What I find intriguing is how the body, in a moment of extreme fear and vulnerability, does something like fainting in order to move others to care and concern when they otherwise might not. More common examples of these kinds of reactions include crying, physically shaking, or even screaming out in fear. These are natural, physical reactions we have due to pressure in our lives. Although we may find these reactions embarrassing, we are nonetheless expressing the invisible realities of our hearts and souls through our bodies, making visible what we are thinking and feeling. St. John Paul tells us that “the body…and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine.” (TOB 19:4). More examples of this concept can be found in TOBET’s Level 5 of The Body Matters, in the book The Body as Sacrament.

Even though we are vulnerable in these states like fainting or crying, it opens the door to others to practice virtue, where they might extend gentleness, kindness, and compassion to us when they otherwise might not have had they not had the external sign of the invisible reality of the soul. That in mind, I wouldn’t be so ashamed of having a physical reaction to something troubling or frightening in life if it means that it could improve the human connection we all need.