Jason Evert:Chastity is a virtue that liberates"."In the face of hypersexualization, educate the body to love".Jaime Rodriguez is a priest of the Legionaries of Christordained 16 years ago. He works in the Instituto Desarrollo y Persona of the Francisco de Vitoria University and directs the online Theology of the Body program, making him one of the main promoters of initiatives such as "The Theology of the Body".The Body Fest"This is a formative experience that brings the Church's teachings on the body and sexuality closer to young people.
In this interview, Father Jaime Rodriguez talks about Christian anthropology and the opportunities that today's society offers to rediscover the value of man.
Why is the Theology of the Body, a teaching promoted by John Paul II years ago, important today?
- Normally the Theology of the Body is linked to John Paul II and it is good because he is the one who developed it, but he did not really say new things. What he did was to explain Genesis and Christian anthropology, what had always been said but in a new way. In this way, John Paul II managed to transmit the truths not from duty but from value.
The Polish Pope said in the 1950s that the failure of Christian ethics is that it has formulated its contents in the form of precepts and duties. John Paul II thought it was better to present the contents from the point of view of beauty and value. He dealt with the theme of love, the sexualityThe style he used resonates a lot with young people, because we come from a catechetical formation that is a bit moralistic, and what I see when we transmit this program is that people react by saying that this is what they long for. The style he used resonates a lot with young people, because we come from a catechetical formation that is a bit moralistic and what I see when we transmit this program is that people react by saying that this is what they were longing for in their hearts, but no one had explained it to them in this way. That's why the Theology of the Body is not a fad: it's the same old truth told in a way that connects better.
How can we talk to people about the "value" of their person and body in an era of so much social media exposure, where you can even make money by showing your body and intimacy?
- John Paul II says that the body is an expression of the person. For his part, Christopher West explains that the problem with pornography is not that it teaches too much, but that it teaches too little, because it instrumentalizes the body and turns it into an object. Pornography turns people who are unique and unrepeatable, with infinite dignity, into an object that can be bought and sold.
Rousseau, despite being far from Christian anthropology, said in "The Social Contract" that no one in the world should be so rich as to buy another and no one so poor as to sell himself. Through the Theology of the Body, people discover the dignity and value of their bodies. That is why it is not presented from what is right or wrong, but from the discovery of the gift that each one is. Thanks to these ideas, people are filled with reverence and awe before their own body and also before the body of the other.
What keys would you give to a person who knows nothing about Theology of the Body to get started in these teachings?
- In the first section, God creates man in his own image and likeness, male and female he created them. Based on this, the whole Theology of the Body speaks of masculinity and femininity as the image of God. This implies that our body is not the prison of the soul or a means for reproduction, but something good and beautiful created by God.
On the other hand, Genesis 2 indicates that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. God speaks to us that the person is created for the family. In fact, John Paul II says that man is the image of God more in communion than in solitude. In Christian anthropology, what we have at the origin is communion, we do not have the isolated individual, but someone who says "this is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones", God affirming that "it is not good for man to be alone".
One could misinterpret the Theology of the Body and consider that it looks only at man and forgets about God. What is the role of Christ in these teachings?
- John Paul II was accused of being anthropocentric, saying that he had succumbed to modernism. The Polish Pope replied by saying that one can speak of anthropocentrism as long as the idea of man is the man to whom Christ has united himself with his Incarnation. In the Theology of the Body we do not speak of man as a being of the cosmos that appeared by chance, but of man as the humanity to which Christ united himself in the Incarnation. This brings us into a Trinitarian and Christocentric perspective.
So, this is only for Catholics?
- No. This, which is good, beautiful and true, is not an idea only for Catholics, but a teaching for the whole world. John Paul II said that the criterion of verification of Revelation, in which these teachings are included, is experience. Through our experience we can know if the Theology of the Body is reasonable and true, and the reality is that people end up realizing that these teachings fit the longings of their heart. Everyone who has a body can find in the Theology of the Body an explanation of their identity and their call to love.
What opportunities does today's society provide for rediscovering the Theology of the Body?
- The great opportunity is that today's young people do not easily accept the values that are proposed to them, they are a very critical and de-Christianized generation. Young people listen to what a ministry, an ideology and also the Church tell them, no longer as impositions, but as proposals. Therefore, since young people no longer see faith as something imposed, if they are convinced, they embrace it. This is an opportunity, because there is a whole generation tired of the apparent truths told by a broken society.
Today's young people are fertile soil that is excited by the Christian proposal, because it appeals to the desires of their hearts. They know they can do whatever they want, but Christ asks them, "Do you want what you do? Do you do what you want?"
An example of this are the boys and girls who come to "The Body Fest". They are tired of pretty lies and have found in the Theology of the Body a truth that resonates in their hearts. They don't want a crazy life breaking, but the opportunity to live a true love.
