Nowadays and unfortunately, the highest ideals for some men and women are exclusively, a smooth face, nice (and fashionable) clothing and a lean body. Anything contrarian is either secular heresy ambivalent to political correctness or welcomed as something refreshing. Here, we welcome as “refreshing” the sentiments of actor Eric Bana (b. 1968) as quoted this summer in The Washington Times (August 11, 2009) explaining that “there are other things that he’d rather do than crunches to tone his abs.”
“Abs are for people with no friends.”Natural bodily development is certainly a good! However, the transcendent dimensions of the human person are either ignored or not understood fully, for many who focus, perhaps excessively, on bodily development. Such people miss out on their “greatest possible perfection”.
Tags: Eric Bana, Abs, Caritas in Veritate Photo: © Garry StuderThe truth of development consists in its completeness: if it does not involve the whole man and every man, it is not true development. This is the central message of Populorum Progressio, valid for today and for all time. Integral human development on the natural plane, as a response to a vocation from God the Creator, demands self-fulfilment in a “transcendent humanism which gives [to man] his greatest possible perfection: this is the highest goal of personal development”. The Christian vocation to this development therefore applies to both the natural plane and the supernatural plane; which is why, “when God is eclipsed, our ability to recognize the natural order, purpose and the ‘good' begins to wane.” — Pope Benedict XVI (June 29, 2009 Caritas in Veritate , No. 18)
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