The Human Being

The human being is made up of three bodies and the Spirit

The three bodies which make up the human being are represented in the diagram below with the Spirit at the top. It should be noted that the position of each rectangle represents the subtlety of the body. At the bottom is the physical body with all the heaviness of earthly matter. At the very top is the FIRE which is beyond all matter in an ineffable subtlety, that of the Spirit, divine Love.

The physical body

The physical body is our body on earth, the one everyone can see.
It is made up of physical matter, of the same nature as our planet Earth.
It is equipped with five senses (hearing, smell, sight, taste, touch)
This body responds to natural physical needs such as thirst, hunger, the instinct to reproduce…

The psychic body

The psychic body is our animal body with its emotions, its desires, its affections.
It is our mortal soul, so it will not last forever.
It is the body of our social “entity”, of what others think of us. It is the image we project around us, the one whereby people see us and appreciate us. Thus, this body projects our psychic image somewhat like our physical body projects our physical image.
Animals also have a psychic body.
It is made up of psychic matter, of the same nature as the Terrestrial Paradise and the Purgatories.
It is through it that we inherit the defects of our ancestors, along with concupiscence. So, it is in it that all our bad tendencies are found, tendencies which cause us so many problems.
It is a real battlefield in which a major battle is being waged between the good angel and the bad angel. The bad angel works with all our faults (capital sins). The good angel works with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and with the grace that comes to us from Baptism. It is a battle of a major importance, for the stakes are nothing less than our eternal fate! Thus, this requires that we maintain a constant vigilance over ourselves and make continuous efforts to work our interior reform. This battle goes on during our whole life.

The spiritual body

The spiritual body is our most subtle body.
It is our superior soul, immortal, which belongs to us forever. It is the one of which Jesus speaks in the Gospels.
It is the body of what we are in God’s eyes, of “who” we are for Him. It is our spiritual “entity” which we will keep for eternity; hence the importance of making it beautiful!
It is made of spiritual matter, of the same nature as the Celestial Paradise and the Abyss.
The Spirit of God dwells in it.
Animals do not have a spiritual body.
If the spiritual body is receptive to God, it exercises a positive and ascending influence over our psychic body and helps to overcome difficulties.
It is the body of our will. This latter gives us the freedom to accept God and to open ourselves to His love, or to turn away from Him by consenting to all the disorderly upsurges of our physical or psychic bodies.

Our efforts of will must strive to establish our spiritual body in those lofty heights where the charms of the physical and psychic bodies no longer affect it, there where everything is purity, joy, peace, felicity, in order to reach the point of living Heaven on earth. This is achieved through the generous acceptance of annoyances and crosses.
The spiritual body, already full of light because of baptism becomes even more so with every successive victory: surpassing oneself and detachments of all kinds, in order to maintain humility and purity in all its forms (feelings, intention, purity of the body…) Constantly fed (every day) by Mass, prayer and all spiritual things, it ascends and soars to God, being always stronger, more beautiful, happier, more transparent and more crystal-like.

Our Mother said that this could be verified, for example, when someone, bedridden and enduring great suffering, lives this with serenity and even helps those who come to visit him or her and who do not have as much to bear. This person lives in God’s love and ascends more and more; however, this does not prevent him or her from having to undergo struggles.
If our spiritual body turns away from God, it loses its light and is then in darkness. It is stifled, smothered, without any spiritual life. Confession can give it back its whiteness, but it will need to be purified for a long time before becoming crystal-like.

The Spirit

The Spirit is a ray of the glory of God which is proper to each human being.
It is Love, Fire, Almightiness or Omnipotence, infinite Goodness, Strength, Light which enlightens the children of God…
It is not made of matter and is the only element of the human being which is not material.
Animals do not possess the Spirit.
It is situated in the heart of our hearts, in the innermost depths of our being.
It is in us, but it does not belong to us. It is entrusted to us so that we might build ourselves in its likeness.
It is eternal and indestructible, for it is a part of God. It is FIRE.

The heart

The heart is the connecting point of our three bodies.
At the physical level, the heart is the central organ which draws the blood and then thrusts or pushes it to all the other organs.
At the interior level, the heart tends to become attached. Once it has become attached to something in particular, we then give this thing an importance, and it can quickly become the focal point of our preoccupations. Thus, somewhat in the same way as for the physical heart, the inferior heart draws our attention and our strength towards our treasure and it also thrusts our forces forward to draw us closer to the coveted good. Jesus said:
“Have Heaven in your hearts and your hearts in Heaven near your treasure. Because a heart, whether good or wicked, is with what you consider your dear treasure.”

(The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta, 1st edition, volume 3, p. 13.)
Thus, the heart is always open to becoming attached either to the things of Heaven or to those here below. It uplifts itself towards Heaven through mental prayer and intimate exchanges with God, and it lowers itself by opening itself to the dissolute and selfish influences of the physical and psychic bodies which make of it a slave. The more a heart is pure and free from all earthly attachments, the higher it will soar and taste the purest joys.

References:

Vie d'Amour Appendice IV, page 330.
Vie d'Amour Appendice V, pages 13, 15, 63, 81.
Audio recording of a talk by Marie-Paule on November 27, 1991 - b.
Booklet Nos Trois Corps et le mystère du coeur by Marc Bosquart, Éditions Le Nouveau Monde, 2000.
L'homme total dans la terre totale, 33.