John Paul... explains that [the] "affirmation of the person" means "living the fact that the other -- the woman for the man and the man for the woman -- is... someone willed by the Creator for his (or her) own sake." This someone is "unique and unrepeatable: someone chosen by eternal Love." Is there any man or woman who does not ache in the depths of his or her being for such affirmation? And, according to John Paul, in God's plan this is all revealed and lived "by means of the body." This does not mean that everyone must experience sexual union to be affirmed as a person. But it does mean that sexual union is supposed to be this: the deep affirmation of our goodness as persons through the sincere giving and receiving of the gift of selves.

This is the language of the nuptial embrace: "I give myself totally to you, all that I am without reservation. Sincerely. Freely. Forever. And I receive the gift of yourself that you give to me. I bless you. I affirm you. All that you are, without reservation. Forever." This is an experience of being chosen by eternal Love. If sexual union does not say this, it does not correspond to the nuptial meaning of the body. It does not correspond to the dignity of the person and can never satisfy the longings of the heart. If sexual union does not say this, it is not an expression of love but only a cheapened counterfeit.

Christopher West, from his book Theology of the Body Explained, page 103

Labels: theology of the body