How Can the Body Have A Theology?

Christopher West Answers

This is a video based on Christopher West's teaching of the Theology of the Body as presented originally by Pope John Paul II. The teaching of TOB is probably one of the most important teachings for Christians today, because it is really a summary of all Catholic teaching about us as human beings.

Christopher West - The Playboy and the Pope

Comparing Hugh Hefner to Pope John Paul II

Give a listen to this video from Christopher West teaching about the Theology of the Body.

In Defence of Theology of the Body

Christopher West One of its Leading Teachers Speaks

H/t Fr. James Farfaglia

Christopher West did an interview on Nightline some time ago that was misrepresented by listeners and then further misrepresented by those who listened to the first round of misrepresentations, or did not bother listening to anything more than their own breath. Kind of reminds me how some good Catholics are misreading one of our local theologians words, but that's a different story for another day. Here is Christopher West responding to the noisy storm after appropriate submission to his local bishops. What a novel approach to take, submitting to your local bishop before shooting your mouth off on controversial topics.

When the public conversation about my work unfolded following my appearance on Nightline last May, I did not think it was wise for me to respond until I had submitted the matter to my local bishops. Now that Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop Kevin Rhoades have issued a statement, it seems appropriate for me to offer some reflections as well.

First, I want to thank the many men and women - former students, married couples, catechists, theologians, seminarians, priests, deacons, religious, and bishops - who contacted me to offer their encouragement during this time. Your prayers and support were a tremendous gift to me. I would also like to thank those scholars and teachers of the faith who wrote in support of me, especially Janet Smith, Michael Waldstein, Michael Healy, Father Thomas Loya, Matthew Pinto, and, of course, Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Rhoades. Your willingness to speak out on my behalf remains a profound consolation.

Second, I want to thank those of you who offered thoughtful critiques of my work and helpful suggestions on how to improve it. I have taken them to heart. Indeed, I have always weighed my critics' observations carefully and prayerfully. They have helped me refine my approach a great deal over the years and I remain very grateful for that.

That said, much of the criticism that appeared after the Nightline interview significantly misrepresented what I teach. Rumors were repeated so often that subsequent commentators simply treated dubious accusations as fact. Although I do not intend to respond point by point to the various criticisms, it seems I would be remiss as a teacher of the Theology of the Body (TOB) not to reflect briefly on what seems to be the pivotal point of the conversation. It is "pivotal" in the sense that people's perspective on this point pivots them in very different directions when evaluating my work. This point is also critical in as much as it leads us to what I, and many others, consider to be "the pearl" of John Paul II's TOB.

I offer these reflections in a spirit of humility and love for all those involved, not in an effort to "defend" myself. I am well aware that those looking for flaws in me will always be able to find them. I, like every interpreter of the Pope's thought, bring my own personal perspectives, gifts, and shortcomings to the table. That's why I remind my readers and students often to "test everything; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thess 5:21). The same applies to what follows.

Of Which Man Are We Speaking?

The pivotal question as I see it is this: What does the grace of redemption offer us in this life with regard to our disordered sexual tendencies? From there, the questions multiply: Is it possible to overcome the pull of lust within us? If not, what are we to do with our disordered desires? If so, to what degree can we be liberated from lust and how can we enter into this grace? Furthermore, what does it actually look like to live a life of ever deepening sexual redemption?

It is abundantly clear from both Catholic teaching and human experience that, so long as we are on earth, we will always have to battle with concupiscence - that disordering of our passions caused by original sin (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 405, 978, 1264, 1426). In some of my earliest lectures and tapes, I confess that I did not emphasize this important point clearly enough. The battle with concupiscence is fierce. Even the holiest saints can still recognize the pull of concupiscence within them. Yet, as John Paul II insisted, we "cannot stop at casting the 'heart' into a state of continual and irreversible suspicion due to the manifestations of the concupiscence of the flesh... Redemption is a truth, a reality, in the name of which man must feel himself called, and 'called with effectiveness'" (TOB 46:4).

