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Sex is a function of the whole personality and not of the body alone, much less of the sex organs alone. Plato and his followers bequeathed the false idea to history that man is primarily spirit, or a rational being who, unfortunately, has a body. The soul, according to him, is in the body as a man rowing is in the boat. As there is no intrinsic connection between the two, so neither is there an intrinsic bond between body and soul. For later and wiser philosophers, body and soul are not two distinct things but two irreducible and implied aspects of the one sole being, which is man. It is not, therefore, the sex organs which have sexual desires, it is the self, or human personality. Hence, their use or abuse is fundamentally a moral problem, because it is the act of a free being. The very impetuosity of carnal desires, the urgency of their impulses, are an indication that not a biological organ but the needs of personality are clamoring for satisfaction. Even the most materialistic, who deny that man has a soul, agree with the Christian position in affirming that sex does affect the Ego and the spheres of mental life. If sex were only a physiological phenomenon restricted to a certain area, it would not have much repercussion on the psychic life of individuals. Precisely because it is essentially bound up with the body-soul unity of a human, it affects him mentally, morally, and socially.
Our Divine Lord, in warning personality to keep itself integrated by refusing to allow carnal explosions to disturb right reason, said: "If thy right eye is the occasion of thy falling into sin, pluck it out and cast it away from thee; better to lose one of thy limbs than to have thy whole body cast into hell. And if thy right hand is an occasion of falling, cut it off and cast it away from thee; better to lose one of thy limbs than to have thy whole body cast into hell." (Matt. 5:29, 30) Since the body affects the soul for good or evil, it is better to do violence to the body than to violate purity of soul. Our Lord did not mean here a physical plucking of an eye or an amputation of an arm but a self denial in their use, rather than permitting them to be an occasion of sin. In the same vein Our Lord warns: "There is no need to fear those who kill the body, but have no means of killing the soul; fear him more, who has the power to ruin body and soul in hell." (Matt. 10:28) The Divine Savior would never have made such a demand if the exercise of one organ of the body did not affect the harmony of life as a whole.
The disciplining of the errant impulses of the body when they initiate against the soul and its destiny in no way implies a disrespect for the body, any more than putting a bridle in a horse's mouth means a disrespect for the horse. It is merely a means of bringing out the best that is in it for the sake of the master. The bridling of passions in like manner is for the sake of bringing out the best that is in man for the sake of the Divine Master! If there had been no disharmony in man because of the original rebellion against God, there would be no need of taming the body. It now revolts against the spirit, because the spirit revolted against God. Because so many identify asceticism of the body with being anti-body, as they might identify housebreaking a dog with being anti-dog, it is necessary to recall some Christian truths about the dignity of the human body.
The body supplies the raw material for thinking. Our minds at birth are like blank sheets of paper; our eyes, ears, sense of touch, write their impressions on the infant's mind. Later on, the mind working on this sensible data develops them into abstract thoughts, the sciences and the arts. As it is not sex but man who mates, so it is not intelligence but man who thinks. Since the body is the tool of one's knowing, as well as the instrument by which one becomes conscious of himself, it is honorable in the sight of God Who made it, and ought to be honorable in the sight of men who were made by God.
The body is also the means by which we enter into communion with one another: verbally, through words, which are broken fragments of the Eternal Word; physically, by the assistance of our neighbor in the common tasks of daily life, culture, and civilization; artistically, in the dance, the theater, and the arts; sexually, by reducing duality to unity, which is the mission of love; religiously, by adding force to prayer in outward symbols, such as by kneeling to express the humble attitude of the soul before God.
The body is also a constant reminder of some basic tension, pull, and dichotomy, existing inside of personality. Ovid, noting it, said: "I see and approve the better things of life, and the worse things of life I follow." The ideals our mind conceives the body does not always attain, and then only with the greatest of effort. The inner antagonism of body and soul, this conflict of the Ego and the Id, this consciousness of the body and mind having different landing fields for their respective pleasures, suggests that the complete solution is not to be found within the soul-body unity itself, for that is the seat of the conflict. As the teacher is outside the mind, and the physician outside the body, so the body and soul, in their moments of opposition, recognize the need of a Teacher and a Physician Who is more than human, to pacify the civil war within.
From the Christian point of view, the body is noble, because the Son of God took a body, or human nature, like ours in all things save sin. God descended to the body and so assumed it that of Christ, we say: "In Christ the whole plenitude of Deity is embodied, and dwells in him." (Col. 2:29) Our Lord called His Body a Temple, because a temple is a place where God dwells. The carnal-minded could not pierce the depth of His thought when He said to them: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again." (John 2:19) He here referred to the lapse of time between Good Friday, when His Body would be delivered to His enemies, and the Resurrection, when His Body would be glorified for all eternity.
