Give body due attention
For at least one second, I had to grapple with some mixed feelings when I was asked recently to bless what they called a wellness hub. So far, no one has invited me yet to bless a spa or a massage parlor. I'm afraid that will take more time for me to grapple.
The wellness hub was a big, spacious room with a manager and instructor, and outfitted with all sorts of benches, bars and weights, a treadmill, a stationary bike, and a wall-to-wall mirror that made me even more uncomfortable.
I'm used to see my face only before a mirror, and frankly to see myself in full length, showing how my clothes hang on my body frame, mortified me. Later, of course, I had a good laugh at myself, which has always been my way of resolving what I don't understand or like.
I knew I could and should bless it, but I realized I was carrying a baggage toward anything that looked like pampering our body. I was brought up to be a bit harsh on my body, and through the years I could only agree why it had to be like that.
I'm more in the body-vs.-spirit frame of mind. I've been suspicious of anything the body likes. My automatic attitude toward it knows only one mode, that is, discipline it, give it less than what it asks, never spoil it, even punish it a little just to make sure.
I know what is going to the extreme, as in being a puritan or a Manichean whose ideology is to consider the body as the principle of evil, and I've been careful not to fall there. But this has not prevented me from being strict with the body.
Remember what our Lord said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak," and this has always made such a great impact on my mind it has become a guiding principle.
My experience can only attest to the veracity of the warning, and I've always felt I have to do something about it. Thus, since my college days, I've imposed on myself some kind of 24/7 guarding, doing this as discreetly as possible, though this attitude gave some unpleasant openings for temptations.
In principle, I know that the body and spirit should go together. But I'm afraid I have neglected to work that theory out. Not until some doctors have recommended that I do some exercises. No diet yet, but I was warned that may be the next step.
The body also has to be given due care. It cannot and should not be taken for granted. This is because the body, for all its shortcomings and failings, form a unity with the spirit.
There has to be a more pro-active effort to establish and keep a link between the body and the soul. These two constitutive elements of our being should work harmoniously for each other's advantage and benefit.
"Your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit…glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence," St. Paul tells us (1 Cor 6,19-20). We have to take care of it, because as St. Paul says, sin finds an ally in our body, that is, the flesh or the lower part of man—our senses, instincts, passions, etc.
Taking care of it means to submit it to Christ's spirit which does not nullify but rather purifies and elevates the natural condition of our body.
In other words, if done properly, our exercising can connect the natural condition of our body to its supernatural goal, the Adonis perfection or Venus beauty to Christ's cross.In short, you can develop a six-pack and be holy, not vain.
If done properly, this attention and care of our body can generate a sense of self-dominion we can have over our body. It creates a certain energy for us to develop virtues, to give glory to God and work actively for the others.
It prevents us from falling into pride and arrogance, as well as into sensuality and greed. Going to the gym need not be an exercise in self-indulgence. It can be a form of praying and putting ourselves in better conditions to love and serve.
I think we need to highlight these proper values that can be found and fostered in places like the wellness hub that I just blessed. We have to help one another to discern these values amid the many possibilities which can spoil what in principle can be an objective human need.
(Fr. Cimagala is the Chaplain, Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE). Talamban, Cebu City. Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com)