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“Of all the splendidly ridiculous, transcendently
fulfilling things humans do, it’s sex that most
confounds understanding. What in the world are
we doing? Why in the world are we so consumed
by it? Bursting from our sexual center is a whole
spangle of other things — art, song, romance,
obsession, rapture, sorrow, companionship, love,
even violence and criminality — all playing an
enormous role in everything from our physical
health to our emotional health to our politics, our
communities, our very life spans.”
— Time Magazine, January 19, 2004.

The way we understand our sexuality is
how we express it.
It helps define our concepts of;
• Who we are;
• Who God is;
• The meaning of love;
• How society is ordered;
• How the universe is ordered.

Through marriage
and the sexual union,
we rediscover “the
meaning of the whole
of existence, the
meaning of life.”
— Pope John Paul II, general
audience of October 29, 1980.

What it Is
• The “Theology of the Body” is the
study of how God reveals His
mystery through the human body.
It is a “Gospel of the Body.”
• It is a response to the “Curran
option” — A fashionable dissent
from the Catholic code of sexual
ethics.
• It is the first major teaching project
of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate.

What it Is
• 129 Wednesday papal audiences
delivered from September 1979 to
November 1984.
• A profound reflection on Genesis 1
and 2.
• 180,000 words.
• To read it, click here.

• “The world” believes that only
the body is good and that the
spirit is either nonexistent or
irrelevant (reverse
Manichaeism).
• “The world” also believes that
the Catholic Church teaches
that the body is bad, and that
only the spirit counts
(Manichaeism).
• Neither is correct!
What it Is Not

Thesis Statement
“The body, in fact, and it alone, is
capable of making visible what is
invisible; the spiritual and divine.
It was created to transfer into the
visible reality of the world, the
mystery hidden since time
immemorial in God, and thus to
be a sign of it.”
— February 20, 1980.

Outline of The Theology of the Body
• Definition of “man.”
• Unity and indissolubility of marriage.
• Unity of man and woman.
• Mystery of man's original innocence.
• Man and woman: A mutual gift for each other.
• Marriage in the integral vision of man.
• Disruptions of unity: Concupiscence leading to
lust and adultery.
• Purity of heart.
Part I: Catechesis on the Book of Genesis

Outline of The Theology of the Body
• Opposition between the flesh and the spirit.
• St. Paul’s teachings on the sanctity and respect
for the human body, and his description of the
body and purity.
• Resurrection of the body.
• Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom.
• The sacramentality of marriage.
• Reflections on the encyclical Humanae Vitae.
Part II: St. Paul's Teaching on the Human Body

The Body as Icon of the Trinity
• “God has revealed His innermost secret: God
Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, and He has destined us to
share in that exchange” [Catechism, ¶221].
• “This is the central mystery of Christian faith and
life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. It is
therefore the source of all the other mysteries of
faith, the light that enlightens them” [Catechism,
¶234].
• The Blessed Trinity is an eternal common union
(“communion”) of Persons.

• A communion of persons exists to the degree that
two or more persons mutually “give” themselves
in love and service.
• The second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on
flesh.
• So also is the child a fruit of love between man
and woman. In this way, sexual love becomes an
icon, or earthly image, in some sense of the inner
life of the Trinity.
• The family is the “domestic church” and a
microcosm of it.
• The human body makes all of this possible.

“In this entire world, there is not a more perfect,
more complete image of God, Unity and
Community. There is no other human reality
which corresponds more, humanly speaking, to
that divine mystery.”
— General Audience of December 30, 1981.

What is Most Sacred in This World?
That which is most violently and widely
profaned.
The two objectives of the Devil are:
(1) To prevent God’s proclamation of love; and
(2) To keep men and women from recognizing the
mystery of God in their bodies.

How Satan Perverts Love
• Love for God - Blasphemy, sacrilege,
indifference, agnosticism, atheism, and
Communism.
• Love of self - Overindulgence in and
addictions to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, food,
money, gambling, power, pornography and
sex.
• Love of neighbor - Racism, theft,
embezzlement, cheating, slander and lies.