The body is noble because the Son of God, in assuming flesh, did not do so by appearing in the full bloom and blossom of manhood. He thought so much of it, that He took His Body from the body of a woman: "He took birth from a woman." (Galatians 4:4) Like every body that He made, His, too, drew nourishment from her body and blood, like all the children of men was nursed at her breasts, and remained with her for thirty years in obedience. It is thanks to a body that the world could see God in the form of a man; it is thanks to a body that this God-man could utter the sweetest word that has rung down the corridors of history: "Mother."
The body is again noble because through it the fruits of Christ's Redemption are communicated to the soul. In Baptism the ears are touched to open them to the hearing of God's truth; the nostrils are touched to make them avenues for the odor of sanctity; the tongue is touched with salt to preserve the spiritual truths into fearless confession; the head is touched with water to wash away the guilt of original sin, and to make the body the temple of the Living God. In the Holy Eucharist, the tongue is the medium by which the Body of Christ comes to our body and soul to tame the fires of the libidos, to nourish the Divine Life within, and to bind us to His Mystical Body the Church. In Confirmation the body is touched by a blow on the cheek to remind the future soldier of Christ that he must be ready to suffer anything for Christ's cause. In the Sacrament of Penance, the body humbles itself by kneeling and makes the tongue declare the secrets of the soul, that the soul being cleansed, the body may once more be the temple of God. Then, in expiating its faults, the body is used either for penitential prayers, or is subjugated by fasting, or is deprived of its comforts by alms. In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the body surrenders the right to be two in one flesh in order to be two in one spirit with Christ; it receives the breath of another body to symbolize the conferring of the powers of the Holy Spirit, and has the thumb and forefinger anointed with oil, because these two members will touch the Body of Christ in the Consecration of the Mass. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the man and woman administer the sacrament to themselves, the priest being a witness to the deliverance of their bodies one to another until death do them part. Finally, in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, the ears, the nose, the hands, the feet, and the lips, which could have been the five channels of sins, are now purged of sin or trace of sin, as the soul for the moment leaves the body, to appear before God in judgment.
From another point of view, the body is noble because of all the blessings which the Church gives to it in its various vocations and duties through life. Limiting this observation solely to marriage, it may come as a surprise to some to learn that the Church has a blessing for the marriage bed. With her eyes and heart full of eternity she says in solemn tones:
"Bless, O Lord, this bed, in order that those who are to lie thereon may be re-established in thy peace, and may persevere in Thy Will, may grow old and multiply for many years, and attain to the Kingdom of Heaven."
The wedding ring has its blessing, so that even that which the finger of the body wears shall not be without its prayer:
"Bless thou, O Lord, this ring which we bless in thy name, that she who is to wear it may render to her husband unbroken fidelity. Let her abide in thy peace, and be obedient to Thy Will, and may they live together in constant mutual love."
Then there is the blessing for an expectant mother, in which in addition to Psalm 66, the following prayer is said:
"O Lord God, Author of the universe, strong and awesome, just and forgiving, Who alone art good and kind; Who didst deliver Israel from every evil, making our forefathers pleasing unto thee, and sanctifying them by the hand of thy Holy Spirit; Who didst by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mary that she might merit to be made a worthy tabernacle for Thy Son; Who didst fill John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit, and didst cause him to exult in his mother's womb-- accept the offering of a contrite heart and the fervent prayer of thy handmaid (N), as she humbly pleads for the life of her offspring whom she has conceived by thy Will. Guard her lying-in, and defend her from all assault and injury of the unfeeling enemy. By the obstetric hand of thy mercy may her infant happily see the light of day, and being reborn in holy baptism, forever seek thy ways and come to everlasting life. Through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in unity of the Holy Spirit. God, eternally. Amen."
There is also a long ceremony of blessing for a mother after child-birth, which concludes with this prayer:
"Almighty, everlasting God, Who through the delivery of the Blessed Virgin Mary has turned into joy the pains of the faithful at child-birth, look kindly upon this thy handmaid who comes rejoicing into thy holy temple to make her thanksgiving. Grant that after this life she together with her offspring may merit the joys of everlasting bliss, by the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Mary. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen."
