Dear Brianne,

It's a mystery as to why people suffer the way they do in this life. We will probably understand the whole story and how it all fits together in the next life. But for now, we accept that in a fallen world, suffering can act as medicine against our wayward human nature and can be offered in union with Christ's sacrifice for the salvation of souls. You can make that offering for your mother since she can't do it herself.

Your mother is still very much alive, and her soul is with her body as it always has been. She has a brain disease. Her behaviors and personality alterations are indicative of what a diseased brain does to a person. 

Higher brain function, however, is not a person's soul. The soul is the form and life principle of the body, which is separated only when there is irreversible cessation of a heartbeat and brain stem activity.

Your mother is now disabled but still very much your mother. Love her as you always have. She may or may not actively reciprocate that love for the rest of her life, but God appreciates your efforts, and so will she, if not now, then after the Resurrection, if she is saved by God's grace. 

For more information about this disease and the body-soul connection, check out the National Catholic Bioethics Center at NCBCenter.org.

Thanks for writing, and God bless!