4 Reasons Your Soul Needs You To Move Your Body

There’s a disconnect in contemporary Christianity when it comes to the relationship of body and soul.

If you’re familiar at all with Christopher West and his work with Theology of the Body, you may have heard of the disconnect be referred to as “spirit good/ body bad” dualism, or as the Manichaen heresy. The Manichaen heresy, or Manichaeism, condemned the body (especially it’s sexual aspects) as evil. This is because Manichaeus believe the material world to be evil, and the spiritual world, alone, to be good.

Though this belief is actually incompatible with Christianity, many of us still function as though it is true. We need to stop ignoring the health of our bodies. Therefore, I’ve put together four reasons why we should start praying AND exercising as we strive for holiness.

1) Your Body Is Good

Though most of us may not condemn the body as evil, how often do we treat the body as holy and as good as our soul?

How often do we hear about the need for increased spiritual practices (prayer, scripture, rosary) and then consider how often are we encouraged to also take on physical practices (exercise, sports, fitness)? Practically, our churches and religious leaders often give us numerous practices to increase our spiritual aptitude, but rarely are we encouraged to make physical changes as well.

Though we may not outwardly condemn the body, we still function as though it is separate from our soul. But our soul and our body are not separate. We, humans, are soul-body composites. Our soul and body together are what make us humans.

If we were only spirits, we would be like angels. If we were only bodies, like the animals. But we are both. Therefore, shouldn’t we embrace practices that focus on this dual aspect of our nature? The Catechism quotes Gaudium Et Spes when it tells us:

 “Though made of body and soul, man is one. Through his bodily composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world; thus they reach their crown through him, and through him raise their voice in free praise of the Creator. For this reason man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”

GAUDIUM ET SPES

Man’s human nature participates in God’s life by it’s existence, and because it was made in His image and likeness - is good. Both our body and our soul are part of our human nature, therefore both are good.

It’s not that one is sinful and one is holy. Both are good.

And because both our bodies and souls are good, we should try to focus and care for the entirety of our human nature - not just one aspect of it.

2) Through Your Body You Put Virtue Into Motion

In the Theology of the Body, St. John Paul tells us that:

 “The body, in fact, and only the body is capable of making visible what is invisible, the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the invisible mystery hidden in God from time immemorial, and thus to be a sign of it.”

It is through our bodies that our invisible spirit is made visible. Therefore, it’s through our bodies that our virtues are made visible to others.

Now order to grow, or be grown in virtue, we need to pray. Because it is God’s grace alone that allows for spiritual growth. We also need to put into motion new good habits that grace builds up in us. It is through our bodies that that our good habits, our virtues, are made present.

Prayer and contemplation of Almighty God is central and vital for our holiness, but Aquinas points out, “The moral virtues are directed chiefly, not to the contemplation of truth, but to operation” and that, “It is clear that the moral virtues belong essentially to the active life.”

We put our the virtues of prudence, temperance, and fortitude on display when we develop an exercise strategy and stick to it, even as motivation wanes. Choosing to be physically active, and taking up the discipline and sacrifice it entails, builds up virtue.

When we have every excuse to take a day off, sleep in, take it easy, and we choose to show up and do the hard work anyway - we are tilling the soil in which the self-denial necessary for sacrificial love is grown.

You need a properly ordered will and body to be able to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow. You can achieve this by putting your virtue in motion and moving your body.

3) A Moving Body Can Serve Others

The virtue of justice refers to giving God what is due to God, and to our neighbor what is due to our neighbor.

If our souls are willing and prepared to give themselves away at the service of others, but our bodies are incapable to meet the demands of that service, we are unable to give God or neighbor what is due to them. Again, Aquinas explains that, “The active life is described with reference to our relations with other people, because it consists in these things, not exclusively, but principally.” 

The active life is lived well when it’s focus is on the service of others.

Your workout regimen and program should not be focus on losing weight for 6-pack abs or a better looking summer bod. Your focus should be on building yourself so that you can serve others well.

If you are a dad who loves his kids, but is out of breath when they want to play tag, you know the disappoint and guilt that comes from feeling out of energy and physically unable to keep up. Now, this isn’t to say that fathers whom can’t move in the normal way due to illness or injury are at all at fault.

What I am saying is that if our inability to serve others comes from our own chosen lack of movement, we have a duty to make a change.

With regular exercise comes more energy, improved mood, and physical strength. We should look to acquire these so that we can serve God and others well.

4) You Honor The Gift God’s Given You

God has given you a body that works. You honor God by using it well.

We honor God by using our bodies as intended. It is part of our human nature to walk, run, lift, jump, and climb. Even if it doesn’t look pretty when we do it, God is honored when we move.

We shouldn’t let such a great gift go to waste due to our lack of discipline and motivation. When the desire to sit rather than move arrives - we have a chance to be sanctified and to honor the Lord, by choosing to move anyway.

We can be sanctified of our laziness and desire for comfort when we move. We also honor the Lord who Himself became flesh in order to redeem our entire humanity. God knows the goodness of the gift He’s given us, because He has a body.

God knows what He’s given you through Divine Knowledge and Acquired Knowledge. God knows what it’s like to have a body through His omniscient divinity and through His human experience. Jesus Himself walked, climbed, and carried. He used His body to aid and serve others. It is through His body that His sacrifice on the cross was made present to us.

God knows what He’s given you and me. Let us aim to honor Him by using this gift to serve Him.

Don’t Forget To Keep Praying

As you continue to strive for holiness and virtue, keep praying. An active prayer life is necessary, because it is by grace alone that we can do anything for God.

But after you’ve read your Bible, prayed your Rosary, or meditated through the Jesus Prayer with your chotki - get down and give God twenty.

Verso L’alto - Renzo