The home in which the married live out their heaven-appointed destiny is also the object of prayer:
"Thee, God the Father Almighty, we fervently implore for the sake of this home, and its occupants and possessions, that thou wouldst bless and sanctify it, enriching it with every good. Pour out on them, O Lord, heavenly dew in good measure, as well as the fatness of earthly needs. Mercifully hear and grant the fulfillment of their prayers. And at our lowly coming, deign to bless and sanctify this home, as thou didst bless the homes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Within these walls let thine angels of light preside and stand watch over them that dwell here. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen."
When the children are sick, the Church comes to them and prays:
"O God, for Whom all creatures grow in years and upon Whom all depend for continued existence, extend thy right hand upon this boy (girl) who is afflicted at this tender age, and being restored to health, may he (she) reach maturity, and ceaselessly render thee a service of gratitude and fidelity all the days of his (her) life. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
"Father of mercy, and God of all consolation, Who having the interests of thy creatures at heart, dost graciously heal both soul and body, deign kindly to raise up this sick child from his (her) bed of suffering, and return him (her) unscathed to thy holy Church and to his (her) parents. And throughout the days of prolonged life, as he (she) advances in grace and wisdom in thy sight and man's, may he (she) serve thee in righteousness and holiness, and return thee due thanks for thy goodness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
"O God, Who in a marvelous way dost dispense the ministries of angels and of men, mercifully grant that the life on earth of this child may be protected by those who minister to thee in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
And when there is a sick adult in a home, the Church prays:
"Consider, O Lord, thy faithful one suffering from bodily affliction, and refresh the life which thou hast created, that being bettered by chastisement, he (she) may ever be conscious of thy merciful salvation. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
"O Lord of pity, thou the Consoler of all who trust in thee, we pray that of thy boundless love thou wouldst at our humble coming visit this thy servant (handmaid) lying on his (her) bed of pain, as thou didst visit the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. Let him (her) be the recipient of thy loving consideration, so that restored to former good-health, he (she) may return thanksgiving to thee in thy Church. Thou Who livest and reignest, God, forevermore. Amen.
"May the Lord, Jesus Christ, be with thee to guard thee within thee to preserve thee, before thee to lead thee, behind thee to watch thee, above thee to bless thee. Who liveth and reigneth with the Father and Holy Spirit, forever. Amen."
From an entirely different point of view, the body is noble because one day it will rise from the dead. The soul can exist without the body after death, but it always retains its disposition for the body and is destined one day to be reunited with it. Since the body contributed to the spiritual condition of the soul, it is fitting that it share in its glory if the soul is saved, and share in its shame if the soul is lost.
The bodies of the wicked shall be immortal and incorruptible, and their very incorruptibility shall be one of continuous corruption. The bodies of the just shall be immortal and incorruptible, too, but glorified after the pattern of the Risen Savior. The bodies will not be given over to the activities of generation and nutrition. Even the defects of the body in this life will disappear in the clarity of the glorified body. The natural body of the just will rise a spiritual body. The risen bodies will vary in degrees of merit, depending on the merits acquired by the soul. The glory of each soul will shine through the body as a glass reveals the color of the liquid poured into it. "The sun has its own beauty, the moon has hers, the stars have theirs, one star even differs from another in its beauty." (1 Cor. 15:41)
Man will in the alter-life remain a being of soul and body. The immortality will be not only of soul, but of body and soul, since both are necessary for the full and perfect man. The body is not a prison house, nor a tomb in which the soul is confined for a time and from which it gladly makes its escape. The loss of bodily life is a tragedy to human nature, since it is not natural for the soul to be without the body.