Many people seem to doubt this "effectiveness" and thus conclude that the freedom I hold out is beyond the realm of man's possibilities. From one perspective, these critics are correct. "But what are the 'concrete possibilities of man'?" John Paul II asks. "And of which man are we speaking? Of man dominated by lust or of man redeemed by Christ" (Veritatis Splendor 103)? For those dominated by lust, what I hold out is impossible. But those who enter the "effectiveness" of redemption discover "another vision of man's possibilities" (TOB 46:6).

The Cry of the New Evangelization

I humbly invite all those who question what I teach about liberation from concupiscence to take a closer look at the teaching of John Paul II on the matter (see especially TOB 43:6, 45:3, 46:4, 46:6, 47:5, 48:1, 48:4, 49:4, 49:6, 58:7, 86:6-7, 101:3-5, 107:1-3, 128:3, 129:5). It is a point of utmost importance. Indeed, in a very real way, debates about what we are capable of in the battle with concupiscence take us to the crux of the Gospel itself. "This is what is at stake," John Paul II maintained, "the reality of Christ's redemption. Christ has redeemed us! This means he has given us the possibility of realizing the entire truth of our being; he has set our freedom free from the domination of concupiscence" (Veritatis Splendor 103).

Oh, what a powerful proclamation! If we listen carefully to it, it seems we can almost sense John Paul II's participation in the potency with which Christ proclaimed the words of the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,... to comfort all who mourn,... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair" (Isaiah 61: 1-3; see also Lk 4:18-19). John Paul II, it seems, was precisely the herald "anointed by the Lord" to bring the good news of liberation to our sexually enslaved world. Let all who are thirsty come - come and drink the water of life (see Rev 22:17).

What is the alternative to an effective sexual redemption? If man remains bound by his lusts, is he even capable of loving with a pure heart? Marriage, in this view, comes to be seen and lived as a "legitimate outlet" for indulging our disordered desires and the celibate life comes to be seen and lived as a life of hopeless repression. And we end up "holding the form of religion" while "denying the power of it" (2 Tim 3:5). "Ne evacuetur Crux!"- John Paul II exclaims, "Do not empty the Cross of its power!" (see 1 Cor 1:17). "This," he said, "is the cry of the new evangelization." For "if the cross of Christ is emptied of its power, man no longer has roots, he no longer has prospects: he is destroyed" (Orientale Lumen 3).

Mature Purity

The teaching of John Paul II is clear: liberation from concupiscence - or, more precisely, from the domination of concupiscence (John Paul II used both expressions) - is not only a possibility, it is a necessity if we are to live our lives "in the truth" and experience the divine plan for human love (see TOB 43:6, 47:5). Indeed, Christian sexual ethos "is always linked... with the liberation of the heart from concupiscence" (TOB 43:6). And this liberation is just as essential for consecrated celibates and single people as it is for married couples (see TOB 77:4).

It is precisely this liberation that allows us to discover what John Paul II called "mature purity." In mature purity "man enjoys the fruits of victory over concupiscence" (TOB 58:7). This victory is gradual and certainly remains fragile here on earth, but it is nonetheless real. For those graced with its fruits, a whole new world opens up - another way of seeing, thinking, living, talking, loving, praying. But to those who cannot imagine freedom from concupiscence, such a way of seeing, living, talking, loving, and praying not only seems unusual - but improper, imprudent, dangerous, or even perverse.

Why, we should ask ourselves, does such a cloud of negativity and suspicion seem to hover over the realm of sexuality? The distortions of sin are, of course, very real. But through the grace of redemption, can our sexuality not become in our practical, lived experience the realm of the sacramental and the holy? Can it not become the realm of a truly sacred conversation? "To the pure all things are pure," St. Paul said (Titus 1:15). But to those bound by lust, even the pure seems impure. Oh, how tragic when we label as ugly that which is beautiful!

Some people say the redemption of the body is something reserved only for the resurrection at the end of time. While it is certainly true that the fullness of our redemption awaits us only in the final resurrection, John Paul II insists that the "'redemption of the body'... expresses itself not only in the resurrection as victory over death. It is present also in the words of Christ addressed to 'historical' man ... [when] Christ invites us to overcome concupiscence, even in the exclusively inner movements of the human heart" (TOB 86:6).

