B. Theology of the Body
"Man and woman have been created, which
is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as
human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman.
'Being man' or 'being woman' is a reality which is good and willed by God:
man and woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them
immediately from God their Creator. (Cf. Gen. 2:7, 22.) Man and
woman are both with one and the same dignity 'in the image of God.' In
their 'being-man' and 'being-woman,' they reflect the Creator's wisdom and
goodness." (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 369.)
"As an incarnate spirit, that is a soul which
expresses itself in a body and a body informed by an immortal spirit, man
is called to love in his unified totality. Love includes the human body,
and the body is made a sharer in spiritual love. . . . Consequently,
sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another
through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is by no means
something purely biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human
person as such." (See John Paul II, The Apostolic Exhortation on
the Family, Familiaris Consortio, no. 11.)
Human beings are the only earthly creatures God
created in His image and likeness. As human beings we are different from
the animals because we are persons, beings endowed with the capacities of
thinking and choosing. Our bodies are to express or manifest our persons:
what we know and choose. Further, since we are created in God's image and
likeness, our bodies can and should express or manifest God. In other
words, our bodies are to make visible the "mystery hidden since time
immemorial in God." (See John Paul II, "Man: A Subject of Truth
and Love," L'Osservatore Romano, [English Edition], [February
25, 1980], vol. 13, no. 8, no. 19 in the Theology of the Body
series.) We are also different from the angels. They are created in God's
image and likeness, but they do not have bodies and cannot make visible
what has been hidden in God. Created in God's image and likeness, we are
called to act like Him. We are called to love because He loves. In fact,
love is God's activity. Our bodies, especially, in their
masculinity and femininity, are to express this act, this divine love: a
self-gift of one person to another.
The most important principle of the theology of the
body is that human beings, body and soul, have a dignity and value
unparalleled and unequaled on earth. The body participates in the dignity
and value that we all have as images of God because the human body is the
expression of the person. However, each human body is different, not only
in the differences of masculinity and femininity, but also each man is
different from every other man and each woman is different from every
other woman. This is because each human being is a "special
order". Each one of us is an unrepeatable being: each and every human
being who has existed, is living, or will exist is unique. No two people
are alike. We all share some common characteristics, but we are all
distinct, separate, individuals. Our differences originate partly in our
family backgrounds, in our ethnic and national heritage, and in our
varying environments. However, the primary cause for the differences among
us is that God has created each and every one of us as individuals, as
unique and unrepeatable beings. None of us will ever be duplicated. Even
identical twins are different in important ways. Each of us reflects God
somewhat differently than all others. Although made in His image, God did
not make us identical because no one of us, or two of us, or even a
million of us, can ever completely and accurately mirror or reflect the
infinite God.
As the physical expression of our persons, the body
can be said to be a sacrament. (Of course, this is not one of the
"seven" sacraments given to us by Christ. The general definition
of a sacrament is: a visible sign of an invisible reality.) The body
becomes a physical sign of who I am and, when I act as an image of God, it
becomes a sacrament of how God acts. As the expression of the person, a
sacrament, the body is not merely an attachment human beings carry around
with them. The body cannot be separated from the human person. If we do
something to someone's body we do it to that person. When we shake hands
with someone, we touch the person. Therefore, there is no possible way
that we can use someone's body and not use the person. Since we cannot use
human beings (because human beings are created for their own sakes), we
should never use someone's body or treat it like a thing. The human body
should never become an object of use. To use the body is to use the
person.
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