"I believe in the resurrection of the body," says the Apostles' Creed. This resurrection will not be due to natural causes, but will be accomplished through the power of God as its only and sufficient cause. "Why should it be beyond the belief of men such as thou art, that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8) The Resurrection of Christ is the example and model of our resurrection. "Then, when this corruptible nature wears its incorruptible garment, this mortal nature its immortality, the saying of Scripture will come true, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where then, death, is thy victory; where, death, is thy sting?" (1 Cor. 15:54, 55)
This separation of body and soul at death, quite apart from any superficial explanations in the biological order, is due, fundamentally, to sin. "It was through one man that guilt came into the world; and, since death came owing to guilt, death was handed on to all mankind by one man." (Romans 5:12) Death, though natural to the plants and animals, has the peculiar added quality of being penal in the case of man. It was the rejection of this gift of immortality by man that made death a punishment: "Except the tree which brings knowledge of good and evil; if ever thou eatest of this, thy doom is death." (Genesis 2:17)
Death as a penalty for sin could be adequately overcome only by God becoming man and taking upon Himself the punishment which our sins deserved. This could not be accomplished by a martyrdom understood as death inflicted for a noble cause. It could be done, not by death coming to take Him, but by His going out to meet death. "This my Father loves in me, that I am laying down my life, to take it up again afterwards. Nobody can rob me of it; I lay it down of my own accord." (John 10:17, 18) This is the reason why Christians pray to be delivered from a "sudden and unprovided death," in order that they, like their Master, may submit deliberately, as much as it lies in their power, to the penalty of death. By rising from the dead through the power of God, He overcame death. "None of us lives as his own master, and none of us dies as his own master. While we live, we live as our Lord's servants, when we die, we die as our Lord's servants; in life and in death, we belong to our Lord." (Romans 14:8, 9) By mortification and penance and "daily dying," we show forth the death of the Lord. The Christian in this world may never forget that the Risen Christ, to Whom he is incorporated by baptism, is not a white Christ but a Christ slain, and risen, and bearing in His Risen Body not wounds, but scars of the Crucifixion, to prove that love is stronger than death.
The Church reminds poor mortals with their weak bodies to keep their eyes on heaven, for there are two human bodies there: the Body of Our Lord through His Ascension, and the Body of the Blessed Mother through her Assumption. On the fifteenth of August, each year, the Church commemorates the taking up of the holy body and soul of Mary into Paradise, where she was crowned as Queen of Angels and Saints. The Church does not teach that Mary did not die, but only that her body did not suffer corruption. If Our Lord did not disdain to take on the sufferings of life to purify them, and the pang of death in order to conquer it, He would not dispense His own Mother from them. If He, the new Adam, would drink the chalice of sufferings, she, the new Eve, must have a share in them. But though she died, her body was not corrupted but assumed into heaven. The primal penalty of sin was the dissolution of the body: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." (Genesis 3:19) But if corruption was the penal consequence of original sin, it follows that she who was preserved from original sin should also be preserved from its penalty, namely, corruption. Quite apart from the ancient Christian tradition concerning her Assumption, it hardly seems fitting that she, who gave to the world Him Who conquered death, should herself be completely under its heel. Should not He Who, by His own Divine power, rose from the dead, use that same power to preserve His Mother from the grave, so that His Resurrection and Ascension should have their counterpart in a lower level in the Assumption of His Blessed Mother?
She was the flesh-girt garden of the new Adam, and it is unthinkable that the Heavenly Gardener, once He had gathered His human life from her as a garden, should suffer it to be overrun by dust. The chalice which contains the blood of Christ does not become a profane cup when once the wine of life is drunk. Only holy hands may touch it. There is no reason to believe that, once He conquered sin by His Resurrection and ascended to the glory at the right hand of the Father, He could forget the one who had given Him a human nature. A son remembers his mother even more in triumph than in battle. He spoke to her in the Battle of Calvary; then He should not forget to call her to Himself in the triumph of His Ascension. He Who received the hospitality of this spiritual Bethlehem would not be an ungrateful Host. As the homes in which great men were born are preserved for posterity, so His Home (which she is) would be preserved for eternity. If the innkeeper had only giver, shelter to that Maid on Christmas night, history would never have forgotten his name.
It is incredible then that she who housed Him should not have immortality, not of name only, but of body and soul. If He Who conquered death ascended into Heaven to be a mediator between God and man, then should not she, who received the high summons to share in His Redemption, be near Him now in Heaven, to mediate between His Power and our needs, as she did at Cana? Certainly she who begot Him, Who empties all sepulchers, should not herself be one of its first inhabitants. Corruption ought not touch her who begot our incorruptibility, nor should she whose virginity He preserved in motherhood be now a virgin body despoiled and ravished by death. Eve, our first mother, lent her ear to the tempting Satan and justly was returned again to dust, but Mary, our new Mother, who lent her ear to the Holy Spirit, could not be the prey of the selfsame dust.
A Church once consecrated may not be delivered over to profane use, nor shall the temple of the Living God be profaned by the dust. Die indeed she ought, for she should have no other law than that to which her Son was subject; but corrupted she should not be, for she gave birth to Him Who broke the jaws of death. As a member of the human race, death was normal. Clothed with the power of God, dissolution would be abnormal. There are only two empty tombs in all the world: the tomb where the Resurrection and the Life was buried for three days, and the tomb where the Mother of the Resurrection and the Life was laid when she fell asleep in the love of the Lord. Mary's empty tomb was to woman what Christ's empty tomb was to man, with this difference: that only through His Power was her tomb made empty.
