Theology of the Body (TOB) & Its Instrumental Use by the Holy Spirit

1) the body and it alone can bring the invisible into the visible;

2) the body is essential for expressing love into the physical world; and,

3) the language of the spirit must be expressed into the visible world through an adequate language of the body.

Between 1979 and 1984, Pope St. John Paul II delivered a series of Wednesday audiences that eventually became known as the Theology of the Body (TOB). This profound teaching offered what St. John Paul called an “adequate anthropology” [i.e., scientific explanation of humanity] — an examination of what it means to be human, made in God’s image and likeness, and how that reality is made visible through the human body, giving a Sacramental View of Reality.

Of all the strengths of God’s creation, Man’s is most profound, made in a wondrous way with great glory from the dust of the earth and so entangled with the strengths of the rest of creation that he can never be separated from them; for the elements of the world, created for Man’s service, wait on him, and Man, enthroned as it were in their midst, by divine disposition presides over them, as David says, inspired by Me [God]:

“Thou hast crowned him with glory and worship, and given him dominion over all the works of Thy hands” [Psalms 8:6–7]. Which is to say: You, O God, Who have marvellously [sic] made all things, have crowned Man with the gold and purple crown of intellect and with the sublime garment [Flesh] of visible beauty, thus placing him like a prince above the height of Your perfect works, which You have distributed justly and rightly among Your creatures. Before all Your other creatures You have conferred on Man great and wonderful dignities.[3]

From the swaddling clothes of his birth to the vinegar of his Passion and the shroud of his Resurrection, everything in Jesus’ life was a sign of his mystery [Cf. Lk 2:7; Mt 27:48; Jn 20:7]. His deeds, miracles, and words all revealed that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily [Cf. Col 2:9].” His humanity appeared as “sacrament,” that is, the sign and instrument, of his divinity and of the salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive mission.[4]

The body … 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.[5]

The body speaks not merely with the whole external expression of masculinity and femininity, but also with the internal structures of the organism, of the somatic [the entire body and its aggregate parts such as the heart of flesh] and psychosomatic [relating to the mind/mental] reaction.[6]

One of the best examples of my hypothesis in Scripture is in 2 Kings. It reads:

So Eli′sha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Eli′sha; and as soon as the [dead] man touched the bones of Eli′sha, he revived, and stood on his feet (2 Kgs. 13:20-21).

Remember, Elisha was dead. His spiritual soul had long ago left his body. Since only Elisha’s bones were present in the grave, we can conclude his death occurred a long time before the present events described in this Scripture passage. The dead man dumped in Elisha’s grave came back to life only after touching Elisha’s bones.

The spiritual soul of the dead man dumped into the grave was not present. The spiritual soul of the deceased Elisha was not present. Consequently, faith played no part in this miracle. Instead, the Holy Spirit’s power was gifted using Elisha’s salt of DNA as an instrument.

Moses’ rod, or staff of God cut from an almond tree and consisted entirely of cells, each containing its salt of DNA. When God commissioned Moses to lead His people out of bondage, he told Moses it would be through the rod/staff that he would perform the signs of what we now describe as Gratuitous grace, i.e., all of the miracles (Ex. 4:17). What are some of these miracles? All of the miracles performed in Pharoah’s court. The parting of the Red Sea. Through the salt of DNA of the rod, the Holy Spirit would show the power of God.

Upon witnessing the miracle of dust transformed into gnats, “the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger [meaning the Holy Spirit[8]] of God’” (Ex. 8:19). Note also that Moses’ staff made of wood was one of the items put into the Ark of the Covenant. Moses’ staff (previously completely cut-off from all physical water), which was budding[9] (a miracle attributable to the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit — a power that was giving new life to the salt of DNA of the previously lifeless rod/staff). When the Ark was taken across the river Jordan by the priests, the water divided (Josh. 3:12-17).

Mark tells us about the woman who had blood flow for twelve years. He writes:

She said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.” And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my garments?” (Mk. 5:28-30).

Based on Jesus’ words, we know she hadn’t touched Jesus’ flesh. She only touched the garments he wore. Keep in mind that there were no synthetic garments in those days. All clothes were made of either the salt of DNA of an animal or the DNA of plants. So, it seems that the power of Jesus’ Spirit was sent out (in the language of his body) through his scriptural mouth, i.e., his salt of Jesus’ DNA, and mediated through the DNA of the garments, which were in very close proximity to his body.

The Holy Spirit’s power left him and, through the instrumentality of the DNA of the garments Jesus was wearing, was received by the salt of DNA of the woman. Thus, she was healed of the dysfunction of her DNA. It would almost seem like this whole event caught Jesus by surprise — which would be impossible. I think Jesus asked the question, “who touched my garments,” to emphasize the role of her faith (her openness to the power of the Spirit).

The Holy Spirit uses human biology as an instrument to slow/stop the decay of certain saints.

As Elijah was taken up in the chariot of fire, his sheepskin mantle fell from him to Elisha. The falling of the mantle signified Elisha’s receiving the double portion of Elijah’s spirit, for which he had asked Elijah.

1). Jesus tells St. Faustina, “I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.”[10] Let us recall our previous discussion on the spirit versus the soul. The upper powers of the spiritual soul (i.e., spirit/inner heart) cannot be kept separate from the lower powers (those powers of the spiritual soul responsible for the accidents and the functioning of the physical body). Therefore, grace will affect both body and spiritual soul. This effect is true whether it be Sanctifying and/or Actual grace given.

2). In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart [“believers heart” in this passage would correspond to Jesus saying “approaches with trust” in his conversation with Faustina] shall flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:37-38). This living water is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and it is a river flowing out from the believer’s heart. Additionally, St. Paul writes, “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.” (Eph. 4:29-30); and,

3). St. Paul wrote, “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:6-7). Fulton Sheen so entirely viewed himself as an earthen vessel that he titled his autobiography Treasure in Clay. In Sheen’s book, The Mystical Body of Christ, he wrote, “The graces of God are communicated through ‘frail vessels [emphasis SML].’”[11]

It is the body that is the frail vessel, not the spiritual soul. Remember the phrase: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Did Sheen equate the frailty of the earthen vessel with the human body? Later in the book, he wrote, “The Mystical Christ of Pentecost, like the physical Christ of Bethlehem, was small, and delicate, and frail like any new-born thing [the newly breathed spiritual soul is sinless and, therefore, not weak]. Its members were small; its organs were in the process of formation.”[12] This is why the Church is considered the “Prolongation of the Incarnation through space and time.”[13] This understanding will take on even greater significance when we talk about the meaning of the mouth in scripture.

4). According to JPII, just as a sacrament is an outward sign of an inward (and unseen) reality of grace, the body itself enters into the “definition of a sacrament” (loosely speaking). This is so because it is a visible sign of an invisible reality. Not only is the body a sign of grace received, but it also visibly expresses that which it has received (not possible without the body) and does so efficaciously for self and others. Furthermore, the body not only expresses grace but, as we shall see later, produces it. Thus, the body contributes to grace becoming part of man.[14]