And here we enter the tension of what theologians call the "already - but not yet" of redemption. The not yet aspect means we must be cognizant of the many distortions of our fallen nature and the ease with which we can be lured into temptations. The already aspect means there is also a power at work within us which is able to do "far more than we ever think or imagine," as St. Paul said (see Eph 3:20). Both truths must be held together.

When it comes to questions of sexuality, it seems that many teachers and spiritual advisors focus almost exclusively on the not yet. We can hear so much about the "dangers" of sexuality that we conclude there is no escape from the ever present risk of sin. John Paul II is very critical of this kind of "determinism in the sexual sphere," as he called it in a pre-papal essay. Such determinism tends "to limit the possibility of virtue and magnify the 'necessity of sin' in this sphere." John Paul II's approach, however, entails "the opposite tendency," as he himself wrote. It upholds "the possibility of virtue, based on self-control and sublimation [which means to raise up, make sublime]" ("The Problem of Catholic Sexual Ethics," Person and Community, p. 286).

The Journey of the Interior Life

Virtue, however, in the full Christian sense of the term, is only possible as we journey through the "purgative" way of the interior life and into what the mystical tradition calls the "illuminative" and "unitive" ways. It is here, in these further stages of the journey, that we discover "mature purity." In the purgative stage, purity basically means "avoiding the occasion of sin" by "gaining custody of the eyes." This is a very important step on the journey. But it is an essentially "negative" step, John Paul II says, in as much as it involves learning how to say no to lustful passions and learning how to abstain from unchastity. John Paul II, in keeping with the authentic tradition of the Church, teaches that there is much more to the virtue of purity than this.

In the language of St. Thomas Aquinas, a person who can successfully restrain himself from sin is "continent" but not yet virtuous. Continence falls short of virtue since virtue presupposes a right desire, and this is lacking in the continent person (see Summa, Prima Secundae, q. 58, a. 3, ad 2). As the Catechism observes, "The perfection of the moral good consists in man's being moved to the good not only by his will but also by his 'heart'" and even "by his sensitive appetite" (CCC 1770, 1775). Human virtues do not suppress or tyrannize our passions. They "order our passions... They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life" (CCC 1804).

"The task of purity," as John Paul II observed, "is not only (and not so much) abstaining from 'unchastity' and from ... 'lustful passions'." In the illuminative and unitive stages of the journey, we discover "another function of the virtue of purity... another dimension – one could say – that is more positive than negative" (TOB 54:3). In this "positive" dimension, we come to experience "a singular ability to perceive, love, and realize those meanings of the 'language of the body' that remain completely unknown to concupiscence itself' (TOB 128:3). We "come to an ever greater awareness of the gratuitous beauty of the human body, of masculinity and femininity" in such a way, John Paul II wrote, that other people "not only regain their true light ... but, so to speak, they lead us to God himself" (Memory and Identity, p. 30).

This is "the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Rom 8:21) to which Christ invites us all. Admittedly, it is a very different vision than that with which many Catholics are familiar. Perhaps it's simply that "unfamiliarity" that causes some to doubt its authenticity. For those who have been formed to think primarily in terms of the "dangers" of sexuality and the "constant risk of sin," I invite you to meditate prayerfully on the following hope-filled words of John Paul II. Of course, they refer not only to the sexual sphere, but are certainly inclusive of that sphere, as he indicates.

With the passage of time, if we persevere in following Christ our Teacher, we feel less and less burdened by the struggle against sin, and we enjoy more and more the divine light which pervades all creation. This is most important, because it allows us to escape from a situation of constant inner exposure to the risk of sin - even though, on this earth, the risk always remains present to some degree - so as to move with ever greater freedom within the whole created world. This same freedom and simplicity characterizes our relations with other human beings, including those of the opposite sex... Christ, supreme Teacher of the spiritual life, together with all those who have been formed in his school, teaches that even in this life we can enter onto the path of union with God... [This union allows us to] find God in everything, we can commune with him in and through all things. Created things cease to be a danger for us as once they were, particularly while we were still at the purgative stage of our journey. (Memory and Identity, pp. 29-30)

In Conclusion

One of the most common responses I receive when I present this beautifully challenging and hopeful vision of human life and sexuality is this: I've been a Catholic my whole life - why haven't I ever heard this!? The truth of the matter is that it is rarely taught, a fact that only underscores the urgency of sharing this vision with the world. But we cannot give what we do not have. As Pope Paul VI said in his apostolic exhortation on evangelization, "The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself" (Evangelii Nuntiandi 15).