• Love of life - Genocide, murder, infanticide,
euthanasia, suicide, abortion, sterilization and
contraception.
• Natural sexual love - Homosexuality,
pedophilia, pornography, adultery,
masturbation, fornication, incest and rape.
How Satan Perverts Love

As the source of life, family,
Faith and society, the union
between the sexes “is
placed at the center of the
great struggle between
good and evil, between life
and death, between love
and all that is opposed to
love.”
— Pope John Paul II’s
Letter to Families,
1994, ¶23.

Sacramentality
• A “sacrament” is an outward sign that points to a
deeper reality and makes that transcendent
reality present to us.
• It makes visible what is not visible .
• The body is “sacramental” in the sense that it
makes visible the invisible mystery of God.
• The body reveals the soul.
• It is created in the “image and likeness” of God.

• Answer to the divorce challenge of the
Pharisees.
• “The two become one flesh.”
• God’s original plan for man and woman.
• The male/female communion of persons in
marriage is an image of the Communion of
Persons in the Blessed Trinity.
• The distortion of sin.
Themes of The Theology of the Body
(1) “In the beginning it was not so”

The “spousal analogy” ― Marital love is an
image of God’s love for Israel in the Old
Testament and Christ’s love for His Church in
the New Testament. This is the most fitting
image of the divine mystery. It is the least
imperfect analogy we have.
(1) “In the beginning it was not so”

• “Man was not meant to be alone.”
• Insufficiency of animals as partners.
• Need for a human person.
• Transcendence.
(2) Original Solitude and Personhood

• “Original unity” refers to the love and communion
between man and woman before sin.
• Complementarity of male/female bodies.
• … and of natural endowments and vocations.
• Body not an accessory to person.
• “Architecture” of the bodies.
(3) Original Union: Communion of Persons

• Marital love as a “language.”
• Bonding and total self-giving.
• Naked without shame.
• Conjugal love as an icon of Christ.
• Primordial image of Bridegroom.
• Luke 22:19 — “This is my body…”
(4) The Nuptial Meaning of the Body

• This is a command, not a “suggestion.”
• Fertility is a blessing, not a curse.
• There is not a single negative word in the Bible
about children.
(5) God’s First Command — ”Be Fruitful and Multiply!”

• “Adultery of the heart” means a person treats
another human being as an object of
gratification, rather than a person to be loved
in the image of God.
• Man can sin in his heart and mind as well as
with his body .
• Lust leading to fornication or adultery.
• Pornography and its addictions.
• Offenses against one’s own wife, treating her
as an object instead of a treasured
companion.
Adultery of the Heart and Mind
Consequences of Ignoring God’s Plan:

• “Lust” refers to sexual desire which is bereft of
God’s love.
• Lust leads a person towards pure self-
gratification, while true love leads a person
towards self-donation for the good of the other.
• Lust is a reduction of the original fullness God
intended for the sexual relationship.
• Modern confusion: “Love = lust.”
Lust

A person who is locked in the slavery of lust
suffers from “the interpretation of suspicion.”
This means that they project the same slavery
onto everyone else. They cannot imagine
thinking about sexual relationships other than
through the lens of lust. This is the primary
source of so much unhappiness in male/female
relationships today.
Lust

• Marriage: “I give myself to you unconditionally.”
• Contraception: “I give myself to you, except …”
• Christ’s love is divine (agape): Free, total,
faithful and fruitful. In a Christian marriage, eros
and agape are called to to meet and bear fruit.
The Language of Sexuality and
the Lie of Contraception

• Each and every marital act must be open to the
transmission of life.
• Never sterilize the marital act.
• Church’s concept of “responsible parenthood.”
Openness to Life and
Responsible Parenthood

The Planned Parenthood concept of “responsible
parenthood” means to have as few children as
possible, regardless of economic, social or other
conditions, for the good of the planet and for
individual self-fulfillment.

