Aug 13 Wed
What about changing one’s gender?
Gender ideology takes up an old theory presented in a way that is attractive to many people today: the concept that the body is a tool that we can re-engineer at will.
Thus, the body becomes an external feature. "I dwell in this body, but I observe it from a distance."
However, the body is an integral part of the person, not his property.
Whoever manipulates the body not only changes the exterior, but also one’s identity. Gender ideology would never have succeeded without some medical-technical development that allowed this manipulation. However, there is a big difference between improving something about the body and intervening in the person's identity...
Thanks to modern medicine, I may be able to change my body, even my external sex. Yet more and more people who are called "trans", wish to reverse their "transition." This shows that the body is not a neutral shell in which I simply dwell: “I am my body.”
The human being is not a machine whose parts can be changed at will. The body is an integral part of the person, not one’s property. Even if they say: By modifying my body, I also modify my identity. I don't change a tool, I transform myself.
What is the Christian vision in this context?
With death, my body disappears, but I remain. Whoever wounds the body, wounds the whole person. If I intervene in my body as if it were someone else's territory, I become commander and troop, which is an absurd idea.
Christian life is a mission, not a utopia. Utopia means that it is never achieved. What Jesus asked of us in the Sermon on the Mount may seem practically impossible, but growing to reach that goal makes sense because He gives us strength. With each task, we are given the strength to achieve it.
Thus, some look at the apostolic celibacy only in relation to functional aspects, for example, because they have more time. But is that really a sufficient reason?
Of course, there are functional arguments: a person without a spouse and children is more independent and less exposed to blackmail. If I have a family, I am more vulnerable to pressures. I must think of my children and my wife. That is why celibacy has its uses, it is true.
However, it is an obligation that could not be lived if Christ had not lived it as well. Not only is it possible to live it, but, deep down, nothing is missing in doing so. Whoever renounces marriage receives another gift, not less, but more, the hundredfold that the Gospel speaks about.
This wonderful gift is often revealed only when it is put into practice. It is a challenge that comes from Christ Himself, which He Himself will fulfill. That is the deep hope the Church speaks about.
Moreover, the Church is not finished, but in a continuous process of formation and expansion. The history of salvation has not ended today. That is why I say to young people: "Now it is your turn! You have something to do at God's request."
Pic: The Annunciation.