The fundamental message of the TOB is nothing new. In essence, it's what the saints and mystics have been telling us for centuries about the "great mystery" of Christ's infinite love for his Bride, the Church. Yet John Paul II has penetrated that same Mystery with new clarity, new insight, new depth - giving us a new language with which to reach the modern world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Still, relatively few in the Church know enough about John Paul II's "new language" to employ it in their efforts to communicate the faith. It is my hope that the Nightline interview and the spirited debate it triggered will spur us all on as Catholics to study the TOB more intently, "receive" its contents more deeply, and share its liberating message more effectively.

I encourage those who find John Paul II's text difficult to turn to those teachers and authors whose approach you find most helpful in making it accessible. There are so many fine books and resources now available on the TOB, all with valuable contributions to make. I certainly do not claim to be the definitive voice on the subject. Thank God that there are different people and organizations doing this important work! For the approach of others will reach people I never will, just as my approach will reach people theirs never will. What is important is that we make a concerted effort to reach people. The world is starved for the banquet presented in our late Pope's teaching. Woe to us if we do not take it up, make it our own, and share it with the world. Mary, star of the New Evangelization, pray for us!

Amen. It's not an easy read. Sorry but it is good enough to the last drop, as it is.

Theology of the Body - Audiences Part 2

Audience 2 - September 12, 1979 - Biblical Account of Creation Analysed

Having spoken of "the beginning" the week previous, the Pope took his listeners back scripturally to the account of Creation, to the two separate accounts actually. There is the first account of creation in in Genesis 1:1-2,4 and the second account in Genesis 2:5-25. He explains their origins, and then describes man's creation:

Man is created on earth together with the visible world. But at the same time the Creator orders him to subdue and have dominion over the earth (cf. Gn 1:28); therefore he is placed over the world. Even though man is strictly bound to the visible world, the biblical narrative does not speak of his likeness to the rest of creatures, but only to God. "God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him..." (Gn 1:27). In the seven day cycle of creation a precise graduated procedure is evident.(1) However, man is not created according to a natural succession. The Creator seems to halt before calling him into existence, as if he were pondering within himself to make a decision: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." (Gn 1:26).

The Pope writes of the special nature of man, and his closeness to His God. As he says, man cannot be explained simply in his relation to the world. However:

Notwithstanding this, man also is corporeal. Genesis 1:27 observes that this essential truth about man referred both to the male and the female: "God created man in his image...male and female he created them."

As the Pope speaks of mankind he says:

To this mystery of his creation, ("In the image of God he created him"), corresponds the perspective of procreation, ("Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth"), of that becoming in the world and in time . . .

Audience 3 - September 19, 1979 - The Subjective Definition of Man

The Pope invites us to see the profundity of the second account of man's creation, in part because it describes man's movement into self-knowledge. With the third chapter of Genesis taken into account, we then see man's movement into the world of conscience.

The Pope links Jesus words on the indissolubility of marriage in the plan of the Father to Gn 2:24:

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

As John Paul says:

The words which directly describe the unity and indissolubility of marriage are found in the immediate context of the second account of creation. Its characteristic feature is the separate creation of woman (cf. Gn 2:18-23), while the account of the creation of the first man is found in Genesis 2:5-7.

The Bible calls the first human being "man" ('adam), but from the moment of the creation of the first woman, it begins to call him "man" (ish), in relation to ishshah ("woman," because she was taken from the man—ish).(2)

It is also significant that in referring to Genesis 2:24, Christ not only linked the "beginning" with the mystery of creation, but also led us, one might say, to the limit of man's primitive innocence and of original sin.

He talks of man's original innocence that is lost to man's sinfulness one he has knowledge of good and evil after the fall. So, man has gone from a state of integral nature in his relationship to creation and to the creator, to his fallen nature.

He says that Jesus invited his questioners to go beyond their own fallen nature, and the decree of Moses, which was an accommodation to their hardness of heart, and to revisit and enter into the relationship of man's original integral nature. Christ called us to go back to that nature to live the truth of our creation in God's image and the indissolubility of marriage when a man leaves his father and mother and becomes one flesh with his mate.

