Age Range: 13-14 years (school Year 8)
Core Themes: Human dignity, Theology of the Body, identity and vocation, authentic freedom
Primary Sources:
Puberty brings intense identity questions. This year grounds students in theological anthropology—understanding the human person as created, fallen, and redeemed. They’re ready to grasp how body and soul unite in revealing personal vocation.
Objection 1: It seems we construct our identity because modern psychology says we can become whoever we choose to be, and society increasingly accepts self-identification.
Objection 2: Furthermore, if God predetermined who we are, that would violate free will, making us robots rather than persons.
Objection 3: Moreover, traditional identities often oppress people, so we must be free to create ourselves anew.
On the contrary, God declares: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”¹, indicating our identity precedes our consciousness or choices.
I answer that human identity is neither purely given nor purely constructed, but discovered through relationship with God who creates us with purpose. We’re like seeds—our nature is given (oak vs. rose), but how we grow involves freedom, environment, and grace.
Consider three levels of identity:
True identity emerges through accepting what’s given, choosing wisely, and discovering God’s plan—not through arbitrary self-construction.
Reply to Objection 1: We do shape ourselves through choices, but like a sculptor works with marble’s given properties, not against them. Authentic self-realization works with our nature, not against it.
Reply to Objection 2: God’s plan isn’t coercion but invitation. He knows all possible versions of you and calls forth the best, like a master gardener who knows what each plant can become.
Reply to Objection 3: True freedom isn’t absence of form but fulfillment of purpose. A bird is most free in flight, not when trying to swim. Discovering our God-given identity liberates us from both oppression AND chaos.
Question: Whether the body is merely a shell for the soul?
Objection 1: It seems the body is just a container because at death the soul leaves while the body decays, suggesting the soul is the real person.
Objection 2: Furthermore, spiritual activities like prayer seem to transcend bodily needs, implying superiority of soul over body.
Objection 3: Moreover, the body often leads to sin through desires and weaknesses, so it must be inferior to the pure soul.
On the contrary, Scripture proclaims: “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”² and promises bodily resurrection³, indicating the body’s essential dignity.
I answer that the human person is a body-soul composite, not a soul using a body. We ARE our bodies as much as we ARE our souls—they’re distinct but inseparable in life. This is crucial for understanding everything from sexuality to suffering.
Key principles:
The body reveals the person: Your smile, tears, embrace—these aren’t just biological functions but personal communications. The body makes the invisible soul visible.
The body has spousal meaning: Made for communion, not isolation. Our bodily complementarity (male/female) images the Trinity’s communion and Christ’s union with the Church⁴.
The body shares in redemption: Christ took a body, died bodily, rose bodily. We receive Him bodily in Eucharist. Our bodies will rise glorified.
The body requires reverence: How we dress, act, and treat our bodies matters because we’re embodied persons, not angels or animals.
This is why the Church cares about:
Reply to Objection 1: The soul survives death but remains incomplete without the body, which is why we believe in the resurrection of the body. The soul longs for its body; they are meant for each other. At the final resurrection, our glorified souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies⁵.
Reply to Objection 2: Spiritual activities are not separate from but expressed through the body. We kneel to adore, stand to proclaim, fast to discipline, sing to praise. The body is the instrument of the soul’s worship, not its prison.
Reply to Objection 3: The source of sin is the disordered will, not the body itself. The body is good, created by God. It is the whole person—body and soul together—who sins, and it is the whole person who is redeemed. A redeemed body becomes a powerful means of grace and witness.
Question: Whether true freedom is the absence of rules and constraints?
Objection 1: It seems so, for rules limit my choices. If I cannot do whatever I want, whenever I want, I am not truly free.
Objection 2: Furthermore, modern society champions self-definition. To be free is to create my own truth and my own identity without external constraints.
Objection 3: Moreover, if I must follow God’s will, I am not free but merely a servant or a puppet.
On the contrary, Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”⁶, and St. Paul writes that we are called to freedom, but not as an opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another through love⁷.
I answer that we must distinguish between two kinds of freedom:
Think of a concert pianist. Is she “free” to bang on any key she wants? Yes, but that’s a trivial freedom. Her true freedom, acquired through thousands of hours of practice (following the “rules” of music), is the power to play a magnificent concerto that brings beauty to the world. She is free to do something excellent.
God’s laws are not arbitrary constraints but the “rules of music” for the human soul. They teach us how to play the “concerto” of a good and happy life. True freedom is not the absence of limits but the alignment of our will with the good, the true, and the beautiful, which ultimately means alignment with God’s will⁸.
Reply to Objection 1: Rules against poison don’t limit your freedom to eat; they protect your ability to live and eat well. Similarly, God’s moral law protects our ability to love and flourish.
