well neurons withstand injury. This process affects, among others, muscle contraction, the release of neurochemicals, and the transmission of electrical signals in the brain.[79]
§2:C:iii:b—The Spark and the Conception of Jesus
As was written above, three critical points were put forth:
1) Science has discovered a zinc-calcium-induced spark of electromagnetic energy emitted when a sperm cell enters an egg cell in all female mammals. This spark is not coincidental with fertilization, but a direct result of it. Zinc sparks are explosive releases of zinc ions (Zn2+) from mammalian eggs upon fertilization. The spark acts as a “switch,” releasing the egg from metaphase II arrest and allowing the mature egg to continue transitioning into an embryo.2) The spark also initiates meiosis, followed by mitosis.3) In a survey of 20 peer-reviewed papers (see five examples here), ConsensusAI found 100% agreement that light, across different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, plays a major role in cell division and differentiation (what type of cell the daughters will become).
These points raise some intriguing questions! Since Jesus had no human father and the father’s sperm would not be what fertilized Mary’s egg, where did the “spark” come from that would trigger meiosis, mitosis, and cell differentiation? We know that all three took place because Jesus is a male (possessing XY chromosomes) while Mary only possessed YY chromosomes.
I could dig very much deeper, but the point is that the Divine Light of the Holy Spirit, fully dwelling in Mary’s heart, was the “spark” that triggered and became the substantial form of Jesus, directing those perfectly ordered biological processes. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell within a being who is not perfectly in the image and likeness of God. Adam and Eve lost that indwelling because of one simple act of disobedience. ONLY through Redemption could man regain that indwelling. Another pertinent point is: how could the Holy Spirit fully dwell within Mary (“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”, Lk 1:28) if she possessed a fallen nature? The Ignatius Catholic Bible Study (ICBS) answers this question.
According to the ICBS:
This is the only biblical instance where an angel addresses someone by a title instead of a personal name. Two considerations help to clarify its meaning. (1) The expression full of grace is rooted in Catholic tradition and traced to St. Jerome’s translation of this verse in the Latin Vulgate. Although fundamentally accurate, it lacks some of the depth of the Greek original. Luke could have described her with the words full of grace (Gk. plērēs charitos) as he did of Stephen in Acts 6:8, yet here he uses a different expression (Gk. kecharitōmenē) that is even more revealing than the traditional rendering. It indicates that God has already “graced” Mary previous to this point, making her a vessel who “has been” and “is now” filled with divine life. (2) Alternative translations like “favored one” or “highly favored” are possible but inadequate. Because of the unparalleled role that Mary accepts at this turning point in salvation history, the best translation is the most exalted one.[80]
§3—The Nature of Spiritual (Rational) Souls
§3:A—My Hypothesis Concerning the “Soul” Within the Spiritual Soul.
While I agree, in part, with Aquinas’ point in the section on non-human souls, I think it is incomplete in some respects and incorrect in others relative to the spiritual soul. The electro/electrochemical zinc/calcium triggering of cell division and differentiation is supported by the methods used to initiate cell division in animal cloning.[81]
I hypothesize that the zinc spark discussed above initiates the process by which the father and mother of the species bring forth a new being of the same species. They contribute the material that initiates the spark, which the Holy Spirit then uses to create a rational soul, i.e., to breathe in the Breath of Life.
Regarding the spiritual soul, the Catechism teaches:
The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God—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.[82]
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming.[83] The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul.[84] “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.[85]
The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God.[86]
All created spirits are subsistent (never die), made from matter coming into existence at the Big Bang, and, in the case of man, are his substantial form, created in the image and likeness of God. The spiritual soul is often said to contain two levels of power: upper and lower. Therefore, we can deduce that:
1) The lower powers of the spiritual soul, those that control biological function via the instrumental use of created/material EME, are directed by the overflow of the rational upper powers of the spiritual soul within the spirit-soul complex.2) At the resurrection, the light of our glorified spirit in union with the Son of God replaces the instrumental need for created material EME of our spiritual soul to biologically function in a perfectly ordered body-soul composite. As Revelation tells us, “And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God . . . And the city has no need of sun [EMR] or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:10, 23).3) Though not corporeal, each person in the angelic realm has a distinct substantial form manifested as glorious Light; a distinct beauty which is individual to each spirit. Hypothetically, each angelic spirit’s substantial form could radiate into a physical body as its form if given one. Based on near-death experiences, the spirits of loved ones, temporarily separated from their bodies, retain a recognizable appearance—their substantial form.For demons, their appearance/beauty changed to ugliness after their fall from grace. Demonic spirits can take control of a biological entity, including a human body, causing drastic changes in both appearance and function. For example, demons took control over a herd of swine’s biology, overriding their natural survival instinct and forcing them to run off a cliff (Mt 8:28–34; Mk 5:1–20; Lk 8:26–39).4) Divine light can control a saint’s biological functions, including and especially the human heart. This is demonstrated by Adam and Eve in a state of Original Justice and the Transfiguration of Jesus.
From the above, we can conclude that two levels of the spiritual soul’s powers animate our humanness. The active upper powers are our intellect (not to be confused with the cranial brain, which is merely the scriptural mouth sending out the product of that God-given intellect), free will, memory, and understanding (again, independent of our cranial brain). The lower powers of the spiritual soul aren’t material light, but use it instrumentally to control bodily functions. When the body dies, it loses the instrument (material light) by which it controls our primordial matter, but not the spiritual soul, which is its form. Let’s apply this understanding to man in the state of Original Justice.
