In studying the Theology of the Body, as I have been blessed to be able to do for the last couple of weeks, I’ve realized that there are a lot of absolutely amazing things about the Church’s teaching. Some of them have been more profound than others, and I don’t really have the time, energy, or space to reflect on them all here, so it seems like the perfect time to make a list.
1. I’ve realized that I often think like a dualist. Body and soul are separate, and the body is the bad part. To me, it is an AMAZING revelation that our bodies are actually good, and necessarily part of WHO we are, our person.
2. Thinking #1 is pretty natural to us, given that we live in a fallen world. No joke, sin means our bodies don’t work with our spirit as they were supposed to. This may seem obvious, but when you really think about it, it’s surprising. We don’t know anything else because we live in this fallen world…
3. Though we often think of sin as in the body (think St Paul here), if you look at the whole of Scripture, what is often blamed for sin is not the body itself, as though the matter God created is bad, but bodily desires, which cannot be separated from the person himself.
4. The only way we know it’s supposed to be different is through revelation (see prior post). I can’t get over that one.
5. Even though we are fallen, and this affects everything we do, we are also redeemed through Christ. This means we can do good with our bodies; we can overcome sin and we can recapture who we are meant to be.
6. We actually need our bodies to do good. Think about the Sacraments!!
7. All of this means that I’m not totally going to be in heaven until my body is there too.
8. Once we are body and soul in heaven, we will experience ourselves (our personhood) in a way that we cannot even imagine right now.
It is such a temptation in our world to think this way; to think of our bodies as property for our ‘use’ or tools for gaining whatever we need. We often think of our bodies as hindrances, especially when we have to exercise, or get sick, or need sleep. This kind of thinking is so easy because these weaknesses are in the body, and since we always want to believe we are invincible, we separate our ‘selves’ from our bodies. This is how our world justifies so much, and even if we don’t fall into the major sins (e.g. my body is my property so I can have an abortion or do drugs), this attitude sneaks into little things, and before I know it, I catch myself copping out and blaming my body for my failings.
It is such a temptation in our world to think this way; to think of our bodies as property for our ‘use’ or tools for gaining whatever we need. We often think of our bodies as hindrances, especially when we have to exercise, or get sick, or need sleep. This kind of thinking is so easy because these weaknesses are in the body, and since we always want to believe we are invincible, we separate our ‘selves’ from our bodies. This is how our world justifies so much, and even if we don’t fall into the major sins (e.g. my body is my property so I can have an abortion or do drugs), this attitude sneaks into little things, and before I know it, I catch myself copping out and blaming my body for my failings.
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