Theology of the Body — 2011/06/03

"If the body is not evil, what about the heart?

" … [C]ertain modern thinkers have accused the heart of being dominated by lust in its three forms. Nietzsche interprets human action in terms of the 'will to power' — which is akin to what the Apostle John calls 'the pride of life.' Marx argues that history is shaped by the desire to acquire and protect wealth — in John's words, 'the lust of the eyes.' And according to Freud, everything is ultimately driven by the sex urge — which is to say, 'the lust of the flesh.'
" … Looking at the Bible as a whole … we see a different picture of man: he is afflicted by lust, but not defined by it.

"How is the 'man of lust' described by Jesus and the Apostle John different from the man described by Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud? First, Christ does not declare the heart a hopeless case, entirely captive to the whims of lust. Instead, he calls it to purity. If the heart was lustful at the core, it would be incapable of purity. Second, Christ offers the power of redemption. Purification isn't something we do on our own — it is accomplished through Christ. God created us by grace, and he can redeem us by grace.

" … We are not helpless pawns of our sex instinct, or our desire for power or wealth. When we let Christ's words sink in, we begin to hear an echo of God's original plan in our hearts. Looking back to 'the beginning,'* we learn that we are called to something better. We are called to love. We are called to live the truth of our bodies, in their masculinity and femininity. This is our heritage from the beginning, the heritage of the heart, which goes far deeper than lust in its three forms. Through Christ's redeeming grace, the heart's fundamental longing for love is affirmed and empowered."


*The Pope began his series of talks on Theology of the Body with an extensive analysis of the meaning of the verses in Genesis which tell of the creation and fall of man. When I began this series of posts, I though it would be more interesting if I skipped over that part and started with the part about Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount." There are occasional references to "the beginning," but I'll have to come back to the full treatment as the conclusion of this series, which is still a long way off.