The Lord loves our bodies (see 1 Cor 6:13). He even has a body. He wants our bodies to be His Temple (1 Cor 6:19). He died, rose from the dead, and gave us the opportunity to have a new nature so that our bodies will be "servants of justice for their sanctification" (Rm 6:19). The Lord even gives us His body to be received into our bodies. He commands us to glorify Him in our bodies (1 Cor 6:20) and to offer our bodies as "weapons for justice" (Rm 6:13). The Lord intends to raise our bodies from the dead to be with Him forever in heaven (1 Cor 15:35ff).

Because the Lord loves our bodies so much, we should:

• give our lives and bodies to Him,
• receive His body in Holy Communion as often as possible,
• use our bodies to worship Him,
• respect our bodies and those of others by modest dress,
• resist temptations to sin, in particular temptations to defile our bodies through sexual sin (see 1 Cor 6:18),
• refuse to watch entertainment which exploits the human body.
• consider marital sexual relations to be holy and chaste, particularly by never using contraceptives,
• refuse to harm our bodies by giving in to addictions and compulsions,
• care lovingly for those whose bodies are afflicted, and
• respect the bodies of the dead.

We love our bodies because Jesus loves our bodies. "And now, brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God" (Rm 12:1).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert A. Stricker, May 8, 2001

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, May 18, 2001