Continuing with excerpts from "Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body in Simple Language" —
"Sexual shame causes us to doubt whether the body is still capable of forming the true, self-giving communion that God intended. Of course, Adam and Eve did not stop communicating to each other through body language — movements, gestures, and expressions. But the simple, direct communication of mutual nakedness had disappeared.…
"…This is the second discovery of sex for Adam and Eve. It is radically different from the first discovery, the joy of which was expressed in Adam's song:
This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man. (Gen. 2:23
"Here, we see the difference the man of original innocence and the man of lust. In the state of original innocence, the masculine and feminine bodies were the basis of the communion of persons. In the state of sinfulness, sexuality seems to be an obstacle to unity — a cause for fear and mistrust.… [T]he body must be covered and guarded. The gift is now limited.
"Shame is a symptom of our separation from the selfless love whoch is 'of the Father' (1 Jn. 2:15). Lust is the disease that keeps us from experiencing the body as gift."
An der Grabstätte von Kronprinzessin Cecilie
1 week ago
2 comments:
Is lust really that? Cannot someone want and appreciate a person's body at the same time? I think that passage is a little unclear.
I think that depends on how you understand "want."
But wanting and appreciating the body of the other aren't enough. One needs to make a gift of one's own body — representing one's whole being — to the other. One needs to see the other's body as gift to oneself. I'm talking irl here. When it comes to pictures, it gets more complicated, I think.
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