Sex as a Sacramental Sign
This insight of John Paul the Great shows the great importance not just of sex differences but the sexual act itself for one’s personal identity, for one’s vocation, and for sacramental and liturgical life. In a word, our sex, as female and male (there are no others) establish the structure for all of creation and for everything we do. John Paul explicitly said:Â
In its masculinity and femininity, the body is called from the beginning to become a manifestation of the spirit. It does so also by means of the conjugal union of man and woman, when they unite in such a way as to form one flesh. Elsewhere (cf. Mt 19:5-6) Christ defended the inviolable rights of this unity, by means of which the body, in its masculinity and femininity, assumes the value of a sign “in a way, a sacramental sign (John Paul II, Theology of the Body, 163).
In the context of this quote, spirit is clearly the spiritual soul. The body in its sexuality reveals something unchangeable about the being (or ontology) of the soul and so something ontological about the person. The body makes the soul visible not just in its physical appearance but also through its actions. The act of sexual intercourse where by the husband and wife become one flesh (and this only happens in a sacramental union) reveals and confirms the unity the spouses have by their participation in the Great Mystery of Ephesians 5. That is, they enter into this moral sacramental union of two persons via their union in the Body of Christ whereby Christ is joined to His Church as Bridegroom to Bride. The body and its sex, in a certain sense, gives sacramental witness to this intimate and inviolable union whereby each spouse sanctifies the other and give way to fruitfulness, in an asymmetrical but still in analogous way in which the Bride is sanctified through Her union to the Bridegroom. It is asymmetrical of course because in the union of Christ to His Church, Christ is not sanctified by the union.
This truth of human sexuality and the cosmic order leave no room for the so called theological “developments†some dissenters attempt to peddle such as divorce and remarriage, homosexual acts, women priests, artificial contraception, etc. These dogmas are not something that ever can or will be reformed because they go to the heart Trinitarian love and the way that is expressed in creation and in the sex of the human person.
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