§3:A:i—Aristotle’s Four Causes
Aristotle described the Four Causes to answer why something exists, has a certain character, or undergoes change. Here, I adapt those definitions to explain creation, including souls, from the moment of the Big Bang.
1) Material Cause: Energy created at the Big Bang, including all primordial energy and matter, the latter of which came into existence as a consequence of that energy.2) Formal Cause: The Son (Truth) and the Spirit (Truth penetrated, loved, and on fire for union and fruitfulness). Both Persons were sent by the Father to create, form, and guide Creation via natural laws.
Agents 1: Vegetative and Sensitive souls, which employ material light to direct all biological function, but guided to some as yet undefined degree through the power (not the indwelling) of the Light of the Holy Spirit.Agent 2: The rational spiritual soul, in which dwells the Holy Spirit of God, the graces of which overflow from the inner (spiritual) human heart which, in turn, overflows to the material light which in turn directs biological function to accurately reflect that overflow—whether good or bad (cf. Mt 6:22-23, 12:34; Mk 7:21-22; Prov 4:23, Rom 1:24).The importance of #2 is to put the soul’s role into context within the broader Formal Cause. Souls are agents of form. Not the Cause itself. EME is an instrument of the Agent.
3) Efficient Cause: The Father, who is the unsourced source of the Son and the Holy Spirit.4) Final Cause: The creation of Man to know, love (and to be loved by God), and love/serve Him for all eternity.
§3:A:ii—Luminous Bodies
§3:A:ii:a—Adam & Eve
According to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich:
[Adam and Eve ]were like two unspeakably noble and beautiful children, perfectly luminous, and clothed with beams of light as with a veil. From Adam’s mouth I saw issuing a broad stream of glittering light, and upon his forehead an expression of great majesty. Around his mouth played a sunbeam, but there was none around Eve’s. I saw Adam’s heart very much the same as in the men of the present day, but his breast was surrounded by rays of light [emphasis added]. In the middle of his heart, I saw a sparkling halo of glory. In it was a tiny figure as if holding something in its hand. I think it symbolized the Third Person [the Holy Spirit] of the Godhead.[87]
§3:A:ii:b—Transfiguration
Pope Benedict XVI believes all the significant events in Jesus’ life are timed to coincide with the Jewish festival calendar. He felt this timing linked each festival’s meaning to its fulfillment in the material reality of eternal Truth made flesh, and situated Jesus’ actions within the Covenant of Salt.[88] The healing of the blind man and the Transfiguration of Jesus (the miracle in which he and his garments were transformed into exceedingly bright light (Mt 17:2, Mk 9:2-3, Lk 9:29); both occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles.[89]
Scott Hahn also links the Transfiguration to the Feast of the Tabernacles. He links this Feast, which began as a celebration of the harvest, to the building of the Temple (the Tabernacles).[90] What did John tell us about the rebuilt temple? It was Jesus’ body (Jn 2:19-21)! The OT Temple/Tabernacle was God’s dwelling place in physical creation. John 1:14 literally translates into, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled [emphasis added] among us.”[91] The New Covenant Temple was Jesus’ salt / dust / clay of DNA, his structured bio-living water, and his human spiritual heart within which the Holy Spirit fully dwelt, and from which that overflow was given to man. See also here.
§4—The Nature of Spirits (the Angelic Realm)
§4:A—Genesis on the Creation of Light
When the Father said, “Let it be,” Creation was made through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, who is the final efficient cause[92] of all substantial form within creation. Genesis 1 reads:
(v.1) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” I believe this verse specifically refers to the Big Bang event itself. The formation of all subsequent matter begins with the Holy Spirit’s intervention, as is seen in verse 2.(v.2) “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” I believe this verse describes the Holy Spirit’s immediate work in forming and ordering what was created in verse 1. What was the Spirit’s first work as described in v. 3? To give spirits a substantial form.
Did this pure energy from which spirits were formed have mass? The answer to that question is that it is possible, but science does not yet exist to enable an estimate of the mass of something before 10-43[96] seconds (a duration of Planck time) after the Big Bang.[97] Since the mass of the universe grows with time, that additional duration between zero seconds and 10-43 seconds could be the difference between zero mass and extremely small mass.[98]
Why are verse 2 and verse 3 so closely intertwined? The theologian Francois-Xavier Durrwell provides a hint. He writes:
The Spirit is glory, he is the divine radiancy. From the fact that he is diffused in the world, he is manifested, just as the sun is seen by the light which it diffuses. The mystery comes out of itself and at the same time leads back . . . According to St Paul, the Spirit penetrates the depths of God (cf. 1 Cor 2:10f); he cries out in us ‘Abba! Father!’ He testifies that we are children of God (cf. Rom 8:16); he intercedes with God (cf. Rom 8:26f.); he distributes gifts to each one as he wills (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). He is not only the action of another and the gift made by another; he acts and distributes his gifts as a person who is free in his decisions. He constitutes a triad, together with God (the Father) and Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor 13:13), so much so that the personal meaning of the Spirit is forced upon us, just as for the Father and Christ. He is truly a person.[99]
Spirits were created to know God. But that knowing is inextricably linked to what Augustine tells us—we cannot love what we do not know (10 De Trin. 1-3, which also shows that the intellect in man is an image of the trinitarian God). This helps us understand why the Holy Spirit gave substantial form to the spirits, pure intellect, so early in creation history, in verse 3. Note: Every action of God involves all three Persons of the Trinity (see appropriation).
