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 man—male and female—in 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 person—the 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
situation—that is, of the one that was formed through breaking
the first covenant with the Creator, that is, through original
sin. Such truth about man—male and female—should 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 have—with all their concise
enunciation—a 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 itself—of the
three forms of lust—and 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
overcome—precisely the evil of lust of the flesh—and 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 woman—even mere looks—may 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
body—especially when it is a question of the sphere of the
mutual relations of man and woman—all 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.
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 6
April 1981, page 3
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