Theology of the Body: Fatherhood and Motherhood

Towards the end of his meditations on man in the state of original innocence (Cycle 1 of the Theology of the Body), the Pope focuses his reflections on Genesis 4:1-2, where we read: Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of God…’

Here, “the woman stands before the man as a mother, the subject of the new human life that is conceived and develops in her, and from her is born into the world.” The woman's body becomes the place of the conception of the new man. Motherhood brings to light a particular power of the female body. The mystery of her femini-nity is fully revealed in her motherhood. At the same time, “the mystery of man's masculinity, that is, the generative and fatherly meaning of his body, is also thoroughly revealed.” Fatherhood and motherhood complete the meaning and mystery of their bodies, in its masculinity and femininity.

In the new life sprung from both, Adam and Eve recognize their own humanity, their living image. In the new person generated, they recognize what the name “man” expresses. In it, they re-discover,and take possession of,their own humanity. The words of Eve: I have gotten a man, re-echoes Adam’s joyful discovery: This is bones of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. In the child generated from their reciprocal “knowing,” they renew the mystery of creation and discover the gene-rative meaning of their bodies.

In giving birth to a new human being, Eve knows that she has conceived and begotten a man “with the help of the Lord.” She is “fully aware of the mystery of creation, which is renewed in human generation. She is also fully aware of the creative participation…God has in human generation.” It is with the Creator’s help that they bring forth a new human being into the world. In this new man “there is reproduced every time the ‘image of God,’ of that God who constituted the humanity of the first man.” In and through their bodies, they transmit that image of God in the world. In this way, the mystery of masculinity and femininity is fully revealed in the mystery of fatherhood and motherhood. The generative significance fulfills the nuptial meaning of their bodies.