The Man-Person Becomes a Gift in the Freedom of Love

by Pope John Paul II from this General Audience on 16 January 1980. Read text via EWTN.

Thus far Pope John Paul II has been going through: the appeal Christ made to the beginning; the words of Christ; what is meant by the beginning; what is the meaning of original solitude; the meaning of original unity; of original nakedness; and here we are in man in the dimension of gift. The gift of our being, the gift of our bodies, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the freedom of the gift. No one forced God to make us. No one has forced God to redeem us. And similarly, no one should force us to embrace this man or this woman to be our wife, husband and no one should force us to embrace the faith but this strongly, highly recommended.
Holy marriage is a gift from God; this man and this woman for life. And the Lord who is the giver of life blesses how many couples with children, God’s greatest gift in marriage? The Holy Father reminds us about the freedom of the gift, not too be coerced. So the freedom to marry is sought we must establish the couples’ freedom to marry. No outside pressures forcing them. No, this is a free gift of self each to the other. Spousal meaning to the body is a key aspect of this fifteenth catechesis.
The Spousal meaning of the body in the mystery of creation has a double aspect. The mystery of creation that God the Father almighty has created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is therein, ourselves included. Part of the mystery of creation is this human being man and woman, male and female in the image of God to give to each other to be received by each other. That is part of the original plan of God, that is part of the mystery of creation: the spousal meaning, each for the other. The spousal meaning of the body, our Holy Father reminds us, explains man’s original happiness. How many different original moments, how many different originalities has our Holy Father spoken to us about? Original innocence, original unity, original happiness here even before he will get to Original Sin later. That’s the Fall. Now we are focusing on the beginning, how it was in God’s intention, by God’s design.
Not only has the Holy Father spoken to us about the spousal meaning of the body explaining our original happiness, not only the spousal meaning of the body in the mystery of creation. He’s also spoken to us about the spousal meaning of the body in acto. This is Latin for in act. This is very key. Our Holy Father has a whole stand alone volume which he wrote before he was the Pope about The Acting Person. Many people when hearing that, will remember how the Pope was a man of the theater, an actor, a dramatist. He would write and perform plays. But this is not the sort of acting which he refers to when he speaks about the spousal meaning of the body in acto, in act. Philosophically speaking there is a juxtaposition between act and potency, potentiality and action, being and doing of the thing. The spousal meaning of the body in acto is just as being when the husband recognizes his wife as the other self, when she recognizes her husband as the other self, when they love each other. This is the spousal meaning in acto, in the very being and that is how God made us. God who is the eternal being, God who gives Himself in creation, God who gives Himself in redemption, God who has given Himself in the fullness of time in Christ Jesus. God who gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. “This is My body given up for you” these are the most sacred words of the Mass.
Repeatedly the Holy Father Pope John Paul II cites two (2) different sources in this 15th catechesis on man and woman he created them the Theology of the Body. One is from Second Vatican Council celebrated in 1962 through 1965, called by Blessed John XXIII, opened by him and concluded by Pope Paul VI. But it was Pope John Paul II who did so much of the implementation of the Council. His favorate passage from the Council is from the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World. Gaudium et Spes, 22. These are the first Latin words for “hope and joy”: Christ the hope and joy of the world, Christ the hope and joy of the human race. Article 24 the 3rd number there from Gaudium et Spes and the other passage sited so frequently in this 15th catechizes on the Theology of the Body Pope John Paul sites chapter 2 of the 1st book in the Sacred Scripture, Genesis, especially verse 25. So, since he sites each of these 5 times in so many pages it’s good for us to look at them one more time. Gaudium et Spes 24 speaks about man being the only creature the Creator willed for its own sake. God willed a lot of creatures: the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field; but they were willed for us. Whereas He willed us for our own sake. There is something special that goes back to the original solitude which the Holy Father has already spoken to us about. God saw all that He had made and saw that it was good. And part of that goodness of creation was how God created us man and women. Male and female in the divine image for our own sake, as an end in ourselves. The other part of Gaudium et Spes 24 says “man can only find himself through a disinterested gift of self.” You didn’t know you were lost did you? “I once was lost but now I am found.” Christ Jesus came from Heaven to Earth to show us the way home revealing to us not only God but us to ourselves. That’s Gaudium et Spes 22, which John Paul II cites so frequently throughout his teaching. “Man can only find himself through a disinterested gift of self.” In order to give something you have to have something. The classic axiom is non habit, non dabit. You can’t give what you don’t have. So, disinterestedly to give oneself is different from giving oneself for selfish motives, for selfish reason(s), for selfish gain. These two (2) passages help us to appreciate the spousal meaning of the body, man in the dimensions of the gift. God has given us life. God has given us being. God gives us grace, faith, you name it. And if we are made in the image of God, and we are, we are likewise to be generous, to be giving.