By the end of Day 1, the angelic realm, i.e., the waters, had been tested. The faithful spirits remained above the firmament. The spirits who chose to follow Satan were cast out and down from above the firmament. In the Creation of Angels: Day 2, the meaning of the two waters and the firmament are explained in some detail.
Another important note: It isn’t until day four that God creates luminous bodies in the sky to mark the distinction between day and night and to mark seasons, days, and years. This day includes the Sun and moon—the greater and lesser lights, respectively—along with the stars. The celestial bodies are positioned to illuminate the Earth and govern the cycles of day and night (Gen 1:14–19). Therefore, Day Four is not when spirits were formed. The Sun is the source of all electromagnetic radiation on Earth and, therefore, of biological life/function.[100] Becker’s entire book shows the truth of light’s role in the body’s function, growth, and healing.
§5—Conclusion
As discussed earlier, Aquinas posits that all creation would be brought into existence ex nihilo in an instant[101], which I consider to be the Big Bang. After ex nihilo creation, he terms the creation of plants as part of the “work of distinction”.[102] Aquinas classifies the creation of creatures as part of the “work of adornment”[103], neither of which are creatio ex nihilo.
It is becoming increasingly clear, scientifically, that EME plays an integral and instrumental role in the substantial form of all organic life, including that of rational man.
Regarding the power of the Holy Spirit, Durrwell states in the following quotes:
1) The begetting of the Son in this world, in the full power of the Spirit, is the synthesis of the work of creation from the beginning to the final resurrection of the dead.[104]2) Once only is Jesus seen to exult in the Spirit (cf. Lk 10:21), though the presence of the Spirit in him is constant: he speaks with authority, acts with power, and casts out devils through this power (cf. Lk 11:21) which is the Holy Spirit (cf. Mt 12:28).[105] For the Spirit himself is the agent of the incarnation. . . . who was made of flesh through the power of the same Spirit[106]. . . . In creating the world the Spirit imprints upon it a movement of evolution towards the climax which is the human person; in this creative movement he draws with him every human being. Jesus himself was led by the Spirit to personal fulfilment in death and resurrection[sic].[107] . . . With regard to these lifeless [primordial] elements, his power is imperative, not awaiting any consent. But towards the Church, almighty power is loving: it solicits, attracts and transforms by making the Church a bride. This union is one of inexpressible intimacy.[108]4) From the beginning, everything was created in Christ and for him, and in him all is completed; the action of the Father, in the power of the Spirit, is concerned wholly with the Son and culminates eternally in him. Heaven is the extension of the mystery of sonship.[109]5) The Spirit is the impulse of God in his omnipotence. . . . The ministry of Jesus, inaugurated “with the power of the Spirit” (cf. Lk 4:14), is developed under the action of this power which rests upon him (cf. Lk 4:16). “Anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38), Jesus performs mighty works (Lk 4:18). He shatters the power of devils by the finger [the Holy Spirit] of God, that is, by his power, a characteristic of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 9:1). ‘If it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the Kingdom of God has overtaken you’ (Lk 11:20). . . . Throughout the story of the Church the union of the two notions of Spirit and power is invariably maintained. The Gospel is spread “as power and as the Holy Spirit” (1 Th 1:5); preaching is a “demonstration of the power of the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:4): people submit to the “obedience of faith” by the power of “signs and wonders”, by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 15:19; 2 Cor 12:12; Gal 3:2-5). The apostles “boldly” bear witness to Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit (cf. Acts 4:31 and passim). Among them, Stephen is “filled with grace and power . . . filled with the Holy Spirit” (cf. Acts 6:8; 7:55). The faithful are “powerfully strengthened by the Spirit” (cf. Eph 3:16) who gives them “power” to confess the Lord Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 12:3) and to observe God’s law (cf. Rom 8:2f.).[110]6) The Spirit is a pervading power. He appears in the form of tongues of fire: the tongue a symbol of communication, fire speaking of divine power. . . . The Gospel which “is the power of God” (Rom 1:16), spreads “by the power of the Spirit” (Rom 15:19; 1 Th 1:5); it is “the Good News of the glory” (2 Cor 4:6), but the Spirit is the glory of God. The words of the apostles are “a demonstration of the power of the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:4): they express “spiritual things spiritually” (1 Cor 2:13). The one who is the soul of the Church is also the soul [see Mystical Body of Christ] of her apostolate.[111]
If God did not direct every aspect of creation, including its form, why would each component of creation owe its blessings to God (cf. Ps 148:7, 10; Ps 150:6; Rev 5:13; Dan 3:79–81)? Even our very existence after the fall, when God could not, would not express/send the Son and His Spirit into a fallen/disordered/no longer very good creation, is maintained by the power of the HS. See section “Is Creation Itself an Expression of God?” and the section that follows it.
Jesus tells us that even the hairs on our heads are counted (Mt 10:30, Lk 12:7). What determines that count? As we’ve seen above, material light is directed by the spiritual soul and, in the case of Adam and Eve in the state of original justice, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—Divine Light.
We know that an organism deprived of EME inevitably dies. Yet the spiritual soul, which is not a duality, never dies because it is subsistent. Hildegard tells us that the soul has a fiery nature. A spirit within eternity does not generate heat. So the spiritual soul uses the EME instrumentally, but is not essential to it.
