CSDC 128

Through his corporeality man unites in himself elements of the material world; these “reach their summit through him, and through him raise their voice in free praise of the Creator”²⁴⁰ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 14: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1035; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 364.. This dimension makes it possible for man to be part of the material world, but not as in a prison or in exile. It is not proper to despise bodily life; rather “man ... is obliged to regard his body as good and honourable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day”²⁴¹ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 14: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1035.. Because of this bodily dimension, however, following the wound of sin, man experiences the rebellion of his body and the perverse inclinations of his heart; he must always keep careful watch over these lest he become enslaved to them and become a victim of a purely earthly vision of life. Through his spirituality man moves beyond the realm of mere things and plunges into the innermost structure of reality. When he enters into his own heart, that is, when he reflects on his destiny, he discovers that he is superior to the material world because of his unique dignity as one who converses with God, under whose gaze he makes decisions about his life. In his inner life he recognizes that the person has “a spiritual and immortal soul” and he knows that the person is not merely “a speck of nature or a nameless constituent of the city of man”²⁴² Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 14: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1036; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 363, 1703..