Reflection on March 18, 1981

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb56.htm

This quote is actually from the last one, but I wanted to restate it and digest it some more because I think it is very important moving forward.

“It is difficult to express more concisely what the mystery of the Incarnation brings with it for every believer. The fact that the human body becomes in Jesus Christ the body of God-Man obtains for this reason, in every man, a new supernatural elevation, which every Christian must take into account in his behavior with regard to his own body and, of course, with regard to the other's body: man with regard to woman and woman with regard to man.”

I think it is hard for many to believe change in the human body is possible when it is not a physical change. But relate this back to the fall. Adam and Eve had no physical change but were changed non-the-less. Christ becomes the incarnate God-Man and takes the human body in the opposite direction. But, if you do not believe in our first parents, the fall, that change, what did Christ com for, why did he become man? The fact of His incarnation is the process of transforming us back to the beginning.

But the incarnation was only a step. Through Christ incarnation, all human beings become Temples of the Holy Spirit. We see that not all turn away from sin, not all believe in Christ, etc. What Christ does and teaches after the Incarnation has importance in steps guiding us to Heaven, but the Incarnation is an important step that opens the door for every human to receive salvation, to join with God, just as Adam’s action shut that door. (I think you could say that every act Christ did while on Earth was of importance. I don’t think He wasted a single moment and there is something to learn in every detail).

We see that because the change has come to all humans (not just believers) SJPII says that we all have an inherent longing for purity. The dwelling of the Holy Spirit in all of us makes ”the human subject sensitive to that dignity which is characteristic of the human body by virtue of the mystery of creation and redemption”. There is a deep longing in all of us to live the life we were meant for and that dwelling of the Holy Spirit tries to break through the walls of sin we put around it. I think this goes along with the line (not sure who says it) my heart will not rest until it rest in God. Christ’s incarnation stirs that longing because our human bodies are changed into something they were not, or at least were not after the fall, before and this change brings a longing that can only be fill by God. I think we all understand what we are to do or not do with our bodies. There are many that ignore these feelings, but if they are honest, they feel the guilt and shame from their actions. They may push it back and not focus on it and maybe after a while they cannot hear it as well, but it is still there because they are human and inherited because of Christ’s Incarnation.

Thinking of yourself as a Temple can give you a visual of the effects of sin. The Temple is created when you are created, conceived. Although there is original sin that is also inherited, the Temple is there. In Baptism, the original sin is wiped away, cleaning the Temple. As we sin we tarnish the Temple, but it remains a Temple. Mortal sin is a separation from God. Perhaps at this point, the Holy Spirit leaves the Temple. It remains a Temple, only empty. The Temple remains to be filled again by the Holy Spirit, when we allow God back in through reconciliation with God. If the Temple houses the Holy Spirit at the time of our death, we will be in union with God and on our way to Heaven. The Temple made need cleaning before we can enter Heaven (nothing unclean can enter Heaven), and this is the Catholic understanding of purgatory. Thinking of all humans as Temples of the Holy Spirit gives a new angle to argue against abortion, as well as other immoral actions taken against others.

Another look back. St. Paul writes “Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two shall become one flesh.” I thought this pointed to the importance of the conjugal act and the importance of it only taking place in marriage, of married couples not using contraception, and the Catholic teaching on homosexual marriage. The conjugal act is to becoming one flesh. That unity is a very important thing and the world uses it as something that is just done whenever you want.