The essential difference is this: both vegetative and sensitive souls, as Aquinas teaches, function entirely through EME, but are given form by the power of the Spirit—not by an indwelling. The rational soul is given form by the Breath of Divine Light of the HS, indwelling within the spiritual soul, which overflows and acts/directs via natural EME.
§6—Endnotes:
[1] Austriaco, Nicanor Pier Giorgio, “Defending Adam After Darwin: On the Origin of Sapiens as a Natural Kind,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 92, n. 2 (2018): 337-352, https://doi.org/10.5840/acpq201831145.
[2] Cf. Emmett O’Regan, Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition (Belfast, Ireland: Seraphim Press, 2011), Kindle Edition, Kindle Locations 5163-5221, ISBN: 978–0–9569558–0–7.
[3] For example, Bollore, Michel-Yves & Oliver Bonnassies, God, the Science, the Evidence, trans. Rebecca M. West and Christine Elizabeth Jones (Luxembourg, Palomar, 2025), Kindle Edition, eISBN: 978-9-99878-241-9 ; Lennox, John C., Cosmic Chemistry: Do God and Science Mix? (London: Lion Books, 2021), Kindle Edition, eISBN: 978 0 7459 8141 3 ; Meyer, Stephen C., Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2013), Kindle Edition, ePUB ISBN: 978-0-06207-149-1 ; Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, Epub Edition ISBN: 9780061894213 ; William A.Dembski & Winston Ewert, The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities, Second Edition (Seattle: Discovery Institute Press, 2023), Kindle Edition, ePUB ISBN: 978-1-63712-036-1 ; Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York, NY: Touchstone published by Simon and Schuster, 1998), Kindle Edition, eISBN: 978-0-743-21485-8.; and from the perspective of Thomas Aquinas: Michael Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution (British Columbia: The Chartwell Press, 2017), ISBN: 9-780991-98805-1.
[4] Mary Gabriel, Love and Capital. Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution, (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011), pp. 504-505 ; and Jonathan Sperber, Karl Marx: a nineteenth-century life, (WW Norton & Company, 2013), pp. 396, 546-47, ISBN: 9780871403544 ; both cited in Paul Kengor, The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism’s Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration (TAN Books), Kindle Edition, p. 92.
[5] Quoted in Barry Lee Woolley, Adherents of Permanent Revolution: A History of the Fourth (Trotskyist) International (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999), pp. 4-5, cited in Kengor, The Devil and Marx, p. 118.
[6] Among others, see Woolley, Adherents of Permanent Revolution, p. 5.
[7] In Vladamir Lenin’s, The State and Revolution, he writes: “And so, in the first phase of communist society (usually called socialism) “bourgeois law” is not abolished in its entirety, but only in part, only in proportion to the economic revolution so far attained, i.e., only in respect of the means of production. . . . Socialism converts them into common property. . . . when a learned professor, followed by the philistine, followed in turn by the Tseretelis and Chernovs, talks of wild utopias, of the demagogic promises of the Bolsheviks, of the impossibility of “introducing” socialism, it is the higher stage, or phase, of communism he has in mind.” See https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm#s3:~:text=apparently%20reigns%20supreme.-,But%20when,-Lassalle%2C%20having%20in.
[8] Bollore, Michel-Yves & Oliver Bonnassies, God, the Science, the Evidence, trans. Rebecca M. West and Christine Elizabeth Jones (Luxembourg, Palomar, 2025), Kindle Edition, pps. 127-178, eISBN: 978-9-99878-241-9 ; Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, pps. 49, 449, Epub Edition ISBN: 9780061894213.
[9] Paul Kengor, The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism’s Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration (TAN Books), Kindle Edition, p. 150.
[10] Bollore & Bonnassies, God, the Science, the Evidence, pps. 128, 153-180.
[11] Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, I, Q. 118, A. 1, ad. 3, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1118.htm.
[12] Andrew A. Marino, and Robert O. Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, (Belcher: Cassandra Publishing, 2010), pp. 3-4.
[13] Within Christian theology, subsistent becomes particularly important when discussing the nature of God and divine persons. In trinitarian theology, relations “subsist” when they function as possessors of attributes and agents of divine deeds (Reinhard Hütter, Aquinas on Transubstantiation: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, ed. Matthew Levering and Thomas Joseph White, Thomistic Ressourcement Series (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2019), 13:31).
[14] Dresselhaus, T., Sprunck, S., & Wessel, G. M., “Fertilization Mechanisms in Flowering Plants,” Current biology: CB 26, no. 3 (2016): R125–R139, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.032.
[15] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, I, Q. 118, A. 1, co., ad.4, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1118.htm.
[16] Dresselhaus, T., Sprunck, S., & Wessel, G. M., “Fertilization Mechanisms in Flowering Plants,” Current biology: CB 26, no. 3 (2016): R125–R139, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.032.
[17] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, I, Q. 118, A. 1, ad. 4, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1118.htm.
[18] Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, I, Q. 54, A. 5, co.
[19] Vladimir L. Voeikov, “Biological Significance of Active Oxygen-Dependent Processes in Aqueous Systems,” in Water and the Cell, ed. Gerald H. Pollack, Ivan L. Cameron, Denys N. Wheatly (The Netherlands: Springer, 2006), pp. 287-297.
