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POPE JOHN PAUL AT THE WEEKLY GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 1
APRIL
On Wednesday, 1 April, the weekly audience again was
given in two parts, the first to the young people gathered in St. Peter's
Basilica, the second to the thousands of pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall. The
following is the text of the Holy Father's address in the Hall.
1. Before concluding the series of considerations concerning the words
Jesus Christ uttered in the Sermon on the Mount, it is necessary to recall
these words once more and briefly retrace the thread of ideas whose basis
they constitute. Here is the tenor of Jesus' words: "You have heard that
it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that
everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28). These concise words call for deep
reflection, in the same way as the words in which Christ referred to the
beginning. The Pharisees had asked him, referring to the law of Moses
which admitted the so-called act of repudiation: "Is it lawful to divorce
one's wife for any cause?" He replied: "Have you not read that he who made
them from the beginning 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.... What therefore God has joined together, let
not man put asunder" (Mt 19:3-6). These words, too, called for a deep
reflection, to derive all the riches contained in them. A reflection of
this kind enabled us to outline the true theology of the body.
Truth rooted in man's original innocence
2. Following the reference Christ made to the beginning, we dedicated a
series of reflections to the relative texts in Genesis, which deal
precisely with that beginning. An image of the situation of manmale
and femalein
the state of original innocence emerged from that analysis, as well as the
theological basis of the truth about man and about his particular
vocation. This springs from the eternal mystery of the personthe
image of God, incarnate in the visible and corporeal fact of the
masculinity or femininity of the human person. This truth is at the basis
of the answer Christ gave about the nature of marriage, and especially its
indissolubility. It is truth about man, truth rooted in the state of
original innocence, truth which must therefore be understood in the
context of that situation prior to sin, as we tried to do in the preceding
series of reflections.
3. At the same time, however, it is necessary to consider, understand
and interpret the same fundamental truth about man, his being male and
female, in the prism of another situationthat
is, of the one that was formed through breaking the first covenant with
the Creator, that is, through original sin. Such truth about manmale
and femaleshould
be seen in the context of his hereditary sinfulness. It is precisely here
that we find Christ's enunciation in the Sermon on the Mount. It is
obvious that in the Scriptures of the Old and the New Covenant there are
many narratives, phrases and words which confirm the same truth, that is,
that historical man bears within him the inheritance of original sin.
Nevertheless, Christ's words spoken in the Sermon on the Mount seem to
havewith
all their concise enunciationa
particularly rich eloquence. This is shown also by the previous
analyses, which gradually revealed what those words contain. To clarify
the statements concerning lust, it is necessary to grasp the biblical
meaning of lust itselfof
the three forms of lustand
principally that of the flesh. Then, little by little, we arrive at
understanding why Jesus defined that lust (looking at lustfully) as
adultery committed in the heart. Making the relative analyses, we tried at
the same time to understand what meaning Christ's words had for his
immediate listeners. They had been brought up in the tradition of the Old
Testament, that is, in the tradition of the legislative texts, as well as
the prophetic and sapiential ones. Furthermore, we tried to understand
what meaning Christ's words can have for the person of every other era,
especially for modern man, considering his various cultural conditionings.
We are convinced that these words, in their essential content, refer to
the man of every time and every place. Their comprehensive value consists
also in this: they proclaim to each one the truth that is valid and
substantial for him.
An ethical truth
4. What is this truth? Unquestionably, it is a truth of an ethical
nature and therefore a truth of a normative nature, just as the truth
contained in the commandment: "You shall not commit adultery," is
normative. The interpretation of this commandment, made by Christ,
indicates the evil that must be avoided and overcomeprecisely
the evil of lust of the fleshand
at the same time it points out the good for which the way is opened
by overcoming desire. This good is purity of heart, which Christ spoke of
in the same context of the Sermon on the Mount. From the biblical point of
view, purity of heart means freedom from every kind of sin or guilt, not
just from sins that concern the lust of the flesh. However, we are dealing
here especially with one of the aspects of that purity, which constitutes
the opposite of adultery committed in the heart. If that purity of heart,
about which we are concerned, is understood according to St. Paul's
thought as life according to the Spirit, then the Pauline context offers
us a complete image of the content present in the words Christ spoke in
the Sermon on the Mount. They contain a truth of an ethical nature. They
warn us against evil and indicate the moral good of human conduct. In
fact, they direct listeners to avoid the evil of lust and acquire purity
of heart. Therefore these words have a meaning that is both normative and
indicative. Directing toward the good of purity of heart, at the same time
they indicate the values toward which the human heart can and must aspire.