The Church teaches that “responsible
parenthood” consists of prudently and
generously deciding to have a large family for
the Kingdom of God or, for a serious reason,
decide to space and/or limit their children, even
for an indeterminate period.
— Humanae Vitae, ¶10.

“An increase in conjugal infidelity and the general
lowering of morality.”
“Man may finally lose respect for the woman and,
no longer caring for her physical and
psychological equilibrium, may come to the point
of considering her as a mere instrument of
selfish enjoyment, and no longer his respected
and beloved companion.”
Prophecies of Humanae Vitae

“Who will stop rulers from favoring, from even
imposing upon their peoples, if they were to
consider it necessary, the method of
contraception which they judge to be more
efficacious?”
― Humanae Vitae, ¶17.
Prophecies of Humanae Vitae

• Damage to the sanctity of marriage.
• Promiscuity is an offense against the unitive
aspect of marriage.
• Homosexuality is an offense against the
procreative aspect of marriage.
• Both are offenses against God and the actual or
future spouse.
Promiscuity and Homosexuality

• Pornographers seek only to arouse lust in the
viewer; artists help us see “the whole personal
mystery of man” (5/6/81).
• Pornography leads to breakdown in
communication between husband and wife.
• Compulsive use of pornography is a form of
sexual addiction.
Pornography

Breaking the Links
Between Family Members

Breaking the Links
• The Link Between God and the Family: Agnosticism,
atheism, indifferentism, the “New Age,” situational
ethics and anti-apostolic propaganda.
• The Unitive Link Between Husband and Wife:
Divorce, adultery, prostitution and the use of
pornography.
• The Procreative Link Between Husband and Wife:
Abortion, contraception, sterilization, masturbation
and homosexual acts.

Breaking the Links
• The Link Between Parents and their Children:
Permissive sex education, school-based clinics,
“values clarification,” parent licensing and
government-sponsored day-care centers.
• The Link Between Parents and Grandparents:
Euthanasia and “physician-assisted suicide.”

The New Evangelization:
• Complementary vocations.
• CCC: Both are called “sacraments in the service
of communion.”
• Celibacy is “superior” to married life in the sense
that the heavenly marriage, to which celibate
persons devote themselves, is objectively
superior to the earthly marriage.
• Youth need to hear this message!
Marriage and Celibacy

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the
Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as
Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is
himself its Savior. As the church is subject to
Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to
their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
church and gave himself up for her, that he might
sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of
water with the word, that he might present the
church to himself in splendor, without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy
and without blemish.
Even so husbands should love their wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves
himself.
― Ephesians 5:22-28, the “Elbow Verses.”

• Man and woman in Ephesians 5:22-28.
• Recapture and re-envision both the role of man
as head and the role of woman as heart.
• “Defer to one other out of reverence to Christ.”
• Submission in Christian marriage is mutual and
modeled not according to power and domination,
but according to the relationship between Christ
and His Church.
Headship and Heart-ship
The New Evangelization:

“Entire groups of the baptized have lost a
living sense of the Faith, or even no longer
consider themselves members of the Church,
and live a life far removed from Christ and His
Gospel.”
— Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, ¶86.
Evangelization:
The “New Evangelization”
The Problem:

• Marriage/family are the centerpiece.
• The total failure of “contraceptive marriage.”
• People see the destruction and are looking for
hope.
• New apologetics of purity.
• We must return to God’s “original plan.”
Evangelization:

• The message is not new.
• This effort is directed towards baptized non-
believers.
• The Church’s Gospel proclamation must be
“new in ardor, methods and expression.”
• There will be no renewal of the Church and of
the world without a renewal of marriage and the
family.
• Unless the Church is first evangelized, She
cannot evangelize others.
Evangelization:

Brian Clowes
Human Life International
4 Family Life Lane
Front Royal, Virginia USA 22630
E-mail address: bclowes@hli.org

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