[20] Voeikov, “Biological Significance of Active Oxygen-Dependent Processes in Aqueous Systems,” pp. 287-297.
[21] John Hardon, “Omnipresence,” in Modern Catholic Dictionary (Bardstown: Eternal Life Publishing, 2008), 389, ISBN: 978-0-9672989-1-7.
[22] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs, trans. Robert Cunningham, Jerry Dybdal, & Ron Miller, ed. Matthew Fox (Santa Fe, NM: Inner Traditions International/Bear & Company, 1987), Location 1888, ebook ISBN: 978-1-59143-818-2.
[23] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs, trans. Robert Cunningham, Jerry Dybdal, & Ron Miller, ed. Matthew Fox (Santa Fe, NM: Inner Traditions International/Bear & Company, 1987), Locations 2214-2217, ebook ISBN: 978-1-59143-818-2.
[24] Werner R. Loewenstein, The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), Kindle Edition, Locations 160-162, eISBN: 978-0190283629.
[25] Loewenstein, Touchstone of Life, Location 311.
[26] Werner, Touchstone of Life, Locations 868-870.
[27] Werner, Touchstone of Life, Locations 627-628.
[28] Mae-Wan Ho, The Rainbow and the Worm, The Physics of Organisms, (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 1993, 2nd ed 1998; reprinted 2000; 2001, 2003), pps. 37, 40, 52, 130, 164, 169.
[29] Mae-Wan Ho, Zhou Yu-Ming, Julian Haffegee, et al., “The Liquid Crystalline Organism and Biological Water,” Water and the Cell, eds. Gerald H. Pollack, Ivan L. Cameron, Denys N. Wheatly (The Netherlands: Springer, 2006), 219-221.
[30] Robert Becker, Andrew Marino, Electromagnetism & Life, (Belcher, LA: Cassandra Publishing, 2010), pps. 52-54, 68-69, 86-89, 101-105, 114-115, 126-127, 149-152, 163-164, 182-186, 192-194; ISBN: 978-0-9818549-0-8.
[31] Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, p. 115.
[32] Mae-Wan Ho, The Rainbow and the Worm, The Physics of Organisms, (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 1993, 2nd ed 1998, reprinted 2000, 2001, 2003), pps. 37, 40, 52, 130, 164, 169.
[33] Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, p. 121.
[34] Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, p. 135.
[35] David Muehsam and Carlo Ventura, “Life Rhythm as a Symphony of Oscillatory Patterns: Electromagnetic Energy and Sound Vibration Modulates Gene Expression for Biological Signaling and Healing,” Global Advances in Health and Medicine 3, no. 2 (March 2014): 40–55, https://doi.org/10.7453/gahmj.2014.008 ; Vladimir L. Voeikov, “Biological Significance of Active Oxygen-Dependent Processes in Aqueous Systems,” Water and the Cell, eds. Gerald H. Pollack, Ivan L. Cameron, Denys N. Wheatly (The Netherlands: Springer, 2006), 286-288, 296, ISBN: 978-1-4020-4926-2.
[36] M.K. Srour, J.L. Fogel, K.T. Yamaguchi, A.P. Montgomery, A.K. Izuhara, et al., “Natural large-scale regeneration of rib cartilage in a mouse model,” Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 30 (2015): 297–308, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.2326, PMID: 25142306 ; S.T. Kuwahara, M.A. Serowoky, V. Vakhshori, N. Tripuraneni, N.V. Hegde, J.R. Lieberman, J.G. Crump, & F.V. Mariani, “Sox9+ messenger cells orchestrate large-scale skeletal regeneration in the mammalian rib,” eLife, 8, e40715 (April 15, 2019): 1-2, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40715 ; Y. Kawanabe, S. Nagata, “A new method of costal cartilage harvest for total auricular reconstruction: part I. avoidance and prevention of intraoperative and postoperative complications and problems,” Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 117 (2006): 2011–2018, https://doi.org/10.1097/01.prs.0000210015.28620.1c ; I.R. Munro, and B. Guyuron, “Split-rib cranioplasty,” Annals of Plastic Surgery 7 (1981): 341–346, https://doi.org/10.1097/00000637-198111000-00001.
[37] Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, pp.140, 146.
[38] Milias-Argeitis, Andreas, Sean Summers, Jacob Stewart-Ornstein, Ignacio Zuleta, David Pincus, Hana El-Samad, Mustafa Khammash, and John Lygeros, “In Silico Feedback for in Vivo Regulation of a Gene Expression Circuit.” Nature Biotechnology 29, no. 12 (2011): 1114–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2018 ; Shimizu-Sato, Sae, Enamul Huq, James M Tepperman, and Peter H Quail. “A Light-Switchable Gene Promoter System,” Nature Biotechnology 20, no. 10 (2002): 1041–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt734.
[39] Mae-Wan Ho, The Rainbow and the Worm, The Physics of Organisms, (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 1993, 2nd ed 1998; reprinted 2000; 2001, 2003), pps. 37, 40, 52, 130, 164, 169.
[40] Rosenberg, B., and Postow, E. “Semiconduction in proteins and lipids—its possible biological import,” Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 158, (1969): 161-190, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1969.tb56221.x ; Marino, A.A., Becker, R.O., and Bachman, C.H., “Dielectric determination of bound water of bone,” Phys. Med. Biol. 12, no. 3 (1967): 367-378, https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/12/3/309 ; all cited in Marino, Andrew, Electromagnetism & Life (Belcher, LA: Cassandra Publishing, 2010), Kindle Edition, p.74.
