The ‘Theology of the Body’ illuminates the fundamental human desire for love and fulfilment as revealed in our creation as male and female. Saint Pope John Paul II’s first major project of his pontificate was developing the Theology of the Body over the course of 129 discourses, and this rich teaching offers a message of sexual salvation offered to all.

What does it mean to be human? How do I live my life in a way that brings true happiness and fulfilment? Through an in-depth reflection on the Scriptures, St John Paul seeks to answer these universal questions.

Since our creation as male and female is the “fundamental fact of human existence” (St John Paul II, 13 Feb, 1980), the Theology of the Body affords “the rediscovery of the meaning of the whole of existence, the meaning of life” (29 Oct, 80). The teachings of the Theology of the Body reach men and women in every state of life with a hopeful, liberating vision of human identity that appeals to the deepest yearnings of the heart for love and union.

Core aspects many come to realise when studying the Theology of the Body:

• The body makes visible the invisible – the spiritual and the divine;
• One of the deepest desires of the human being is to see another and be seen by another’s loving gaze. To know and be known, love and be loved;
• Our brokenness is a result of not being seen, known, or loved;
• When we truly see one another, we see the unrepeatable, indispensable and irreplaceable nature of that person;
• TOB opens our eyes to truly see the human person; and
• The body is not something but someone.