The Coronavirus: What If Health Was Not the #1 Priority?

Here in Portugal, it is common to say to a pregnant woman, “As long as the baby is healthy… that is most important.” What if the baby were not healthy? It is also common to answer when someone asks how you are: “I have health, so what more could I ask for?”

We live in a culture that is obsessed with physical health. I would go further to say control over the body.

The problem lies in maintaining the adequate relationship between that which is defined as “domination… of the forces of nature” (Humanae Vitae 2) and “self-mastery” (HV 21), which is indispensable for the human person. Contemporary man shows the tendency of transferring the methods proper to the first sphere to those of the second. ‘Finally and above all, man has made stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of the forces of nature,’ we read in the encyclical, ‘such that he tends to extend this domination to his own total being; to the body, to psychical life, to social life and even to the laws which regulate the transmission of life” (HV 2). This extension of the sphere of the means of ‘the domination… of the forces of nature’ threatens the human person for whom the method of ‘self-mastery’ is and remains specific (Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by John Paul II, 123:1).

Well Being

Never have dietary restrictions been such a widespread phenomenon. They promise not only to make you thinner but to make you feel a certain way. Give you more energy, clear up your skin, give you more muscle tone, help your intestinal function, etc. Never before had workouts and gyms been so lucrative. Never had physical well-being consumed so much time and money as now with toxin-free this, gluten-free that, essential oil this, mindfulness that.

Have we idolatrized physical health? Is God putting it to the test, as He did with the Egyptian gods and the ten plagues? Or is He outright destroying it, as Moses did with the golden calf? Some other false gods seem to also be crumbling, like the economy, like “entertainment”, like sports, like travel, like restaurants, etc.

A Paradox

This might come as a surprise, but it shouldn’t: being physically comfortable and “well” doesn’t necessarily correlate to spiritual well-being. In fact, it is mostly the opposite. We need a little adversity, a little tribulation, to grow spiritually. We need to be able to deny our physical well-being to be able to give of ourselves if needed. Look no further than motherhood. Look no further than the cross. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

This is counter-cultural. A fitness guru I follow on Instagram talks only about self-care, physical well-being and “kicking toxic people out of your life”. The toxicity of the physical world extends to people. I hope when her husband does something that upsets her, she will not apply this same principle.

The pelican is a common image around tabernacles. It is sometimes painted, sometimes sculpted. This is because if pelican babies are hungry and the mother cannot find food for them, she will peck meat from her own flesh and feed them with it. She will sacrifice her physical health to give to them, and this is analogous to what is inside the tabernacle.
In order to sacrifice my physical health, I need to have a lot of Christ’s self-giving love in my heart. It is not overnight that my heart fills up with love and is full forever and from then on I am able to give of myself to make others well. It is through adversity that we grow in perseverance. It is through experiences of hate that we have an opportunity to grow in love. It is through crises that we have an opportunity to grow spiritually and turn toward God to help us.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.-  Prayer by St. Francis of Assissi.

Doctors, the New Superheroes

It follows that doctors are the “superheroes” of this coronavirus crisis. Fittingly, because they study the body and are who most can help us achieve this ultimate goal of physical health. Doctor Oz became an emblematic celebrity, but now all doctors are elevated to that status. Of course, the doctor’s role is incredibly important in a pandemic of a virus that physically kills. However, especially being married to one of those “superheroes” (whom I love and admire), I know they are just weak, limited, scared creatures like anyone else in any other profession. They happen to have a skill set that they studied for that enables them to serve a little more actively in this crisis.

Doctors cannot save us. They can sometimes help the body, but they cannot save the soul. We can and should do what is humanly possible to contain and treat the effects of the virus, but matters of life and death are ultimately in God’s hands. What do we really need saving from during this pandemic?

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28).

Fear of Death

Some of this obsession with physical health might stem from the fear of death. Of course, it is natural to fear death. Even Jesus cried over Lazarus, His dead friend, in the Gospel reading. On the other hand, it is supernatural to not fear death or at least not let that fear dictate our actions. Death is but a passing to eternal life, a face-to-face encounter with our Creator. If we are so scared of this encounter, shouldn’t we pick up the line and talk to Him more often?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me”(Revelation 3:10).

The distinction of the word holy appeared around the thirteenth century with the Old English word hālig (derived from hāl meaning health, happiness and wholeness.) As “wholeness,” holiness may be taken to indicate a state of religious completeness or perfection (Etymology of “holy” in English).

What if physical health weren’t our number one priority? What if spiritual health was?