[41] Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, pp. 149.
[42] N.A. Temuryants, V.S. Martynyuk, and E.N. Chuyan, “Influence of Electromagnetic Fields of Extremely Different Frequency Diapason on Infradian Rhythms of Physiological Processes,” Biophotonics and Coherent Systems in Biology. ed. L.V. Beloussov, V.L. Voeikov, V.S. Martynyuk, (New York: Springer, 2007), Kindle Edition, Locations 2499-2500.
[43] L.V. Beloussov, V.L. Voeikov, “From Mitogenetic Rays to Biophotons,” Biophotonics and Coherent Systems in Biology, ed. L.V. Beloussov, V.L. Voeikov, V.S. Martynyuk (New York: Springer, 2007), Kindle Edition, Locations 260-264, eISBN: 978-0387-28417-0.
[44] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs, trans. Robert Cunningham, Jerry Dybdal, & Ron Miller, ed. Matthew Fox (Santa Fe, NM: Inner Traditions International/Bear & Company, 1987), Locations 657-658, ebook ISBN: 978-1-59143-818-2.
[45] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias, ed. Bernard McGinn, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), p. 98, ISBN: 0-8091-3130-7 (pbk).
[46] Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, as recorded in the Journals of Clemens Brentano, arranged and edited by Carl E Schmoger CSSR, Vol 1 of 4, English translation 1914 by Desclée De Brouwer & Co. (Charlotte, NC: Tan Books, 1979, 1986, 2004), p. 6, ISBN: Vol. 1 978-0-89555-787-2.
[47] Cf. George Gilder, Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth Will Revolutionize Our World, (New York: Free Press: A Division of Simon & Schuster, 2000), pps. 3, 30, 58, ISBN: 0-7432-1594-x.
[48] Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, p. 14, Epub Edition ISBN: 9780061894213.
[49] Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, p. 16.
[50] Meyer roughly defines biological information as an arrangement or string of characters, i.e., binary code, that specifically accomplishes a particular outcome or performs a communication function, thus, conveying an intelligent source (Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, p. 86).
[51] Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books, 1995), Kindle edition, loc. 510 (p.17 in hardcopy) ; cited in Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, p. 12, Epub Edition ISBN: 9780061894213.
[52] George Gilder, Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth Will Revolutionize Our World, (New York: Free Press: A Division of Simon & Schuster, 2000), pps. 3, 30, 58, ISBN: 0-7432-1594-x ; cited in Meyer, Stephen C., Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), Kindle Edition, p. 14, Epub Edition ISBN: 9780061894213.
[53] Zhang, Chen, Drew Maslar, Taylor F. Minckley, Kate D LeJeune, and Yan Qin, “Spontaneous, synchronous zinc spikes oscillate with neural excitability and calcium spikes in primary hippocampal neuron culture,” Journal of neurochemistry, 157 (2021): 1838–1849, https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15334 ; Zhang, Chen, Anna Dischler, K. Glover, and Yan Qin, “Neuronal signalling of zinc: from detection and modulation to function,” Open Biology 12, (2022): https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.220188 ; and Alshawaf, A., Sarah A. Alnassar, and F. Al-Mohanna, “The interplay of intracellular calcium and zinc ions in response to electric field stimulation in primary rat cortical neurons in vitro,” Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 17, (2023): https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2023.1118335.
[54] A. Kim, Miranda L. Bernhardt, B. Kong, Richard W. Ahn, S. Vogt, T. Woodruff, & T. O’Halloran, “Zinc sparks are triggered by fertilization and facilitate cell cycle resumption in mammalian eggs,” ACS chemical biology 6, no. 7 (2011): 716-723, https://doi.org/10.1021/cb200084y ; Kong BY, Duncan FE, Que EL, Xu Y, Vogt S, O’Halloran TV, et al., “The inorganic anatomy of the mammalian preimplantation embryo and the requirement of zinc during the first mitotic divisions,” Dev Dyn. 244, no. 8 (2015): 935–47, https://doi.org/10.1002/dvdy.24285 PMID: 25903945; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4617753 ; Que EL, Bleher R, Duncan FE, Kong BY, Gleber SC, Vogt S, et al. Quantitative mapping of zinc fluxes in the mammalian egg reveals the origin of fertilization-induced zinc sparks. Nat Chem. 2015; 7(2):1309. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2133 PMID: 25615666; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4315321 ; last three citations were cited in Wozniak KL, Bainbridge RE, Summerville DW, Tembo M, Phelps WA, Sauer ML, et al., “Zinc protection of fertilized eggs is an ancient feature of sexual reproduction in animals,” PLoS Biol 18, no. 7 (2020): 2, e3000811, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000811.
[55] Francesca E. Duncan, Emily L. Que, E., Nan Zhang, Teresa K. Woodruff, Thomas V. O’Halloran, & Eve C. Feinberg, “The zinc spark is an inorganic signature of human egg activation,” Sci Rep 6, no. 24737 (2016): https://doi.org/10.1038/srep24737.
[56] Elise Cutts, “Cells Use ‘Bioelectricity’ To Coordinate and Make Group Decisions,” Quanta Magazine, January 20, 2026, https://web.archive.org/web/20260201185704/https://www.quantamagazine.org/cells-use-bioelectricity-to-coordinate-and-make-group-decisions-20260112/.
