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Pope Saint John Paul II devoted Wednesday audiences, starting in September 1979 and culminating in November 1984, to a collection of talks collectively known as the Theology of the Body. George Weigel, writer of Witness to Hope, his excellent biography of the Pontiff, has expressed his perception that these 130 catechetical addresses “represent a type of theological time bomb set to go off, with dramatic penalties, someday within the third millennium of the Church.”
Weigel’s prediction has but to be realized, although we could take some comfort in the truth that the third millennium continues to be younger. At the identical time, what John Paul needed to say in these addresses is extra related to the current world than it was when it was first delivered.
St. Thomas Aquinas as soon as remarked that he made prudent use of his research time by being taught from two sources that can’t lie: scripture and nature. In the modern world, each these time-honored and dependable sources have been changed by the ephemeral and unreliable sources of politics and beliefs. The Theology of the Body is solidly anchored in scripture and in a cautious examination of the character of the human being as an individual.
In in the present day’s ethical local weather, intercourse and marriage have been severed from their historic roots in scripture and in nature. Same-sex marriage, intercourse modifications, radical individualism, and a concerted try to undermine the standard household of 1 mom and one father have confirmed to be contentious and have contributed to quite a lot of private confusion.
If there may be one sentence which was articulated by JPII that speaks to the essence of the Theology of the Body, it’s the following:
The physique, and it alone, is able to making seen what’s invisible: the non secular and the divine. It was created to switch into the seen actuality of the world the thriller hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus be an indication of reality.
As the results of omitting any relation to God, rejecting the goals of nature, and decreasing man to a self-absorbed particular person, intercourse turns into one thing to be manipulated, whereas marriage appears outdated.
JPII, many times, returns to the “solitude” of Adam. The implication right here is that being alone will not be fulfilling. Aloneness is a state of incompleteness. In the current world, loneliness is pandemic. In order to be relieved of this sad situation, individuals typically worsen their state of affairs by resorting to medicine, suicide, and different counterproductive methods. The aloneness of Adam provides him a robust sense of his want for a associate. His solitude is remedied by the looks of Eve, who calls forth his love. The two are equal in humanity, although complementary in mission. Together they enter into marriage which produces a household. Adam and Eve are the prototypes of the married couple. Both notice their bigger and extra full self by love and dedication.
Pope John Paul II will not be within the least naïve. He explains how the primary mother and father’ rejection of their finitude and option to be god precipitated their banishment from Eden. Their Original Sin, thus, precipitated them to fall from grace and wrestle to recapture the unique love they’d for one another. We are wounded creatures and mustn’t accept our wounded state however to aspire to the state that God supposed us to take pleasure in. Therefore, we must always not despair of life’s vexations, however select the trail, tough as it might be, to return to God. The Theology of the Body explains that our damaged state will not be the traditional one.
Sex is way extra significant and highly effective than most individuals notice. It is a superb reward and due to this fact requires our full accountability for its correct use. The physique will not be one thing that may be lowered to the fabric. Through the physique, one other world shines by. This world is one by which God expresses His love for us.
Sex, due to this fact, is expressed not solely between man and lady, but additionally between man and God. “The human physique,” John Paul notes, “oriented interiorly by the honest reward of the individual, reveals not solely its masculinity or femininity on the bodily airplane, however reveals additionally such a price and such a magnificence as to transcend the purely bodily dimension of sexuality.”
Men and ladies are embodied creatures who fulfill themselves by beneficiant love. They are supposed to be complementary not confrontational. Disharmony between the sexes happens when particular person women and men view one another as threats or limitations to their individuality.
John Paul returns the dialogue of the variations between the sexes to its authoritative foundation, which is Genesis. “Have you not learn,” Christ asks the Pharisees, “that the Creator from the start made them female and male?” (Matthew 19:4). He makes use of this foundation as a main textual content in making 4 important factors:
- That masculinity and femininity are constituent of the human individual.
- That the human physique has a nuptial significance and is created by God with the loving union of man and lady in thoughts.
- That man and lady enter upon this union freely and supply themselves to one another as mutual items.
- That sin can subvert the genuine relationship of the sexes, which was supposed to be a present, decreasing it to a type of exploitation or dominance.
The Theology of the Body presents us understanding and hope. The treatment for our issues within the areas of intercourse and marriage can be found. We merely must make use of them.
Editor’s Note: For extra on Pope Saint John Paul II’s lectures on the Theology of the Body, learn Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body.
Michelangelo. (1511). The Creation of Adam [painting]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
