The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This means that it must be treated with due respect and responsible care. In a time when excessive weight gain is a real danger, Catholics must make a point of disciplining their bodies through exercise and diet. At the same time, some people can make an idol of fitness and bodily health. With any virtue, there is the danger of pride or vanity – and this is all too present in the world of fitness today.
I am convinced, however, that the responsible Catholic today will balance fasting with nutrition and humility with athleticism. The path of holiness is one that seeks the good to the contempt of self, but that does not just mean more asceticism. The body exists for the sake of the soul, and the soul’s powers depend on the wholeness of the body. The Catholic today must intentionally train his body, but without succumbing to vainglory.
The latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Requirements Survey found that 30.3 per cent of civilian workers are in jobs classified as sedentary, while 33.7 per cent are in light-strength jobs, meaning nearly two-thirds of workers are now in occupations that require little more than light exertion. More of us are at work sitting behind a desk in front of a screen than ever before. Our leisure as well often consists of more screen time – scrolling social media or binging the latest series. As the physical demands of work and leisure have fallen, calorie consumption has risen. It is more convenient than ever to access extremely delicious calorie-dense foods. Obesity is a modern reality and one that carries real risks to both body and soul.
The relatively recent nature of this issue perhaps explains why it is absent from much of the Church’s hagiography. We do not have records of St Ignatius setting new deadlift Personal Bests or of St John the Evangelist hitting a new 5K time – but we could infer it would be lower than St Peter’s. The simple truth is that for much of human history, life required more effort to labour, to recreate or even to get around, often with less food. Even if they had calorie-dense food such as bread available, it was hardly as tasty as a two-topping medium pan pizza from Domino’s. Even so, discussion of health and fitness is not totally absent from the Church’s spiritual writers.
John Cassian, for example, says in Institutes, Book V, Chapter 8, that we must combine asceticism with care for our bodily health “lest through pampering the flesh we should be involved in dangerous entanglements of the desires; the latter lest the body should be injured by our fault and unable to fulfil its spiritual and necessary duties”. He rightly identifies the health of the body as essential for the carrying out of our spiritual duties.
In his Rule, St Benedict stipulates manual labour for the good of monks. While the Rule is using manual labour to address the issue of idleness, it is still notable that such a foundational saint emphasised physical exertion as a constitutive part of the life of holiness. If the monks then had had only desk jobs, doubtless Benedict would have included some exercise in their routine to keep them hale and whole.
The strongest case comes from St Thomas Aquinas, probably best articulated by the Thomist Sertillanges in The Intellectual Life. Aquinas recognises that the soul does not operate independently of the body, and that the proper care of our bodily nature is therefore part of living well. As he puts it, “To a good bodily constitution corresponds the nobility of the soul” (II De Anima, lect. 19).
Sertillanges expands on this principle: “Every day you should take exercise. Remember the saying of an English doctor: ‘Those who do not find time to take exercise must find time to be ill.’” For the Christian, then, exercise need not be an exercise in vanity or self-obsession. It can be an act of stewardship: disciplining the body so that it may better serve the soul, our vocation and ultimately God. As Sertillanges puts it elsewhere: “Many workers set their brain in motion by means of the motion of their limbs.”
In an age in which our bodies are increasingly spared the physical demands that once accompanied ordinary life, deliberately moving, strengthening and caring for the body may therefore be not a retreat from the spiritual life, but part of the discipline required to live it well.
This does not mean everybody needs to become a bodybuilder or some HYROX athlete. It should challenge us to consider whether we spend too much of our time in idleness, too interested in tasty foods, and whether we can fit in some physical exertion for the good of our souls. Something I found personally inspiring was how one of my brothers took up walking with his children early most every morning – not only is it a great source of exercise, but it has afforded an opportunity for prayer and time with children.
Whether it is in the gym, around the block or in the garden, exercise has a real and even an essential role in our path to holiness as Catholics. By all means incorporate asceticism and eschew vanity – but also keep your body as a responsible steward. It is a temple of God.
