The Theology of My Postpartum Body
“The body, and it alone 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.” (Pope John Paul II, Feb 20, 1980).
In St. John Paul the Great’s historic Theology of the Body series, he shares what it means for us to be body-soul composites: both our bodies and our souls are of equal value and dignity, joined to create a unique being in the image and likeness of our creator, God Himself.
Our bodies make visible what is invisible.
When a woman becomes a mother, she is eternally changed by the co-creation of the new soul that has been entrusted to her. Because of this new life, the woman is now different. And so is the world. When a woman becomes a mother, her body, in fact, physically makes room for this new life. It grows and it stretches.
Her body changes and makes visible what is happening in eternity: this new life now has a place prepared for it in Heaven! (John 14:3). Heaven has been grown, it has been stretched.
There is no going back to “before”. And the mother’s lasting bodily changes are a physical image of that spiritual reality. The temptation to desire for her shape to return to as it was “pre-baby” is an outer attack on her body by the Evil One on the mother and her internal vocation. A mother’s body expresses the changes that have taken place within her soul. Where there once was no room, God created room.
Where I didn’t think I could possibly give any more, God stretched me by grace. My soul is clay in the potters hands and my body reflects the master craftsman at work (Jeremiah 18:7).
Christ Himself elevates the motherly sacrifice of the body through His own bodily sacrifice, “Here is my body given for you” (Luke 22:19). The bodily sacrifice of motherhood offers a unique participation in the cross. Even at her own expense, the woman provides shelter, safety, and nourishment her children, so that they may have life.
The cross and the womb make unconditional love visible.
And so, I embrace my new image. Admitted unwillingly at first. As someone who has battled disordered eating and body image, the effects that the miracle of my children had on my body were once unwelcome.
I tried to reassure myself, “It took 9 months to get this way, I will give myself 9 months to bounce back.” I struggled to look at myself in the mirror, hated having to buy new clothes to fit my new figure, and regressed to hyper-focused eating.
Somehow, though, Christ broke through with His truth of love and respect for what my body has done along with His very real understanding of the toll my body has undergone.
And I thank St. John Paul the Great for his witness to this reality.
Now, I say “FIAT” to my motherhood; “FIAT” to all of the growth and stretching it brings to my body and to my life.
I pray that all current and future mamas can say it with me…
Fiat - Monica