"It is only in the mystery of the word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. For Adam, was a type of him who was to come, Christ the lord, Christ the new Adam...fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling."
From his earliest days as a parish priest, St. John Paul II “fell in love with human love” perceiving in marital love the reflection of God’s love for His Bride, the Church. When he became pope, John Paul began to introduce this rich theological interpretation, now known as the theology of the body, to the whole world. Exploring the meaning of the passages we hear read today from the creation story in Genesis, which are reaffirmed by Jesus in today’s Gospel, St. John Paul taught that the human body, male and female, is imprinted “from the beginning” with God’s image, and that the marital union prefigures the divine union of God and His Bride, the Church.
His theology lifts human love up to what God intended it to be, the fruitful, lifelong union of a man and woman in marriage. The man is intended to image God in his self-giving sacrificial love; the human father meant to reflect the image of the Father in heaven, giving even his life for the beloved, his spouse. The woman is intended to receive the gift of love from her husband in the marital embrace which brings forth life, the human mother reflecting the Bride of Christ, the Church, and together the two become co-creators with God.
In her article, “The Theology of Human Love,” Joan Frawley Desmond relates that John Paul’s teaching came at a pivotal moment in recent church history:
John Paul II's Theology of the Body brings new insights to the perennial teachings of the Church about marriage, based on the words of Christ in the Gospel, which echo the Word of God in the story of creation "from the beginning."
“In September 1979, with the sexual revolution in full swing and influential Catholic theologians sustaining a full attack against Humanae Vitae… Pope John Paul II began a series of reflections that reframed and revitalized the Church’s message on the meaning and purpose of human sexuality…The first Polish pope wanted to bring his flock back to the “beginning,” because that is how Jesus responded to the Pharisees’ questions about his opposition to divorce: “In the beginning, it was not so.” … John Paul’s insights… affirmed the “inseparable connection… between the unitive and procreative significance of the marriage act.”
John Paul II's Theology of the Body brings new insights to the perennial teachings of the Church about marriage, based on the words of Christ in the Gospel, which echo the Word of God in the story of creation "from the beginning."
“…from the beginning… God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” Mk 10:6-8
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