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Objection 1: It would seem that a man ought not to love his body out
of charity. For we do not love one with whom we are unwilling to
associate. But those who have charity shun the society of the body,
according to Rm. 7:24: "Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" and Phil. 1:23: "Having a desire to be dissolved
and to be with Christ." Therefore our bodies are not to be loved out
of charity.
Objection 2: Further, the friendship of charity is based on
fellowship in the enjoyment of God. But the body can have no share in
that enjoyment. Therefore the body is not to be loved out of charity.
Objection 3: Further, since charity is a kind of friendship it is
towards those who are capable of loving in return. But our body cannot
love us out of charity. Therefore it should not be loved out of
charity.
On the contrary, Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i,
23,26) that there are four things that we should love out of
charity, and among them he reckons our own body.
I answer that, Our bodies can be considered in two ways: first, in
respect of their nature, secondly, in respect of the corruption of sin
and its punishment.
Now the nature of our body was created, not by an evil principle, as
the Manicheans pretend, but by God. Hence we can use it for God's
service, according to Rm. 6:13: "Present . . . your members
as instruments of justice unto God." Consequently, out of the love
of charity with which we love God, we ought to love our bodies also,
but we ought not to love the evil effects of sin and the corruption of
punishment; we ought rather, by the desire of charity, to long for
the removal of such things.
Reply to Objection 1: The Apostle did not shrink from the society
of his body, as regards the nature of the body, in fact in this
respect he was loth to be deprived thereof, according to 2 Cor.
5:4: "We would not be unclothed, but clothed over." He did,
however, wish to escape from the taint of concupiscence, which remains
in the body, and from the corruption of the body which weighs down the
soul, so as to hinder it from seeing God. Hence he says expressly:
"From the body of this death."
Reply to Objection 2: Although our bodies are unable to enjoy God
by knowing and loving Him, yet by the works which we do through the
body, we are able to attain to the perfect knowledge of God. Hence
from the enjoyment in the soul there overflows a certain happiness into
the body, viz., "the flush of health and incorruption," as
Augustine states (Ep. ad Dioscor. cxviii). Hence, since the
body has, in a fashion, a share of happiness, it can be loved with
the love of charity.
Reply to Objection 3: Mutual love is found in the friendship which
is for another, but not in that which a man has for himself, either in
respect of his soul, or in respect of his body.
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