The Resurrection of Our Lord, the Assumption of Our Lady, and the glorious resurrection of the just on the last day are all varying aspects of the Christian cult of the body. Mary's Assumption in a special way proclaims this cult, for while Christ's Resurrection was by His own power, Mary's was by His special privilege. It was a kind of a stamp and seal He put upon the cult of the body, which regards it as the tabernacle of the soul and the temple of God. So long as the soul is preserved in its unity with God, one need not fear what happens to the body, for the sanctity of the soul will reassure its integrity on the day of resurrection. "There is no need to fear those who kill the body, but have no means of killing the soul; fear him more who has the power to ruin body and soul in hell." (Matt. 10:28)
The Christian idea of the body is based on the sanctity of the soul which vivifies it. The body is holy because the soul is holy. Our Blessed Lord commended the woman for "pouring this ointment over my body." (Matt. 26:12) St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "Have you never been told that your bodies belong to the body of Christ?... Surely you know that your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. And 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. 6:15, 19, 20) The body is precious because it is vivified by a soul; the body is holy because God dwells in it, as in a temple. The more the soul is united with God, the more sacred the body becomes.
Beauty of body attracts the eyes; beauty of soul attracts God. Man sees the face; God sees the soul. Mary's beautiful purity must have been such that it attracted less the eyes than the souls of men. No one would have loved her mind or soul because of the beauty of her body, but they would have so loved her beauty of soul as almost to forget she even had a body. It is very likely that a human eye, looking on Mary, would scarcely have been conscious that she was beautiful to the eye. Just as corrupt men are made pure in thought by the sight of an innocent child, so all fleshly thoughts would have been left behind, by one vision of the Immaculate Mother. As one listens to a consummate artist playing the piano, one forgets that he has hands; so, in the ravishing melodies of Mary's Immaculateness, one would have hardly adverted to that fleshly keyboard from which they came. When one is overjoyed by the beauty of a picture, he does not pay much attention to the frame.
Lest our admiration for Mary's purity of soul make us forget the flesh-encircled Eden wherein the Heavenly Father housed His Divine Son, the Church on the feast of the Assumption proclaims the holiness of Mary's body; not the body alone in isolation from the soul, for the Church knows not body alone or soul alone, but the person. Her Assumption is inseparable from her Immaculate Conception. Her escape from dust is one with her motherhood of Divine Life. Since Heaven had already descended to her, so, when Heaven went back to Heaven, she should be assumed to it.
The cult of the body can be understood in two ways: one after the fashion of the world, and one in the light of Mary's assumption. Both are agreed that the body should be beautiful. The one beautifies it from without; the other beautifies it from within. One adorns the body that it may be attractive through what it has; the other adorns the body with the reflections of the virtues within. It was only after our first parents sinned, that they perceived they were naked. When the soul lost its raiment of grace, the body lost its attractiveness. The less beauty the soul has, the more it needs to decorate the body. Excessive luxury of dress and vain display of external beauty are signs of the nakedness of the soul. "The beauty of the King's daughter is from within."
The blind always have kindly faces, probably because they are less materialized by the things which the rest of men see. An inner radiance seems to shine through them. Those who are naturally ugly, such as St. Vincent de Paul, become very attractive once they become saintly, as he did. The only ones who are truly beautiful are those who look beautiful when they come in out of the rain. That kind of beauty comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. It is the product of virtue, not rouge; it is not skin-deep, but soul-deep.
The cult of the body is best served by the cult of the soul. It is a by-product, not a goal; it is a fruit, not a root. That is why no one ever becomes truly beautiful until he stops trying to make himself beautiful and begins making himself good. Mary was not "full of grace" because she was beautiful; she was beautiful because she was full of grace.
Francis Thompson wrote:
Mortals, that behold a Woman
Rising 'twixt the Moon and Sun;
Who am I the heavens assume: an
All am I, and I am one.
Multitudinous ascend I,
Dreadful as a battle arrayed,
For I bear you whither tend I;
Ye are I: be undismayed!
I, the Ark that for the graven
Tables of the Law was made;
Man's own heart was one; one, Heaven;
Both within my womb were laid....
I, the flesh-girt Paradises
Gardenered by the Adam new,
Daintied o'er with dear devices
Which He loveth, for He grew.
I, the boundless strict Savannah
Which God's leaping feet go through;
I, the Heaven whence the Manna,
Weary Israel, slid on you!
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