As John Paul says Christ did not mince words:

Christ's reply is decisive and unequivocal. Therefore, we must draw from it the normative conclusions which have an essential significance not only for ethics, but especially for the theology of man and for the theology of the body.

Audience 4 - September 26, 1979 - Boundary Between Original Innocence and Redemption

John Paul refers us again to what he calls our pre-history, our state of original innocence, which precedes our current state of original sin, but is a necessary part of the totality of man. As he says:

The laws of knowing correspond to those of being. It is impossible to understand the state of historical sinfulness without referring or appealing (and Christ appealed to it) to the state of original (in a certain sense, "prehistoric") and fundamental innocence. Therefore, right from the beginning, the arising of sinfulness as a state, a dimension of human existence, is in relation to this real innocence of man as his original and fundamental state, as a dimension of his being created in the image of God.

So, the roots of our sinful history post the fall, is our state of original innocence, so that our state of lost grace caused by the first fall, and our own sinful behaviour is rooted there in the grace of the original creation of man by God.

He then shows us the link between our original innocence and original sin, and that is the Redemptive action of Christ's coming to earth and then dying and rising. He says:

Precisely this perspective of the redemption of the body guarantees the continuity and unity between the hereditary state of man's sin and his original innocence, although this innocence was, historically, lost by him irremediably.

So, Christ's perspective for reminding the people he spoke to about marriage, took into account his purpose on earth to bridge the gap between pre-history when man was innocent and history after man had fallen by his Redemptive suffering and death.

He quotes Paul speaking on the perspective on redemption for historical man:

"We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for...the redemption of our bodies" (Rom 8:23)

There is much more to come in his analysis and teaching, but this is a foundation for it.

Theology of the Body - Audiences Part 1

Audience 1 - September 5, 1979 - On the Unity and Indissolubility of Marriage

In his first audience on TOB, Pope John Paul focused on 2 things. First, he was then in preparation for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on "The role of the Christian Family", his second focus was a phrase "from the beginning."

The synod he referred to in the audience actually took place in 1980 for 5 weeks with 200 bishops present to discuss the Christian Family in the modern world. It significantly influenced his work. One year after the synod, the Pope issued "On the Family", the lengthiest treatise on marriage and family ever created in the Catholic Church.

But, as to "from the beginning", the Pope said a lot in a short span. Catholics believe in the immutability of the Bible, but also that it must be put into its proper context, not left naked, so as the Pope talks about Jesus speaking on marriage with the Pharisees, he looks for the nuance, the hidden meaning, and the context.

The biblical discussion focused on this section of the Bible:

"And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' He answered, 'Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.' They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?' He said to them, 'For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so'" (Mt 19:3ff., cf. also Mk 10:2ff.).

The Pharisees typically were haggling over legalistic points, where Jesus was talking about natural law, and the desires of the Father, made known in part in His Word, which at the time was actually standing in front of them - Word Made Flesh.

But Jesus referred the "beginning" referred to biblically in Genesis. As the Pope says:

Christ quoted Genesis 1:27 in summary form: "In the beginning the Creator made them male and female." The original passage reads textually as follows: "God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Subsequently, the Master referred to Genesis 2:24: "Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."

What Jesus says in the Gospel account makes the words of Genesis, no longer only de facto, but also normative, or normal, as in natural law for human beings, and he does so by making reference to the most primary of all scriptures, the early part of the book of Genesis.

As the Pope concludes on this topic:

However, that significant expression "from the beginning," repeated twice, clearly induced his interlocutors to reflect on the way in which man was formed in the mystery of creation, precisely as "male and female," in order to understand correctly the normative sense of the words of Genesis. This is no less valid for the people of today than for those of that time. Therefore, in the present study, considering all this, we must put ourselves precisely in the position of Christ's interlocutors today.

The Pope uses a technique that good homilists use, inviting the listener or reader to put themselves into the biblical narrative, in this case to see through the eyes of our own Pharisaical judgments what the Master is telling us all individually.

Theology Of The Body - Part 2

Taking Up Where I Left Off

I started writing about the Theology of the body the other day, summarising an article in this site here. Before delving into the actual audiences the Pope gave on the topic, I want to complete my summary of that article.

