"'Self-abuse' and the Body as 'Gift.'"

In truth the human body is integral to the being of the human person. Human persons are bodies, and their bodies reveal them as the kind of persons they are. They are not spiritual persons, as are the Three Persons of the Triune God and angels. They are "body" persons and as such are inescapably male or female persons. When Cod created man "he created them male and female," that is bodily beings, "body persons," not "spirit persons" like angels or the Persons of the Trinity. They are men or women summoned from their depths to "give" themselves to one another in love.