[57] Stanley, S. A., & Friedman, J. M.. Electromagnetic Regulation of Cell Activity. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine 9, no. 5 (2019): a034322, https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a034322.
[58] Sun, Li‐Yi, Dean-Kuo Hsieh, Tzai Chiu Yu, Hsien‐Tai Chiu, Sheng‐Fen Lu, Geng‐Hong Luo, Tom Kuo, & Oscar Lee Chiou, “Effect of pulsed electromagnetic field on the proliferation and differentiation potential of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells,” Bioelectromagnetics 30, no. 4 (02/09/2009): 251-260, https://doi.org/10.1002/bem.20472.
[59] Marco Tosatti, “The Shroud is not a fake,” Vatican Insider, La Stampa, Dec. 12, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20181019185230/https://www.lastampa.it/2011/12/12/vaticaninsider/eng/inquiries-and-interviews/the-shroud-is-not-a-fake-jdiKKEyJ0uDsE4XpV13TcK/pagina.html.
[60] Gaudium et Spes 14 § 1.
[61] Hildegard of Bingen, The Book of Divine Works, ed. Gregory F. LaNave, trans. Nathaniel M. Campbell, vol. 18, The Fathers of the Church: Mediaeval Continuation (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2018), pp. 10-11, ISBN: 978-0-8132-3129-7.
[62] Helmut Posch, The True Conception of the World According to Hildegard von Bingen, trans. Dean H. Kenyon, (Mount Jackson: The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, 2015), p. 131.
[63] Gaudium et Spes 14 § 1.
[64] Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, trans. Sr. Benedict Davies (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint by Cincinnati, OH: Servant Books, 2006), pps. 18-19, 25-26, 49, 71-72, 81, 118, ISBN: 978-86716-785-6 (pbk).
[65] Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Divinum Illud Munus (On The Holy Spirit), (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1943), n.3, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_09051897_divinum-illud-munus.html.
[66] Andrew A. Marino, and Robert O. Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, (Belcher: Cassandra Publishing, 2010), Kindle Edition, Location 111, ISBN: 978-0-9818549-0-8 (pbk).
[67] Andrew A. Marino, and Robert O. Becker, Electromagnetism & Life, (Belcher: Cassandra Publishing, 2010), Kindle Edition, Location 111, see also pps. 55-60, ISBN: 978-0-9818549-0-8 (pbk).
[68] Jesus curing the blind man by rubbing dust and spittle in his eyes is an example of an action described as theandric, i.e., a joint action of the humanity of Jesus together with the Divinity of the Son. “The mixing of the dust and spittle was the action of human nature, but it was an action inseparable from the action of the Divine Nature in union with the Person where resided the power to give sight to the blind” (Sheen, The Mystical Body of Christ, 44-45.
[69] Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York, NY: Touchstone Book published by Simon-Schuster, ePub version by Free Press, 1996), Kindle Edition, p. 14, eISBN: 978-0-743-21485-8.
[70] Aquinas employs the phrase, “Per opus creationis instituta est tota creatura quantum ad esse suum informe [Through the work of creation, all creation was established as to its formless being],” (Super Sententiarum Librum (Super Sent. Lib.), 2 d. 12 q. 1 a. 5 co, Super Sent. Lib. 2 d. 15 q. I pr.). Thomas recognizes the first article of the Creed speaks about opus creationis (Super Sent. Lib. 2 d. 17 q. 2 a. 2 arg. 3), cited in Michael Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution (Southwestern British Columbia, Canada: The Chartwell Press, 2017), p. 54, footnote #56; ISBN: 9-780991-98805-1 (paperback).
[71] The creation of plants is attributed to the work of distinction (cf. Aquinas, ST. 1, Q. 66-74, cited in Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 55).
[72] The creation of animals would fall within the work of adornment (cf. Aquinas, ST. 1, Q.66-74). In the first creation out of nothing (the Big Bang?), matter with some general form is made at once. Whereas in the work of formation (further classified as distinction and adornment), totally new substantial forms (the various types of souls) are immediately and supernaturally infused into living matter [matter such as dust/stone of the earth] by God into that which was produced in the first creation. Everything made after the first creation falls within the six-day period described in Genesis 1 (Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 55).
[73] cf. Lennox, Six Days of Creation, pp. 66-68.
[74] F. Duane Lindsey, “Leviticus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 191; ISBN: 0-88207-812-7 ; Note: Water used for ritual purification (e.g., water within the six stone jars at Cana) had to be ritually and literally clean. Therefore, nothing organic (cf. Lev 11:36) could have been in the water before the miracle.
[75] Zack Shavin, “Why ‘stone’ water jars at the wedding in Cana of Galilee,” Land of Israel Tours, http://www.landofisraeltours.com/cana-water-jar/, February 01, 2016.
[76] Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 55, footnotes 56-59).
[77] John A. Hardon, “Appropriations” in Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fourth Edition (Bardstown, KY: Eternal Life, 4th edition 2008), p. 38, ISBN: 978-0-9672989-1-7 (hardcover).
[78] Catherine of Sienna, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke, O.P (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), p. 51, ISBN: 0-8091-2233-2.
