Theology of the Body - Talk 1

Pope John Paul II starts his series of talks by emphasizing that, when asked about marriage, Jesus twice used the phrase 'from the beginning' to bring his listeners back to the early words of Genesis concerning marriage - making it clear that 'what God has joined together, let not man put asunder'. That marriage is not to be dissolved. He said that Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of the hearts of the Hebrews, but that from the beginning that was not meant to be a suitable ending to marriage.

Theology of the Body

I'm reading 'Theology of the Body' for Beginners, by Christopher West. It isn't that easy to understand - I'm obviously not ready for the more advanced books. But I'm starting to see what it's about.

Basically - God has a marvelous plan for us here in this world, and it involves our bodies. We are made in His image. The marital act is meant to be an icon of trinitarian love, and celibacy is even better (or something like that). Obviously, I need to read and study this a lot more :)

Mixing it up

I teach Faith Formation to 10th graders at St John/St Mary's. Tonight I thought we had another mini-retreat so didn't prepare anything. We had regular class, and it didn't go great. I 'mixed it up' again.

Last weekend I attended a Youth retreat - about 200 young people and maybe 80 adults were there. This was really Catholic - the blessed sacrament was exposed on a 'burning bush' alter which also had 80 lit candles, and was about 7 feet high. There were about 10 priests there, and confessions were going on all during the three day retreat. The music was awesome. I got to 'mix it up' with a lot of very fired-up young people. It was great.

In today's gospel, when Jesus encountered the 10 lepers - it was a 'mixed up' group: there was at least one foreigner, and that person turned out to be the only one grateful enough to go back and say thank you.

Rejoice in hope

It seems like I spend the most away-from-the-day-job time either trying to find some thing (like an address or a credit card receipt or the date and time of an appointment I forgot to write down, or some other piece of paper), or trying to find some one to volunteer for something I said I'd get volunteers to do. Maybe it's just that these tasks seem to take forever. For me, this 'finding' time is usually very frustrating, very discouraging. I'm fearful of failure, but the thing or person I'm looking for is nearly always found! Just like God taught the Israelites in the desert to depend on Him by sending manna every morning, I think He's teaching me by helping me find things and people on a regular basis.

So, as Paul says in the first reading from today's daily mass from his letter to the Romans (12:5-16ab), let us 'Rejoice in hope.' I need to worry less and hope more.

banquets

Tonight I along with 5 others fixed dinner at the homeless shelter in Appleton - it was our Knights of Columbus night. We served 25 adults and 11 children. The people I talked to thought the food was great. I was happy to see the gospel reading for today - which is given below:

Gospel
Lk 14:12-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The Eternal Galilean

I'm reading Bishop Fulton Sheen's book 'The Eternal Galilean' and am almost done with it. It was written in 1934 and the book I have was published in 1956 and has the price on the cover: 25 cents.

Bishop Sheen talks a lot about the cross. The horizontal bar is the bar of death, the bar of humanity. The vertical bar is the bar of life, the bar of divinity. As Christ died his body pointed toward heaven while his arms reached out to embrace the world.

The nationwide 40 days for prayer and fasting to end abortion ends tonight. I wasn't planning to go to the Appleton abortion mill, but was talked into it by a friend - probably won't stay until midnight, but will be leaving in 30 minutes.

Please pray for the end of abortion.

Evangalization

This morning while preparing for the sacrament of penance, I was pondering the question of where I have most disappointed myself in efforts to do God's will. I decided that it was in trying to convince or influence others to turn closer to God and to His church. It seems like the fruits of these labors have been scanty indeed. There are probably many reasons - some of which I'm not aware and/or don't understand. However, the awareness of this 'area of opportunity' hopefully will help me focus on it in the future, particularly in my prayers.


Paul's words in this sunday's 2nd reading were particularly comforting to me, regarding this issue:

Reading II
2 Thes 1:11-2:2

Brothers and sisters:
We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.


So, if bringing people - friends and family - closer to God and His church is a good purpose and an effort of faith, I have assurances today that Paul is praying for my success.