When we think of the big moral issues of today, we tend to call to mind some of the most obvious, like abortion or assisted suicide or one of the many bioethical issues our modern world has brought about.

But there is a moral issue that often simply gets ignored as a moral issue, and yet has tremendous ramifications for both individuals and society as a whole.

It’s simply how we care for our own health.

Is staying fit, eating well and caring for our bodies really a moral issue? Absolutely! In fact, its not just one moral issue, it encompasses a whole range of them.

First, however, let’s begin with a brief overview of what the Church teaches regarding the health of our bodies. A natural place to start would be Scripture. One passage in particular tends to stand out, namely, 1 Cor 6:19-20. There we read: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

St. Paul reminds us of a few very important aspects of the Christian’s proper attitude toward our physical bodies. Namely, to see them as a gift that we’ve been given.

God has entrusted them to us as stewards, not owners, and we are to use them in such a way that He might be glorified. They are therefore to be treated with the utmost care and respect since they are in fact the dwelling place of God’s own Spirit.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (364) teaches very plainly that “The human body shares in the dignity of the ‘image of God.’ ”

Throughout the centuries some of the great saints have weighed in on the topic. St. Augustine, for example, once said that, “You should care for your body as if you’ll live forever, and care for your soul as if you’ll die tomorrow.”

In recent years, the writings of St. John Paul II on the Theology of the Body have likewise called attention to the importance of our physical bodies in God’s plan for humanity.

Finally, we must remember that Christ, in taking on our “flesh,” revealed the importance not only of His body, but of every human body. It is not an accident that God created us to have a physical existence, and it is our destiny as human persons to share in the “resurrection of the body” on the last day that Christ’s victory has made possible for us.

The catechism unquestionably teaches that care of the body and our physical health is in fact a moral issue (CCC 2288,  2289). Therefore, the choices we make regarding its care, have moral ramifications. And while there are those circumstances when the body is certainly limited through no choice of our own, for example because of illness or accident, or other things outside our control, for most of us, most of the time, we do have a choice as to how our bodies are cared for.

Where there is sufficient knowledge and freedom to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, there is likewise moral responsibility. Of the many issues we could look at regarding the proper care of our bodies, they typically fall into two basic categories: those that deal with proper love of self, and those that become matters of justice in our relationships with others.

Of course, it must also be said (as the catechism points out at 2289) that there are moral dangers which may come from our pursuit of physical health. Even seeking good things, like physical health, can lead to sin if it becomes excessive or leads to unhealthy attachments. Given this, I’ll be looking at some of the moral issues surrounding our physical health in future columns.