[79] Zhang, Chen, Drew Maslar, Taylor F. Minckley, Kate D LeJeune, and Yan Qin, “Spontaneous, synchronous zinc spikes oscillate with neural excitability and calcium spikes in primary hippocampal neuron culture,” Journal of neurochemistry, 157 (2021): 1838–1849, https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15334 ; Zhang, Chen, Anna Dischler, K. Glover, and Yan Qin, “Neuronal signalling of zinc: from detection and modulation to function,” Open Biology 12, (2022): https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.220188 ; and Alshawaf, A., Sarah A. Alnassar, and F. Al-Mohanna, “The interplay of intracellular calcium and zinc ions in response to electric field stimulation in primary rat cortical neurons in vitro,” Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 17, (2023): https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2023.1118335.
[80] Curtis Mitch, “Introduction to the Gospels,” in The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 105.
[81] Akagi, S., Matsukawa, K., & Takahashi, S., “Factors Affecting the Development of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Embryos in Cattle,” The Journal of Reproduction and Development 60, (2014): 329-335, https://doi.org/10.1262/jrd.2014-057.
[82] Cf. Pius XII, Humani Generis: DS 3896; Paul VI, CPG § 8; Lateran Council V (1513): DS 1440, cited in Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), Kindle Edition published by USCCB in 2016, n. 366.
[83] 1 Thess 5:23, cited in Catholic Church, Catechism, n. 367.
[84] Cf. Council of Constantinople IV (870): DS 657, cited in Catholic Church, Catechism, n. 367.
[85] Cf. Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: DS 3005 ; GS 22 § 5 ; Humani generis: DS 3891 ; cited in Catholic Church, Catechism, n. 367.
[86] Cf. Jer 31:33; Deut 6:5; 29:3; Isa 29:13; Ezek 36:26; Mt 6:21; Lk 8:15; Rom 5:5 ; cited in Catholic Church, Catechism, n. 368.
[87] Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, as recorded in the Journals of Clemens Brentano, arranged and edited by Carl E Schmoger CSSR, Vol 1 of 4, pp. 6-8 ; cf. St. Hildegard of Bingen, quoted in an unpublished translation of Helmut Posch, Das wahre Weltbild nach Hildegard von Bingen (The Creation of the World According to Hildegard of Bingen) Deutsche Bibliothek (CIP–Einheitsaufnahme, Aufl. – A-4880 St. Georgen, 1998), translated by Gina O’Brien for the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation (Mt. Jackson, VA: 2009), 40/55.
[88] Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth Part One, trans. Adrian J. Walker (New York: Doubleday, 2007), Kindle Edition, p. 306-307.
[89] Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth Part One, trans. Adrian J. Walker (New York: Doubleday, 2007), Kindle Edition, p. 306-307.
[90] Scott Hahn, “Temple, Sign, and Sacrament: Towards a New Perspective on the Gospel of John,” (Steubenville: Letter & Spirit, 2008), Vol. 4, 114.
[91] Scott Hahn, “Temple, Sign, and Sacrament: Towards a New Perspective on the Gospel of John,” (Steubenville: Letter & Spirit, 2008), Vol. 4, pps. 108, 113.
[92] Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Divinum Illud Munus (On The Holy Spirit), (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1943), n.3, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_09051897_divinum-illud-munus.html.
[93] E. Klein, Angels and Creation, in Augustine’s Theology of Angels (Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press, 2018), pps. 10-56, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108335652.002.
[94] Klein, Angels and Creation, pps. 10-56.
[95] Klein, Angels and Creation, pps. 10-56.
[96] A negative exponent applied to a temporal interval (e.g., 10−𝑥 seconds) denotes a duration shorter than one second. As the magnitude of the negative exponent increases, the corresponding interval decreases proportionally, yielding progressively shorter time spans.
[97] Bollore, Michel-Yves & Oliver Bonnassies, God, the Science, the Evidence, trans. Rebecca M. West and Christine Elizabeth Jones (Luxembourg, Palomar, 2025), Kindle Edition, p. 104, eISBN: 978-9-99878-241-9.
[98] cf. Francisco Pavía, Marcelino Alvarez. Gravity, the origin of the mass in the Cosmos, PREPRINT (Version 4) available at Research Square (02 June 2021): 3-5, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-220624/v4.
[99] Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, trans. Sr. Benedict Davies (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint by Cincinnati, OH: Servant Books, 2006), pps. 192, 194, ISBN: 978-86716-785-6 (pbk).
[100] Cf. Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden, The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life (New York, NY: Harper, 1985).
[101] Aquinas employs the phrase, “Per opus creationis instituta est tota creatura quantum ad esse suum informe [i.e., Through the work of creation, all creation was established as to its formless being],” (Super Sententiarum Librum (Super Sent. Lib.), 2 d. 12 q. 1 a. 5 co, Super Sent. Lib. 2 d. 15 q. I pr.). Thomas recognizes the first article of the Creed speaks about opus creationis (Super Sent. Lib. 2 d. 17 q. 2 a. 2 arg. 3), cited in Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 54, footnote #56.
[102] cf. Aquinas, ST. 1, Q. 66-74 ; cited in Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 55.
[103] cf. Aquinas, ST. 1, Q.66-74 ; cited in Chaberek, Aquinas and Evolution, p. 55.
[104] Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, trans. Sr. Benedict Davies (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint by Cincinnati, OH: Servant Books, 2006), pp. 25-26, ISBN: 978-86716-785-6 (pbk).
[105] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, pp. 42-43.
[106] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 94.
[107] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, p.133-136.
[108] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 137-143.
[109] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 178-179.
[110] Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 12-14.