As the summary progresses from talking about the body as a reflection of our spirit, we read about the first humans Adam and Eve, and how in their physical differences they were called to LOVE giving themselves to each other in the most complete way that humans are capable of, in sexual union.

The article states:

Not only does their physical communion point to an invisible communion between the man and woman, but it actually shows us that this love, this self-gift, is what we are called to, what we were created for.

Pope John Paul uses a term "nuptial meaning of the body" for this gifting of ourselves to each other. As he says the human body from the beginning has the capacity for expressing love, by becoming a gift to another. It is in this gift that man fulfills the meaning of his being and his existence.

The Pope explains that the body speaks a special language through sexual union that must be spoken in truth. Further:

Since the very nature of the conjugal act as designed by God includes both the interpersonal union of the couple as well as the potential for procreation, man and woman cannot contracept their union without violating their dignity as persons and the dignity of the conjugal act itself.

The Pope has much to say about how contraception diminishes the person, and how self control is about personal worthiness as outlined here:

If the procreative aspect of conjugal union is excluded, then that truth of the person and of the act itself is destroyed. On the outside it may look like the man and woman are completely giving themselves to each other, but in reality they are not since they refuse to accept everything about the other, including his or her fertility. On the other hand, exercising self-mastery and promoting respect for each other and the conjugal act, couples are called to practice responsible parenthood and in this way act in a manner truly worthy of the person.

He also speaks very highly of celibacy, something about which he knows from personal experience. He calls it a vocation, and act of self giving. In what must be considered contrary, if not radical thinking in our sexualised world, this point is made:

Contrary to what many people think, celibacy is not a repression of one’s sexuality. Rather, celibate men and women are called to use their sexual energy to make a gift of themselves to others in different ways: in service, in evangelization and spiritual parenthood, to name only a few.

The Pope tells us not to let lust burden us. Where we consider in this day and age lust to be almost virtuous, the Pope sees it differently, as does the Catholic Church for whom he speaks. He claims that our lusts can only be overcome by the grace that God gives us, and upon which we must act. It is in the redemptive act of Jesus Christ that we can rest to overcome our lustful thoughts and feelings, to become a person true to his/her humanity. For he says that Christ does not condemn us for our lusts, but rather calls us to purity.

In conclusion, the author of this summary of the Pope's Theology of the Body, Anastasia Northrup has this to say from the Pope's teachings:

Christ appeals to our hearts and calls us to freely choose a life that is in accord with our dignity as persons made in the image and likeness of God! Only in living our true dignity as men and women created in the image of God will we be truly fulfilled, will we be happy in the deepest possible sense, because this is the life that we were designed and created to live from the beginning.

Wow, when I look at my lusts over the years, and the urges to think lustful thoughts and view lustful images day by day, I am confronted with lust as an affront to the dignity with which God created me, and calls me to enter into.

Theology Of The Body - Part 1

What Is It All About? - The Sincere Gift Of Self

As I wrote the other day, I have been uncomfortable about sexuality, specifically as it relates to judging that of others, also because of my own sexuality, but mostly because I do not really understand God's Plan for our sexuality very well.

I posted a piece a short while ago, largely written by David Warren for the Ottawa Citizen on A culture of Deviance, Far Beyond the Church, which is a small part of my opening up of my own thoughts and my heart to what God might have in mind about our sexuality, and His Plan for it.

Another factor in my rethink, has been the impact of both my own and my wife's health on our sex life, and it has sure not improved it in the physical sense. My body has rebelled against this dearth of physicality in our life, but over time, it has been proving to be a blessing. I have been learning about the disordered nature of some of my own thinking, and of the sexual sin that has crept into my life over the years, and of how I have lusted after my own wife, to my own shock and horror. So, I come to a place of concluding that I cannot judge anyone else's sexuality when my own is so full of sin.

Yet, God is good and His justice is mercy. So, He is leading me on a path to explore, to discover His Plan for me and for others, in love. It is in this personal brokenness that I recently discovered the beautiful Theology of the Body that Pope John Paul II documented from 1979 to 1984, and that many others have looked to for inspiration.

