Lent 2013, XIV

XIV. So if the discipline of day-to-day life is all about re-ordering our hearts to choose the most valuable, how does the infinite value of the human person relate to that goal? Well, here is one concrete example of that re-ordering. I mentioned bikini babes in passing in a previous post, and some of the responses possible to them. Probably the most common response is to devalue both the person and the sexual urge by objectifying them and grasping after them through lust. A less common but equally dis-ordered response would be to devalue them by resenting and despising them, sneering at the temptation as it were. Both of these are “normal” responses, in the sense that they are common to our fallen nature. But the business of life is to rise above that fallen nature. The next level up is what we might call truly natural, in which the person is seen and loved regardless of her dress and actions. We do not devalue the body, we value it truly because we value something else more. This is truly natural, it is the way we were designed to function, but thanks to our fallen nature our actions fall short. Adam and Eve would have done this naturally. For us, even though it is simply rising to the most natural human level, still it requires supernatural intervention. It requires grace.