John Paul II and the suffering body

On Jan. 14, Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to his predecessor, John Paul II. John Paul will now have the title "Blessed," to indicate that he has ascended into heaven and has the ability to intercede for those who invoke his aid. Particular dioceses, religious orders, and nations will be allowed to celebrate a feast day in his honor and local "cults" venerating him will be authorized. Being named "blessed" is the last stage before canonization: one more miracle needs to be confirmed in order for John Paul to be named a "saint."

As his case moves toward sainthood, the outlines of John Paul's significance are becoming clear: he will be the saint of the suffering body.

John Paul II was a philosopher and a mystic. His wide ranging discourses do not lend themselves to the contemporary language of sound bites and slogans. But one of the most important themes John Paul emphasized was the Church as a living, breathing, "body" with Christ as its head. Some of John Paul's most influential writings concerned what is called in the "theology of the body" that articulated a Christian understanding personhood as necessarily "embodied."

For John Paul, Christ's incarnation pointed to the human experience of the body as a special meeting point between the human and divine. As an extension of this view, John Paul's pontificate saw a large number of canonizations that celebrated special saintly "bodies" that could be emulated.

John Paul maintained that the divine was manifested in the self-giving of marital sexuality just as it was in the self-surrender of celibacy. But it was in the experience of suffering that human beings drew closest to the crucified and resurrected body of Christ. It is significant that the miracle attributed to John Paul II involves the healing of a French nun from Parkinson's disease. John Paul, of course, suffered from Parkinson's himself--a disease that imprisons the sufferer in an uncontrollable body. The public aspect of John Paul's own suffering was the defining moment of the final years of his pontificate. The most significant saints he canonized were also public sufferers, like Padre Pio, who bore wounds on their bodies that pointed to a special connection with the suffering Christ.

The celebration of suffering is not without its controversies. John Paul not only suffered in his illness, but also actively cultivated pain not just by sleeping on the bare floor, but also by flagellating himself. If John Paul attempted to "discipline" himself through such traditional Catholic practices, so too did he expect a strict "discipline" within the broader Church.

For critics, such views represent a retrograde religiosity that mistakenly views abasement as triumph. For John Paul, however, suffering and salvation, surrender and freedom, were intimately linked as a part of a "gospel of life" that affirmed the totality of human experience. As Pope, John Paul criticized a modern world that could find no place for those who suffer. By beatifying him, John Paul's successor will affirm the Catholic belief that those who suffer do have a place--both in this world, and the next.

By Mathew N. Schmalz  |  January 20, 2011; 11:08 AM ET  | Category:  Catholicism Save & Share:                 
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