"The body shares in our dignity as persons, just as much as the spirit.
"The body manifests the spirit. It expresses the person, The sexual embrace, too, was designed to express the invisible love and communion shared between spouses. In a way, then, the body and the sexual embrace are both sacramental. Both are physical signs of spiritual realities.
" … By ignoring the sign and reducing the body to an object, lust rejects the body's true value.
"Though man is sinful, this doesn't mean that the body is evil. Sin clouds our ability to see the original meaning of the body, but it can't erase the meaning itself."
…
"The right Christian attitude aims at purifying the heart so we can see the true value of the body and sex, according to God's original plan. Christians believe in the redemption and resurrection of the body. …
"Christ calls our hearts to overcome evil. This means rooting out our sinful desires from within … . If a man looks lustfully at a woman, he must not blame her for his sin. The woman's body is not evil … Instead her body is of a great value that, because of lust, is not fully appreciated.
"Adultery in the heart devalues God's creation. Christ speaks to the heart, calling for a rediscovery of human dignity … . The call to conquer lust springs from this dignity."
Of course, what John Paul II says of the dignity of the female body applies also to the dignity of the male body, which is also a physical sign of a spiritual reality, the value of which is rejected by lust. So we must also not look at men with lust. It seems to me that lust and sexual attraction are not identical. In the Pope's view, it seems that attraction, which is to be expected, can coexist with respect for the human dignity of a person, body and spirit, while lust ignores that dignity.
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8 comments:
Seems you've read a certain book :) I still try to write something about this topic.
I'm sorry this have to sound confusing I fear, if not already please read the beginnning of caput 3 "The Maundy" from the latest book of Benedikt XVI!
Actually I haven't read the book — haven't even bought it yet. This must be an instance of the saying "Great minds think alike." LOL
But seriously, I know I should get the book and read it. Keep encouraging me to do so.
:) Really, you should and I will, at least it was helpful for me in so many ways.
I ordered the book on Tuesday. The local bookstore couldn't order it from me from a U.S. publisher. They'd have had to order it from the English publisher. So I went to Amazon, and it arrived today.
Oh tell what you think about it as soon as you've started to read it please!
I just started the first volume. Do you think I need to finish that one before I start the second?
Hard to say, we should try to talk tomorrow! :)
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