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TOB PART II - THE SPOUSAL MEANING OF THE BODY

"What's wrong with the world, mama? 

People livin' like they ain't got no mamas

I think the whole world's addicted to the drama

Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma." 

(Where is the love - Black Eyed Peas)

Raphael (our third son), 13 April 2024

Deep down inside all of us, there is a desire to want to make the world a better place. We see suffering, brokenness and hardship around us and this can leave us begging the question why? Where is God in all of this? 

In the second part of the series on ToB, we go deeper and this may help us realise that God has not left us nor does he desire we suffer. We discover that in fact, God has loved us completely by giving us freedom to choose. 

In Genesis, we read about Adam. We should think of him more as a placeholder name representing humanity rather than an individual person. Why? The word Adam means human being and so God is telling us the story of all humanity. We label him, Old Adam. We know three things about Old Adam before he was tempted by the devil. 

1. Original solitude - Before God created Eve, Adam felt alone. It's natural to think he felt alone as he was the only human being on earth. Rather, he felt alone because there was no other creation like him. He was a person with freedom which made him different to all other creatures. He never acted out of in-built instinct but could choose using his will and intellect. It is said chimpanzees share just over 98% of a human being's DNA, but no matter what you try you can't make a chimp reason like a human being. However, it is possible for a human being to lower his standards and pretend he has no will or intellect. The point is God loved Old Adam (human beings) and created him (them) for something greater than the rest of creation. 

2. Original unity - it does not matter how hardened the worst criminal's heart is we all receive that uneasy feeling when we are about to settle for doing something wrong. We can think of it as an echo of the beginning of time and before things changed to how we know it now. God made Eve from the bone of Adam revealing to us that our bones signify the essence of the human body. Adam and Eve were both human beings but something made them uniquely different from each other, their genitals. 

The genitals are the reproductive organs that generate or give birth to new life. Wait a minute! Animals also have genitals so what's the big deal? If what makes us different to the animals is our freedom to choose using our will and intellect then it means the sexual union as human beings is not an instinct to keep their species alive. There is something more to it, it has a sacramental meaning which means our sexual union points us to God in heaven. So in heaven, we won't need marriage or sexual intimacy as icons pointing us to heaven as we will be absorbed by God himself. 

Our Lord says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Marriage is not for those who have no control over their sexual desire. Nor is sexual union something dirty or perverted when in the confines of a legitimate marriage bond. God created man and woman to discover how in marriage they may enter into the mystery of sexual intimacy as a sign of the ecstacy of heaven which awaits us. 

When we see each other for who we are we begin to love. It is the beauty of the soul that makes the body beautiful because it is our soul that makes us different to the rest of creation. 

3. Original nakedness 

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed because our nakedness revealed the spiritual meaning of our bodies. 

God is the creator of the universe and so creates and gives us the gift of creation. As creatures we are receivers of the gift. Now when God created us man and woman he stamped the difference of giving and receiving into our bodies revealing the spiritual meaning of the sexual difference. 

A man (husband) gives his seed to which the woman (his wife) receives it. The man gives in a receiving way and the woman receives in a giving way. What is meant by this? A man gives himself fully to his wife when he gives her his seed, with the possibility that she may give him a child in return. A woman receives her husband's seed fully when she allows it, with the possibility that she may in turn bear new life. This is what we call reciprocal love by giving and receiving without holding back. 

Now to bring back the spiritual meaning of our bodies, a man can only give by receiving from God (natural for men to be providers). While a woman can only receive by giving to God (natural for women to be nurturers). This brings us to the conclusion that you cannot give what you have not received from God. So in a married couple, a man and woman, reveal that the spousal meaning of the body is to love like Christ. 

It took the new Adam (Our Lord) to enter the world through the womb of the new Eve (Mary Our Mother) to set straight what original sin distorted within us. Our Lord died on the cross in his original nakedness, looking upon the most beautiful woman with the eyes of original unity (seeing the majestic beauty of her soul) and he hung all alone in original solitude (Jesus used his freedom to love). 


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