Being Human

This week I started a course on John Paull II’s Theology of the Body that was introduced by the Professor with a quote from Guadium et Spes, the Constitution of the Church in the Modern World developed at Vatican II: 

“Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” (Section 22)    

I must admit, I had heard this before, but never really understood it. Whenever I had previously heard this quote, I thought, “sure, of course, Christ was the perfect man, so we should follow him, etc…” But for some reason it struck me differently this time around. The Church is actually making an incredibly bold statement here. It’s not just saying that that Christ is a good guy so we should follow him, but rather that we human beings cannot actually know our true selves without God becoming Incarnate as a man. Christ is the perfect man, and we would not even understand what ‘the perfect man’ meant without Him. It’s an extremely humbling thought, and also sheds light on a recurring problem I’ve run into while studying Moral Theology.

So often it seems that the conclusions the Church comes to are completely contrary to what the world judges to be right. Not just in the obvious things, but in seemingly minute details like the difference between contraception and family planning. The whole world seems to disagree, and the Church stands alone. On the face of it, this seems arrogant, and in our democratic culture, obviously wrong. When asked why this is, Catholic appeals to the ‘fallen nature of man’ seem hollow and unreal, grasping at straws to explain away the pride that leads us to claim to have truth.

Seen in light of this statement, however, I realized that this truly is the only answer that we, as Catholics, can give. While our faith is illuminated by reason, Christ is the Truth, and so we can only know the whole truth in knowing Him. It is not just our actions that are affected by the fall, but our ability to know things as well. Thus, we, as fallen beings, cannot even know the whole truth about ourselves, about who we are, without God’s revelation. And so even in the face of overwhelming opposition, the Church, which has used reason and revelation to discern the truth in Christ, must proclaim this to the world.

This, incidentally, is what the Theology of the Body is all about: how Christ, as a man (body and soul!) demonstrates for us the truth of our personhood. It’s controversial, because it’s about Christ, and who we are meant to be, rather than what we currently are. And nobody likes to be told to change.