Reply to Objection 2: The self cannot be its own source of meaning. A note cannot decide its own key; it finds its meaning within the symphony. We find our true selves not by inventing an identity from nothing, but by discovering our role in God’s great story.
Reply to Objection 3: Following God’s will is the highest freedom, for God wills our ultimate good more perfectly than we do. It is like a child trusting a loving parent. By aligning with His will, we become collaborators with the Author of reality, which is not servitude but a royal and creative freedom.
Identity Inventory Create three columns on a page:
Body Language Analysis Watch a 5-minute silent movie clip or a muted commercial.
Freedom Spectrum Create a line. On one end, write “Freedom From” (no rules). On the other, “Freedom For” (power to do good).
Identity Journal
Vocation Explorer
Read: Psalm 139:1-18
Picture It: Imagine God “knitting” you in your mother’s womb. Picture His hands, His attention to detail, His love for what He is making.
Think:
Talk to God: “Lord, you know me completely. Help me see myself the way you see me.”
The Identity Conversation
A friend at school says, “I’ve decided I’m non-binary. It’s who I really am inside. You have to use they/them pronouns for me now or you’re a bigot.”
This is complex and requires immense charity and clarity.
Virtue Analysis:
Possible Response Path (A Dialogue, not a Monologue):
This is a situation for ongoing conversation with your parents and priest. The goal is to maintain the friendship and witness to the truth without compromising your faith or being cruel.
The Algorithm of Identity Your “For You Page” is not random. It is an algorithm trying to build a profile of you to keep you watching.
Body and Soul in Other Worldviews
Catholic Distinctiveness: We hold both in tension. The body is good and will be resurrected. The soul is immortal. We are a unified whole. This is a radical and unique claim!
A Modern Saint of the Body
Gianna was a 20th-century Italian doctor, wife, and mother. She loved fashion, skiing, and music. When she became pregnant with her fourth child, doctors discovered a large tumor on her uterus. They advised a hysterectomy, which would save her life but kill her unborn child.
She refused, saying, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child—I insist on it. Save him.” She carried the child to term, gave birth to a healthy daughter, and died a week later from complications.
Her witness:
This Week’s Challenge: Do one action that treats your body not as an ornament to be perfected, but as a gift to be given in service.
“I feel like I’m a boy, even though I’m a girl.” (or vice-versa) “Thank you for trusting me with such a deep and important feeling. That must be very confusing, and I want you to know I love you completely and we will walk through this together. Our feelings are real, but they are not always the whole reality. The Church teaches that our bodies are a beautiful gift from God that tell us who we are. Sometimes our feelings can get disconnected from our bodies. Let’s talk and pray together to understand what God is saying to both your heart and your body. We can also talk to a wise priest or a faithful counselor to help us understand this better.”
“My body isn’t perfect. I hate how I look.” “I hear that, and it’s a painful feeling. We live in a world that shows us impossible standards of ‘perfection.’ But God’s standard is different. He looks at you and sees a masterpiece. Your body is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ for a purpose—to love, to work, to create, to worship. Let’s focus not on what the world says is beautiful, but on what our bodies can do. What good can your hands do today? Where can your feet take you to serve someone? Let’s offer our bodies to God, and He will show us their true beauty.”
“Why can’t I just do what makes me happy?” “That’s the goal—to be truly happy! But we have to figure out what really makes us happy. Is it a moment of pleasure, or a lifetime of joy? Eating a whole tub of ice cream might make you ‘happy’ for ten minutes, but sick afterward. True happiness comes from becoming the person we were made to be. That sometimes means choosing the harder thing now for a much greater joy later. Let’s look at the lives of the saints—were they always ‘happy’ in the worldly sense? But did they have deep joy? Absolutely.”
❌ “Your feelings about your identity are wrong/sinful.” ✅ Say: “Your feelings are real and important. Let’s bring them to Jesus and see what He wants to show us about the truth of who you are.”
❌ “Just ignore your body, your soul is what matters.” ✅ Say: “Your body is a gift that reveals your soul. Let’s learn to listen to both.”
❌ “Being free means you have no rules.” ✅ Say: “Being free means you have the strength to live by the best rules—God’s rules—that lead to joy.”
Which of these is hardest to believe? Talk to God about that one.
“Today, the world told me I should be…” “But God is telling me that I am…”
“One way I can honor my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit this week is…”
“My unique, unrepeatable mission might have something to do with…”
Check what interests you: □ The full Theology of the Body □ How to discern a vocation (priesthood, marriage, etc.) □ Saints who struggled with their identity □ Catholic teaching on bioethics (like cloning or genetic engineering) □ How to have better conversations about gender □ The difference between love and lust
Ask your parents or a trusted teacher to help you explore.