The road to heaven--Sex, Contraception, and the meaning of life

Catholic.net ^ | ? | Christopher West

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A Reflection on Pope John Paul II´s Theology of the Body.

January 16, 2001 / Discussing moral issues of the day, a European cardinal recently raised eyebrows by saying contraception is "way down the list" of importance. Contrast this with Cardinal Wojtyla´s statement on the tenth anniversary of Humanae Vitae that the issue of contraception is a "struggle for the value and meaning of humanity itself" (Lateranum 44, 1978). What did Wojtyla mean? Read on....

As a young priest, bishop, and later a cardinal, Karol Wojtyla devoted much of his time to pondering the mystery of conjugal love. He was gifted with remarkable insight. Little did he know that just a few months after making the above statement, he would bring his gifts to bear on the world stage as Pope John Paul II. Twenty-one years later, over two thirds of what the Church has ever officially said about marriage and sexuality has come from his pontificate.

John Paul devoted his Wednesday audiences between September 1979 and November 1984 to presenting an in-depth biblical exegesis of the mystery of marriage and human sexuality. It´s this series of audiences that is known as the "theology of the body." It was inspired by Paul VI´s statement in Humanae Vitae that the problem of birth regulation must be considered in light of a "total vision of man" (cf. n. 7). John Paul´s catechesis on the body provides this "total vision of man," or what he calls an "adequate anthropology." His insights offer a new context for understanding the teaching of Humanae Vitae and demonstrate that -- far from being "way down the list"-- this issue is of crucial importance if man is to realize the deepest truth about himself.

A "Personalist" Approach

For centuries the Church has explained the faith based on the objective, principled formulations of Aquinas, and before him, Augustine. Today, however, because the modern mindset is more subjective and experiential, such formulations are typically seen as abstractions that have little to do with the way people experience life.

This "disconnect" is keenly sensed in traditional formulations about marriage. These have been mainly "juridical" in character, focusing on the objective "duties," "rights," and "ends" of married life. Until this century, little attention has been given to the more subjective, experiential realities of inter-personal union and conjugal love.

There is an inherent danger in the modern mindset that appeals to subjective experience as the sole measure of things. We see this in the rampant moral relativism of the day. However, this "turn to the subject" is not altogether bad. We can learn a great deal about who man is as a person and his call to "nuptial love" by examining authentic human experiences.

This is what John Paul does in his theology of the body. Through this philosophical approach known as phenomenology, the Pope is able to penetrate the mystery of the human person with unprecedented clarity and precision. The honest reader can´t help but recognize his own heart being laid bare. It simply rings true. "I can identify with this," he responds. "This is the way I experience life."

John Paul´s new "personalist" approach is not a departure from the Church´s heritage, but an authentic development of it. As a Thomist who makes use of all that is good in phenomenology, John Paul is able to marry the objective and subjective world views for a "total vision of man." In bringing the two together, he avoids both abstraction and subjectivism and provides the Church with a profoundly enriched vision of sex and marriage. What we ultimately learn is that the Church´s objective moral teachings are firmly rooted in the subjective dignity of the person (human experience confirms it!). This is one of the greatest contributions of the theology of the body.

The Content of the Theology of the Body

The theology of the body consists of a searching analysis of biblical texts that reveal the mystery of the body, sexuality, and marriage at three critical "levels" of human experience: as man experienced them "in the beginning" before sin (original man); as man experiences them in human history affected by sin, yet redeemed in Christ (historical man); and as man will experience them in the resurrection of the body (eschatological man). This forms the Pope´s "adequate anthropology." He continues his catechesis by analyzing scriptural passages that reveal the meaning of celibacy and marriage in light of this "total vision of man." He concludes with a reflection on Humanae Vitae demonstrating that "the doctrine contained in this document ...is organically related to ...the whole biblical question of the theology of the body" (General Audience 11/28/84).

According to John Paul, by reflecting on these three levels of "experiencing" the body, sexuality, and marriage, we discover the very structure and deepest reality of human identityÐwe find our place in the cosmos and even penetrate the mystery of the Trinitarian God. The question of sexuality and marriage is obviously not peripheral. In fact, John Paul says the call to "nuptial love" inscribed in our bodies is "the fundamental element of human existence in the world" (General Audience 1/16/80). In light of Ephesians 5, he even says that the ultimate truth about the "great mystery" of marriage "is in a certain sense the central theme of the whole of revelation, its central reality" (General Audience 9/8/82).

This is to say that everything God wants to tell us on earth about who he is, the meaning of life, the reason he created us, how we are to live, as well as our ultimate destiny, is contained somehow in the meaning of the human body and the call of male and female to become "one body" in marriage. How? Pointing always to the scriptures, the Holy Father reminds us that the Christian mystery itself is a mystery about marriage --the marriage between Christ and the Church. Yes, God´s plan from all eternity is to draw us into the closest communion with himself --to "marry" us. Jesus took on a body so we could become "one body" with him.

This eternal plan of God is inscribed in (and revealed through) our very being as male and female and our call to become "one body" in mar

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