Ad Rationem

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 [...]

Revelation and Discovery of the Nuptial Meaning of the Body

by Pope John Paul II from this General Audience on 9 January 1980. Read text via EWTN.

Transcription of Commentary starting at ~14:25 of recording.

In these conferences which Pope John Paul II gave on Man and Women He created them, a Theology of the Body. We’ve seen so many different important things like Adam. Did he really live the world as if it was a gift. You and I were called to live as if we have received a great gift. Not only a gift of our existence, the gift of our life, our health, but also the gift of the world. How beautiful to see the mountains and rivers of Tennessee. Do we appreciate the gift of God and not just the gift of life or being, of sight, but also God’s gift of self? God gives Himself to us in Holy Baptism, in Holy Eucharist, in Holy Scripture. In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to us, has given us His word to us. And Christ Jesus is the Word made flesh who gives us His very flesh and blood, soul, and divinity in the Sacrament of the Altar. As Pope John Paul II looked back at “the beginning” he asked the question, “Did Adam live the world truly as a gift. And that question is not just for Adam but for us his descendants. We are reminded of “original solitude”, so important, unlike any other creature on the face of the Earth is the human creature, the human being, the human person. How majestic are the eagles which soar high above. How majestic are the orca traversing the oceans, but none more majestic than the human person made to the image of God. A rational animal unlike any other and then, “this one at last, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” Adam recognizes another self. But then even they recognize that they are unlike all others and they’re still alone although still yet in communion with God before the Fall.

Pope John Paul II is analyzing Sacred Scripture in these 133 presentations on the Theology of the Body. He applies his natural understanding. All his many years of experience, all his many years of study. all his many years of prayer he brings to bear on the sacred text of Genesis. Both the first and second accounts of creation are complementary accounts. The Holy Father reminds us of the “complete consciousness of solitude.” There is a passing consciousness of solitude when you are alone, “I am all alone.” But there is a great sense of consciousness which is possible. To be possible, to be conscious is a great aspect of human being, self awareness. But even when we are sleeping and not self aware or conscious we are who we are. We are just awaiting our rising even if it is an unconscious awaiting. Pope John Paul II points out that there was a complete consciousness of solitude in respect with the other living beings, the animalia. The human being is a living being, is a living being amongst living beings, and while the Holy Father doesn’t point it out here, God is a living being. God is the origin of all life, all living beings. The Holy Father doesn’t point out Aristotelian, philosophical distinctions between vegetative life, sensitive life, spiritual life, not spiritual life in the sense of bended knee and folded hand but the rational spiritual soul.

When the Pope speaks about there being no possible “existence with animals in a relation of reciprocal gift”, he is highlighting the fact that we are made for each other. man for woman, woman for man. Husband for wife, wife for husband. He doesn’t talk about bestiality but this is verboten, forbidden, foreign to our makeup, our nature, and similarly other arrangements.

Pope John Paul II talks about gift and mystery and this is a precursor to the book which he authors some years later celebrating the anniversary of his ordination. The gift of ordination and the ministry of ordination. But even before those great gifts there is the gift and mystery of our very being; the gift and mystery of life; the gift and mystery of original unity [...]

Creation as a Fundamental and Original Gift

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 2 January 1980. Read text via EWTN.

Fullness of Interpersonal Communication

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 19 December 1979. Read text via EWTN.

Meaning of Original Human Experiences

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 12 December 1979. Read text on EWTN.

MARRIAGE ONE AND INDISSOLUBLE IN FIRST CHAPTERS OF GENESIS

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 21 November 1979. Read text via EWTN.

MAN BECOMES THE IMAGE OF GOD BY COMMUNION OF PERSONS

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 14 November 1979. Read text via EWTN.

ORIGINAL UNITY OF MAN AND WOMAN

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 7 November 1979. Read text via EWTN.

IN THE VERY DEFINITION OF MAN, THE ALTERNATIVE BETWEEN DEATH AND IMMORTALITY

by Pope John Paul II from his General Audience on 31 October 1979. Read text on EWTN.