St. Paul’s “Theology of the Body”

 The Indwelling of the Spirit          

            How a man lives reflects what is in his heart.[1] According to St. Paul a man can live in one of two ways—according to the flesh or according to the Spirit.[2] The two have nothing in common. They are in fact opposed to one another. The man of the flesh is the man of lust that has been outlined in the previous section. This man cannot respect the other person because he does not have the vision of a pure heart but rather the vision of a distorted selfish heart which seeks only to satisfy carnal needs at the expense of the spiritual person and his integral unity and dignity. The man of the Spirit is one who is self-controlled, able to see the other as a gift, and is able to overcome temptations to lust and subsequent appropriation of the person as an object of pleasure. He seeks to realize the nuptial meaning of the body in so far as he seeks to affirm the other in all his personal dignity. The two types of men are essentially different because one either lacks the indwelling of the Spirit or is ignorant of His presence, while the other welcomes and embraces the Spirit in his heart. St. Paul teaches that “anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.[3] Having the Spirit is essential to realizing the nuptial meaning of the body. It is “freedom lies at the basis of the nuptial meaning of the body.”[4] St. Paul himself teaches this when he writes to the Galatians:

            For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an        opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the             whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as      yourself.’[5]       

Freedom is at the heart of who man is and what he is called to be. If it were not for freedom man would robotic in his actions, mechanically determined. Freedom is at the heart of man’s dignity, what gives him the capacity to respond to God by making a gift of himself. Consequently, freedom is at the “heart” of the nuptial meaning of the body. But the history of man demonstrates that freedom has been used to sin. Yet, Christ has set us free for freedom.[6] If we sin, then we use freedom as a source of works of the flesh, which immediately ceases to be true freedom.[7] Sin enslaves man and renders his heart impure, distorting his inner attractions from their original purpose and meaning connected to the nuptial meaning of the body.[8] St. Paul exhorts man to use his freedom to love, to give himself as a gift so as to live in freedom, in the freedom of the gift.[9] However, man finds himself doing the very things he does not want to do.[10] Between the chasm of sin and freedom a bridge must built, namely, the virtue of purity.

Purity and Piety

            Purity is the capacity of man to control his passions which have an inclination towards what is sinful because of concupiscence.[11] Purity is self-control in the spirit of holiness. It controls the passions so that they do not rule over the heart and orders them towards what is good, true, and holy. Purity is about being holy. Moreover, that holiness specifically regards the body and its honor.[12] Purity defends the honor of the body, for the body shares in the dignity of Christ’s body.[13] In addition, the body is holy because it is a temple, the dwelling place of the Spirit.[14] Therefore, St. Paul concludes that we are to “glorify God in our body.”[15]

            Because it is a virtue, purity must be developed, which means that it must become a habit of the heart. This virtue requires effort on our part by avoiding occasions of sin. Such a task has the assistance of the Holy Spirit through the gift of piety, a gift of the Spirit.[16] Piety is that gift which deepens the heart’s love for Christ thereby freeing the heart to grow in the virtue of purity in order to recognize the inherent dignity of the body, a recognition that is no longer immediate to the vision of fallen man’s heart. Original sin has wounded that vision causing it to be infected by concupiscence and lust. Piety re-sensitizes the heart to the nuptial meaning of the body by enabling the heart to grow in purity.

            Piety as a gift of the Holy Spirit deepens purity because it draws the soul into a deeper relationship with Christ. The gift of piety is defined as “a supernatural disposition of the soul, which inclines it, under the action of the Divine Spirit, to behave in its relations with God, as a most loving child acts towards its father and mother whom he knows loves him intensely.”[17] The object of piety is primarily God the Father. Piety seeks to deepen in the soul of the baptized and confirmed Christian the love and adoration of God. Secondarily, it seeks to love everything in relation to God.[18] In the primary object of the gift of piety the motive of the heart becomes the love of God. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the soul becomes perfect in charity through the gift of piety, for piety moves the soul to love of God. Moreover, piety affords the soul an intimate encounter with God and experiences His love which causes gratitude to overflow in his heart.[19] This disposes the soul to the will of God over its own wounded will. The heart begins to take on the heart of Christ and begins to say with Christ, “not my will but thine by done.[20] The love of a person endowed generously with the gift of piety is so pure that it sees everything as God sees it.

            With this understanding of piety we can see how the Holy Father sees in this gift of the Holy Spirit the source of the supernatural aid necessary to foster the virtue of purity in the heart. The gift of piety, by its nature, leads to purity of heart because it brings the soul into an intimate encounter with God. Piety is expressed in liturgical and private devotions ranging from the celebration of the sacraments, devotion to the Sacred Heart, the veneration of relics and praying of the rosary.[21] In its richest form, piety prepares the heart for personal encounter with Christ by disposing the heart to His presence.[22] That presence is most powerfully experienced in the Sacraments of the Church and most perfectly in the Holy Eucharist which is God Himself. Therefore the Holy Father concludes:

            Purity as the virtue is the capacity of controlling one’s body in holiness and            honor. Together with the gift of piety, as the fruit of the dwelling of the Holy             Spirit in the temple of the body, purity brings about in the body such fullness            of dignity in interpersonal relations that God himself is thereby glorified.[23]

With the gift of piety and the virtue of purity, the body can become a source of glorifying God and realizing the original meaning of the body and the human person. In effect, purity is God’s presence made manifest in the body. “Purity is the glory of the human body before God. It is God’s glory in the human body through which masculinity and femininity are manifested.”[24]

            The Holy Father writes that “the interior man must open himself to life according to the Spirit, in order to participate in evangelical purity of heart, to rediscover and realize the value of the body, freed through redemption from the bonds of lust.”[25] That openness comes through the gift of piety. Piety gives the heart an entrance into purity by disposing and inclining the heart to the love of God through the life of the Church. Piety enkindles in the heart the fire of God’s love through the work of the Spirit. It disposes the heart to mature in the virtue of purity. This is precisely what the Holy Father envisioned when he wrote:

            The efficacy of the gift of the Holy Spirit, whose “temple” the body is, is   partly manifested precisely in such pure maturity. This gift is above all that of        piety, which restores to the experience of the body—especially when it is a      question of the sphere of the mutual relations of man and woman—all its   simplicity, its explicitness and also its interior joy.[26]

This is confirmed by the fact that St. Paul lists self-control and joy among the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruits of the Spirit manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit of which piety is among them. Therefore, purity is a virtue to be formed and a gift to be received. It is a prerequisite to see God, according to Christ Himself, especially in and through others.[27] Purity of heart allows man, male and female, to look at the body and recognize its nuptial meaning thereby recognizing the meaning that was given to it by God Himself. When the heart begins to recognize God’s original purpose in His creation, it begins to see God present in His creation. This is a major step to living according to the Spirit.

Article by Fr. Alejandro Valladres, Archdiocese of Mobile