That’s the Conuncil text the Holy Father sites so frequently and the other is Genesis 2:25 about being naked without shame. This is before the Fall. Naked, this is reminding us about our corporality: without clothing, without cover, without shame. Shame enters the picture by sin. Sin is the source of shame and we should be ashamed when we are in sin. And we go with bowed head and contrite heart and say Lord have mercy on me. We well confess our sins, we well receive the absolution, the mercy of God, and we try again. Because God has given us His mercy, back to the gift. In saying all this Pope John Paul II is reminding us that he is all about helping us appreciate the truth about our very selves; the truth about man. Things we can know by our natural human intelligence.
One does not have to be baptized, one does not have to be a card carrying Catholic to read the documents to the Second Vatican Council. They exist as a phenomenological realities. Now if one has been baptized, if one is a card carrying Catholic, hopefully that is all the better. When we would approach Genesis 2:25 or the 24th article of Gaudium et Spes or when we would look in the mirror or across the table and see another self, or think with gratitude on how we have received life not only from our parents but from God above, this is a part of the truth about man, the spousal meaning of the body, made for self giving. And what will set us free? The truth will set us free. No one forces us to give ourselves but it’s the only way we find ourselves, when we freely give of ourselves. And not just of ourselves, but our very selves. Part of the truth about man is self mastery. The need we have to conquer, to dominate our passions, our desires. If I am a slave to my passions I am not free. If I am a slave to my desires I am not living in accordance with my nature. The root of the word virtue is vir, which means man. And even for the gals it’s true, are called to virtuous life. To be manly. Not to be blown by every strange wind of doctrine. Not to be blown here and there by every whim and fancy and desire. It takes virtue to be faithful in marriage. It takes a patience to deal with each other and with children and the neighbors. It take fortitude not to just pick up dirty laundry and crying children but to endure till death do us part. It takes generosity to be faithful in marriage. Pope John Paul II speaks to us in this 15th catechesis on the Theology of the Body, Man and Woman He Created Them, about a sincere gift of self. Not just giving flowers or candies but the gift of self. Those other things while they are nice they pale in comparison to the gift of self. As said before you can’t give what you don’t have. And how is it that we are self possessed, by self mastery, by a life of virtue. Part of this truth about ourselves reminds us of the value of the self. Not only my own personal value but the value of the other I, the other one. “I’m so glad that you are in my life”, hopefully you’ve heard it said before. Hopefully you’ll hear it again. We value the other. More precious than fire tried gold Saint Peter reminds us is our faith. And that is true of each human being because if the human being is made in the image of God and that’s part of our faith, the other person more precious than fire tried gold. And we know gold is over $1000 an ounce. The value of the gift of self and the value of self. purchased at the price of Christ’s blood. Christ, bridegroom of the church, Christ who freely laid down His life and freely took it up again, who freely gives us a participation and a share in His holiness, His graced living. This is the beatified “beginning” to which Christ appealed. Christ appeals to “the beginning.” It was not so before the Fall, the shame, the sin. Christ seeks to restore us to our original innocence. To our original happiness and not just that but to make us adopted sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to himself and to each other.
Three different times in this one catechizes our holy father uses the phrase “at the same time”. this phrase has a heavy philosophical background. It’s part of the law non-contradiction or the principle of non-contradiction (PNC): Some thing can not both be and not be, in the same sense, at the same time, of the same subject. There is a juxtaposition here: theological, and anthropological understanding. God created the human creature for his own sake and the human creature can only discover himself fully through a gift of self at the same time. This is theological and anthropological at the same time: for his own sake and in self giving; these things: that we have a spiritual component; that we are made for each other; the spousal meaning of the body. This anthropological understanding, the truth about man, these things can be known with the light of natural reason, with our natural human intelligence and it has been this way from the beginning. Sure enough, our fallen human nature, the reality of human sin, is a part of the human equation now. But even with a dimmer light, even with that difficulty with which we suffer in knowing the truth, natural and supernatural, is not to say that we cannot know. We can know the truth which sets us free. We can know the meaning of the body, the spousal meaning of the body. We can understand the meaning, at least in baby steps, of the sacred scriptures and of this very serious work of our Holy Father Pope John Paul II the Theology of the Body.
Christ has appealed to “the beginning.” It was not thus in the beginning. Christ refers to “the beginning”, to that original gift, the gift of creation, the gift of life. He who is one with the Father and the Spirit, the Lord and the giver of life reminds us of these things and calls us to be true to our nature, to live in accordance with our nature as virtuous beings mastering our desires. If we are able to appreciate and embrace these truths then it will go well for us. We know from elsewhere in the Sacred Scripture that it is the truth that sets us free and this is but another name for Christ Jesus the Lord Himself. He who is the way the truth and the life.