Christ's words realistic
5. Hence the question: what truth, valid for every man, is contained in
Christ's words? We must answer that not only an ethical truth, but also
the essential truth, the anthropological truth about man is contained in
them. Precisely for this reason we go back to these words in formulating
here the theology of the body. It is closely related to and is in the
perspective of the preceding words in which Christ had referred to the
beginning. It can be affirmed that, with their expressive evangelical
eloquence, the man of original innocence is, in a way, recalled to the
consciousness of the man of lust.
But Christ's words are realistic. They do not try to make the human
heart return to the state of original innocence, which man left behind him
at the moment when he committed original sin. On the contrary, they
indicate to him the way to a purity of heart which is possible and
accessible to him even in the state of hereditary sinfulness. This is the
purity of the man of lust. However, he is inspired by the word of the
Gospel and open to life according to the Spirit (in conformity with St.
Paul's words), that is, the purity of the man of lust who is entirely
enveloped by the redemption of the body Christ carried out. For this
reason we find in the words of the Sermon on the Mount the reference to
the heart, that is, to the interior man. The interior man must open
himself to life according to the Spirit, in order to participate in
evangelical purity of heart, to rediscover and realize the value of the
body, freed through redemption from the bonds of lust. The normative
meaning of Christ's words is deeply rooted in their anthropological
meaning, in the dimension of human interiority.
Felt with the heart
6. According to the evangelical doctrine, developed in such a
stupendous way in Paul's letters, purity is not just temperance or
abstention from unchastity (cf. 1 Th 4:3). At the same time, it also opens
the way to a more and more perfect discovery of the dignity of the human
body. The body is organically connected with the freedom of the gift of
the person in the complete authenticity of his personal subjectivity, male
or female. In this way, purity in the sense of temperance matures in the
heart of the person who cultivates it and tends to reveal and strengthen
the nuptial meaning of the body in its integral truth. This truth must be
known interiorly. In a way, it must be felt with the heart, in order that
the mutual relations of man and of womaneven
mere looksmay
reacquire that authentically nuptial content of their meanings. In the
Gospel, purity of heart indicates precisely this content.
Enjoying the victory
7. If in the interior experience of man (that is, the man of lust),
temperance takes shape as a negative function, the analysis of Christ's
words in the Sermon on the Mount and connected with the texts of St. Paul
enables us to shift this meaning toward the positive function of purity of
heart. In mature purity man enjoys the fruits of the victory won over
lust, a victory which St. Paul writes of, exhorting man to "control his
own body in holiness and honor" (1 Th 4:4). The efficacy of the gift of
the Holy Spirit, whose "temple" the human body is (cf. 1 Cor 6:19), is
partly manifested precisely in such mature purity. This gift is above all
that of piety (donum pietatis), which restores to the
experience of the bodyespecially
when it is a question of the sphere of the mutual relations of man and
womanall
its simplicity, its explicitness and also its interior joy. As can be
seen, this is a spiritual climate which is very different from the
"passion of lust" of which Paul writes (and which we know, moreover, from
the preceding analyses; cf. Sir 26:13, 15-18). The satisfaction of the
passions is one thing, and the joy that man finds in mastering himself
more fully is another thing. In this way he can also become more fully a
real gift for another person.
The words spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount direct the human
heart precisely towards this joy. We must entrust ourselves, our thoughts
and our actions to them, in order to find joy and give it to others.
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