The Theology of the Body is about the purpose of our existence here on planet earth. As such, it is the sum of 129 audiences that Pope John Paul II gave weekly, over a 5 year period early in his pontificate, and which in short essays brought together this teaching.

Although I plan to deal with it in its entirety somehow in coming months, it is summarised in a PDF file that can be downloaded here. The PDF file explains the purpose of the Theology of the Body:

“Man is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, [and he] cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” (Gaudium et Spes 24) We must first know the purpose of our existence and what we were created for if we are to live a fully meaningful life. Pope John Paul II explores the purpose of our existence in his Theology of the Body.

In a previous book, Love and Responsibility, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla:

stresses the dignity of the person and shows how important it is to live our sexuality in a way which upholds and affirms the other person. Indeed, the true lover will never use another person or treat her as a means to an end.

But, we find out his views on being a person in the Theology of the Body in the next paragraph as it says:

In his Theology of the Body John Paul II digs deep into the meaning of being a human person based on Scripture. As a person with a body and soul, made in the image and likeness of God, we find the meaning of life through finding out what it means to image God and what our bodies have to do with it.

So, how do we display that image we are made in, by how we use the gift of free will that we have been given, and by how we are in communion or relationship with other people. Just as Christians know that God is a relationship of three persons in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so too are we called to be in relationship with others around us.

But John Paul goes beyond relationship to what he calls "communion" with others, and that deepest communion of person that occurs:

when two people freely give themselves to each other and accept one another in love. In fact, true love consists precisely in this mutual self-gift.

I struggled with the profoundness of the word "communion" when I first read this, trying to substitute the word relationship back into it. But, as I pondered what I had read, I realised that I was diminishing what was being said and, worse still, reducing its significance.

Communion can be defined as "an intimate relationship with deep understanding." So, it is more than merely a relationship. I can see in my marriage that my wife has been calling me on to that level of intimacy for years, quite possibly not understanding what it is she is calling me to, or even if she is capable of it herself. I see my wife as a prophet, who quite often speaks truth with humility, that comes to pass, if I am adept enough to grasp it and to do my part to bring it home. So, I have been slowly, like the Ice Age retreat eons ago, moving towards that time and space, to meet her in that place of deep intimacy, and I desire it as much as she does.

If it were as simple as going to the store and buying a pound of it, I would go there right now, or would have gone already, but it is not about addition, it is about subtraction. To achieve communion with the woman that I love, I must let go of my fears and anxieties, and turn to the courage that God has given me, to love myself and her with no conditions, and to truly see who she is in His eyes, and also to see who I am in His eyes. To do this, I have to escape the vortex of this world and all its attachments. I have been working at doing that for some time now, unbeknownst to myself, and I can see that I have made some progress, but that I have a long way to go. Simply put, I am afraid of dropping those things to which I am attached, my anxieties, and fears, my insecurities.

Pope John Paul had this to say:

John Paul II’s other favorite quote from Gaudium et Spes tells us that, “Christ…fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” What does Christ reveal but that, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”? (Jn. 15:13)

I love my wife, but will I lay down my fears and anxieties, fears and anxieties that I have built up over the years of my life, as I have faltered in my daily walk, to achieve that communion with her? If this has been revealed to me, and if I want to be able to call myself a follower of Christ, then I must. Otherwise, my life is a lie.

When I did not know what I know now, I could be excused for doing as I have done, but as love is revealed to me, and as I allow it to consume me, it is like a flowing river that calls out to me to journey on, and to be free. To fight against the current is ultimately futile, and counter productive. Though my rational mind might be able to make excuses for me to continue fighting against the current, loving with less than my whole being, my heart aches to love my wife and others as I have been loved.

As Pope John Paul says:

“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for
himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience love and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.” (From the encyclical, Redemptor Hominis — “Redeemer of Man”)

But, I like so many others have confused the body's place in all of this, and so Pope John Paul wisely presented the Theology of the Body to clarify that. The body is not just for pleasure or a machine along for the ride in our spiritual wandering. The body is the physical component of the whole person, and brings it all to life, as a smile on the face of the body indicates happiness that is in the heart.

I must stop now, and will take up this summary of the Theology of the Body soon,before digging into the 129 individual audiences that the Pope gave.