The Human Body was made Good and Holy
By Msgr. John Wynand Katende
Posted on: Saturday, 25th October 2025
“God created mankind in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
Since time immemorial, humankind has struggled with the proper appreciation of the body cum its relationship to the soul. In fact, the majority of Catholics may not be conversant with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and the human person.
Ancient Greek philosophers viewed the spirit as noble but the body as evil. The 12th century Christian Albigensians, who were quite puritanical in their outlook, believed that God had created only the spiritual world, while the devil was responsible for the material world. They viewed the spiritual world as good and the material world as evil.
Many prevalent ideas existing today, concerning human sexuality, are rooted in the dualism thought of French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650), among others. This means that there is no real integration between the body and the soul.
The influence of gender ideology has also become pervasive in contemporary society. It includes the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one's sex. Many people have, accordingly, raised questions around the complex and sensitive topics of gender, sexual identity, and the nature of the human person.
The Christian vision is that humans have a body like the animals, but are able to reason and will, totally unlike them. The body is a sign that points to a spiritual reality. It, actually, has data to tell us about what it means to be human.
The Catholic Church has always opposed notions of dualism that posit the body and soul as separate, non-integrated entities. The body is an integral and indispensable aspect of what it means to be a human person. The body and soul come into existence together, in an individual human being at the time of conception. At conception, God wills that the human body is good and sexually differentiated as male or female.
On 22nd October, the Church commemorates the great legacy of St. Pope John Paul II. His teaching on the theology of the body provides an in-depth look at human sexuality and also focuses on explaining man and woman as they were created, and God’s plan for the sexes.
We are taught that the human body is holy because God made it, and everything God makes has a purpose. We are to bring glory to God with our bodies, so we can't compartmentalize our lives and think that we can divorce our bodies and live as if only our spirit matters. The human body is owned twice by God; once because he created it and again because he redeemed it. Every day, our bodies enable us to proclaim the goodness and love of our God. Contraception and sex activity outside marriage is sinful because they render sex a mere tool or utility.
The mystery of the Incarnation, God becoming man, for man’s salvation, shows that the body is valuable to God, echoing the claims of Genesis that everything He created is good. Jesus so highly values the human body that much of his ministry on earth is actively feeding people and healing diseases.
Mary offered her body to conceive the Savior of the world. Jesus sacrificed His Body for our salvation. We eat it for our spiritual noursihment. The martyrs and the celibate/chaste for the kingdom of God, imitate Christ.
Our bodies do not make us sin, as some people believe. God made us free, and we sin freely. St. Paul teaches that the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. It is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In fact, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can glorify God in our bodies. So, we can solve the immorality problem by dedicating ourselves, body, soul, intellect, and will, to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:13-20).
Gender ideology denies certain fundamental aspects of human existence. It is, in many important respects, radically opposed to a sound understanding of human nature, leading to forms of cultural influence, especially via education and legislation, that promote a notion of personal identity which is left to the choice of the individual and that deny the anthropological basis of the family as founded on the biological difference and reciprocal complimentality between male and female.
This teaching reaches into the deepest reality of what it means to be human in relation to God and other human beings. Accordingly, marriage and human sexuality are of great importance in our daily lives, civilization, culture, community, family, and the Church.