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[quote=Anonymous]There are tons of articles on this and an entire study of the theology of the body. You just haven't read or thought about them I guess. It's been an issue with the catholic church for centuries. It's been a discussion in catholic  circles I'm in, so it's definitely a thing.  Sorry you don't understand but you are only one person. Others do. The catholic teaching is basically to unify our body with our soul through suffering in life.

Firstly it's very obvious that Mary gave up her body for God to be born and gave up her son and that Jesus gave up his body on the cross. It's very obvious that communion is eating and drinking of his body because it's explicitly stated. Basically consuming his body to purify ours because ours are sinful. For more on this see theology of the body.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_theology_on_the_body

Early Church fathers wrote on the role of the body and its relation to the soul, often elevating soul over body. But like the soul, it is also created by God in his image. This is considered important even today, as the existence of a soul is the basis for much Church teachings on the human body, in areas such as abortion. Some early Church fathers, like Origen were preoccupied with the body and its impediments.[1] The theology of early Church fathers focused on the body in terms of its origin, condition before the fall of man, and destination and relation to the soul.[2] Questions were raised as to whether the body may impede the soul in its attempt to be the image of God. These questions, addressed by the ancient Church, are relevant to a modern theology of the body, because they relate to concerns and definitions on the beginning and nature of human life.[3]

Clement of Alexandria (140?-220) viewed the body as the inferior partner in the body-soul relationship. The body tends to be sinful. The soul has three advantages over the body: it gives unity and life to the body; allows the body to reason; and is oriented towards God, while the body is oriented towards food and sex. The body is the grave of the soul, but also its home and vehicle

Like Clement, Origen (185-254?) was an African. Also like Clement, Origen considers the human body a prison of the soul. Only the soul existed in paradise, according to Origen, the body was taken on by Adam and Eve; as they were cast out of paradise

The body, formed in the image of God, and the soul, which has adopted the Spirit of the Father, in harmony, make up the perfect human being, according to Irenaeus (died around 202).[10] The Greek Gnosis and some Christians had looked down on the human body as inferior. Irenaeus defends the body because it is the creation of God and a negative view would cast shadows both over God and his creation. Those who accept Christ are redeemed and become children of God, regaining eternal life. However those who live only by their body and its needs, will not share eternal life

Gregory of Nazianzus (330-390) contemplated on the origin of the human body. Man was created by God with body and soul, a visible and invisible part, like the angels. He was created to praise God like they did.[16] The body was given to man, so he may suffer and eventually die, and thus not consider himself to be God. The material essence of the body separates us from God, like a cloud, or, as Gregory stated, like the cloud between the Egyptians and the Israelites.[17]

By giving man a perishable body, man was saved from the deep fall of Lucifer into eternal damnation. Regarding the relation between body and soul, Gregory states, the body is related to the soul, like the way in which the soul is related to God. To explain human existence, Gregory uses the concept of light: God is the most sublime light, He cannot be penetrated or defined. He is followed by the angels, and then by human beings. Man is the image of God but only in his soul, not in his body.[19] He is therefore also a mixture of eternal and temporal. The grace of God created the soul of man. His body was created for suffering, to overcome his pride. The soul is destined to lead the body and be purified like gold in a fire. The soul is oriented towards God and yearns to communicate with him. The human body is the lower element of the human person.

Augustine is the father of many contemporary theological views on the body. He dwelled at length on the condition of the human body before and after the fall. He was convinced that the heavenly state consisted in complete control of mind over body, especially in the area of sexuality. This condition of complete freedom and absence of lust existed for human sexuality too before the fall.[6] The body must be controlled, and therefore Augustine like his teacher Ambrose considered virginity of the human body the superior way of Christ

Pope Pius explained in Sacra virginitas that virginity is superior to marriage.[36] He also rejects the view that the human body needs fulfillment of the sexual instinct for the sake of one's mental or physical health, or for the harmony of one's personality.[37] In this context he criticized the cult of the body and disorderly love of oneself.[/quote]

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