WE need to be reminded that we have
to take care of our
body, since our body is also meant for eternal life. Yes, it dies in
time and is reduced to a heap of dust, but our faith tells us that at
the end of time, it will resurrect, following the resurrection of
Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our
wounded humanity.
Let’s always remember that our body is an essential part
of our humanity. It’s meant to be animated by a spiritual soul whose
life is always a participation of the life of God. As our catechism
would put it, our body “participates in the dignity of the image of
God.” (CCC 364) If we know how, we can and ought to see God in our
body!
We have reason to even glorify our body since in it we can
glorify God. St. Paul explains it this way:
“Your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who
dwells in you. Ad he is God’s gift to you, so that you are no longer
your own masters. A great price was paid to ransom you. Glorify God by
making your bodies the shrines of his presence.” (1 Cor 6,19-20)
Still in another part of the same epistle, St. Paul
teaches: “Your bodies are not meant for debauchery. They are meant for
the Lord, and the Lord claims your bodies...Have you never been told
that your bodies belong to the body of Christ?” (6,13)
The current and dominant attitude toward the body and the
material world in general, I am afraid, has suffered a dangerous
mutation, a radical reversal of God’s designs for them. We seem to be
falling into two extremes.
One is to consider the body as completely evil, as when
the distinction between the body and the soul becomes exaggerated that
they by nature become hostile to each other. This mindset is prevalent
among those who may be regarded as too spiritual in their life. These
are the puritans and the like.
The other extreme, the more common one, is to consider the
body alone as completely good, with no more need for spiritual
animation and direction. This is the case of a variety of people—the
hedonists, the naturalists, etc.
While there is a distinction between the body and the
soul, between the material and the spiritual realities of our life, we
should not forget that both make up our nature. They cannot and should
not be separated.
The danger our body poses to our spiritual life happens
only when it is left on its own, ruled simply by instincts and
emotions, and by the purely worldly values and conditionings.
Otherwise, it should be all-systems-go for taking care of it and
developing it to the max, not only in terms of health but also in
terms of physical beauty.
We, of course, should be wary of that danger, since
because of the effects and consequences of our sins, we are always
vulnerable to it. So we cannot over-emphasize the need for bodily
mortification and discipline.
In fact, to be realistic, we always need to subject our
body to some discipline, sometimes of the severe kind, because our
body is always weak no matter how strong it looks physically. It will
always tend to indulge itself to madness, often falling into some
forms of addiction and bondage. It’s our built-in potential traitor.
But when properly guided by faith, hope and charity, our
body care and discipline would stay away from any occasion and
temptation to fall into things like vanity, pride, sensuality and the
like. It would become an instrument of giving glory to God and of
loving and serving everybody else.
We should subject the body to the dynamics of our
spiritual soul that in turn is subject also to the dynamics of faith,
hope and charity, or in short, the dynamics of the life of God from
whom our soul springs as God’s image and likeness.
Yes, indeed, our body materializes the spiritual love
proper to us. The impulses of faith, hope and charity should somehow
be expressed in it, in spite of its limitations. It can be a most
effective instrument to attract others to God, and to transmit to
others all that is true, good and beautiful that in the end come from
God.
We should then have a constant concern for the care and
discipline appropriate for our body. We should train our body to be
filled with love for God and for others that is proper to it. That’s
how it can enter eternal life with God.
body, since our body is also meant for eternal life. Yes, it dies in
time and is reduced to a heap of dust, but our faith tells us that at
the end of time, it will resurrect, following the resurrection of
Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our
wounded humanity.
Let’s always remember that our body is an essential part
of our humanity. It’s meant to be animated by a spiritual soul whose
life is always a participation of the life of God. As our catechism
would put it, our body “participates in the dignity of the image of
God.” (CCC 364) If we know how, we can and ought to see God in our
body!
We have reason to even glorify our body since in it we can
glorify God. St. Paul explains it this way:
“Your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who
dwells in you. Ad he is God’s gift to you, so that you are no longer
your own masters. A great price was paid to ransom you. Glorify God by
making your bodies the shrines of his presence.” (1 Cor 6,19-20)
Still in another part of the same epistle, St. Paul
teaches: “Your bodies are not meant for debauchery. They are meant for
the Lord, and the Lord claims your bodies...Have you never been told
that your bodies belong to the body of Christ?” (6,13)
The current and dominant attitude toward the body and the
material world in general, I am afraid, has suffered a dangerous
mutation, a radical reversal of God’s designs for them. We seem to be
falling into two extremes.
One is to consider the body as completely evil, as when
the distinction between the body and the soul becomes exaggerated that
they by nature become hostile to each other. This mindset is prevalent
among those who may be regarded as too spiritual in their life. These
are the puritans and the like.
The other extreme, the more common one, is to consider the
body alone as completely good, with no more need for spiritual
animation and direction. This is the case of a variety of people—the
hedonists, the naturalists, etc.
While there is a distinction between the body and the
soul, between the material and the spiritual realities of our life, we
should not forget that both make up our nature. They cannot and should
not be separated.
The danger our body poses to our spiritual life happens
only when it is left on its own, ruled simply by instincts and
emotions, and by the purely worldly values and conditionings.
Otherwise, it should be all-systems-go for taking care of it and
developing it to the max, not only in terms of health but also in
terms of physical beauty.
We, of course, should be wary of that danger, since
because of the effects and consequences of our sins, we are always
vulnerable to it. So we cannot over-emphasize the need for bodily
mortification and discipline.
In fact, to be realistic, we always need to subject our
body to some discipline, sometimes of the severe kind, because our
body is always weak no matter how strong it looks physically. It will
always tend to indulge itself to madness, often falling into some
forms of addiction and bondage. It’s our built-in potential traitor.
But when properly guided by faith, hope and charity, our
body care and discipline would stay away from any occasion and
temptation to fall into things like vanity, pride, sensuality and the
like. It would become an instrument of giving glory to God and of
loving and serving everybody else.
We should subject the body to the dynamics of our
spiritual soul that in turn is subject also to the dynamics of faith,
hope and charity, or in short, the dynamics of the life of God from
whom our soul springs as God’s image and likeness.
Yes, indeed, our body materializes the spiritual love
proper to us. The impulses of faith, hope and charity should somehow
be expressed in it, in spite of its limitations. It can be a most
effective instrument to attract others to God, and to transmit to
others all that is true, good and beautiful that in the end come from
God.
We should then have a constant concern for the care and
discipline appropriate for our body. We should train our body to be
filled with love for God and for others that is proper to it. That’s
how it can enter eternal life with God.
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