Theology of the Body

“Christians must not retreat from what the sexual revolution began, Christians must complete what the sexual revolution began” Christopher West preaches at a Theology of the Body presentation. “The union of man and women itself is meant to be here on planet earth, as an image, a foretaste, a little glimmer, into the eternal ecstasy and bliss that awaits us in heaven”. Christopher West, a world renowned speaker on the Theology of the Body, claims that we all have this yearning and aching to be loved, and in the midst of a fallen world we have grown to be ashamed of our bodies. But to the contrary, our bodies are holy and in fact, the most sacred thing on earth.

A series of speeches by Pope John Paul II, Theology of the Body is aimed at sharing God’s original plan for sexual love, and takes an authentic look at what it means to truly be human when applying the pope’s view on moral sexuality. The Theology of the Body affords “the rediscovery of the meaning of the whole of existence, of the meaning of life” (TOB 49:3). 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.
Through his Theology of the Body, John Paul II seeks to present to us the Gospel message of love in a new, deep, and profound way. He knows that love is what all people seek. He goes so far as to say, “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.” (Redeemer of man)

Use these helpful links for the Theology of the Body:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqRKvNX4IKU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUfTbBi1K0Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnDJDT0TSbE&feature=related
http://www.jp2.info/Theology_of_the_Body.pdf
http://www.godsexandthemeaningoflife.com/THEOLOGY_OF_THE_BODY_summary.pdf
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0109.html

Please please please follow Christopher West, with his books, presentations, youtube, dvd presentations; whatever you can do. Christopher truly presents the TOB in a way that simply just gets across to the youth, like you and I. He is a phenomenal speaker, and believe me, the message he presents will get become true to you!

Here is my interpretation of Christopher West’s interpretation of the Theology of the Body-“Freedom to Love”:

Christopher West’s presentation of the Theology of the Body-“Freedom to Love” is aimed at sharing God’s original plan for sexuality (love), and takes an authentic look at what it means to truly be human when applying Pope John Paul II’s view on moral sexuality. The Theology of the Body (TOB) affords “the rediscovery of the meaning of the whole of existence, of the meaning of life” (TOB 49:3).

Christopher West, a world-renowned speaker on Pope John Paul II’s encyclical titled the “Theology of the Body”, quickly lures in his audience by proclaiming that if you have a body this theology applies to you. Upon which he immediately makes a clear distinction that ‘theology’ and ‘body’ can in fact be studied one in the same. In Mr. West’s first presentation, he takes a deep look into the importance of the physical body and analyzes God’s intentions and love.
How is it that Christians believe in the invisible God whose pure Spirit is totally beyond our vision? It is through the physical body of Jesus that we see our God made visible in which we call the Incarnation. Therefore, without going any further, it is safe to say that, in itself, the body is an extremely powerful thing and can be used much to our advantage. Likewise, this immensely powerful thing can be used in many wrong ways, which we will soon take a look at. God had stamped us male and female by these powerful things called bodies to show his intentions of his eternal plan of love. This eternal plan of love is depicted most often in the spousal image of man and woman. The Bible begins and ends with marriages- Adam-Eve and Christ-Church, and Ephesians 5 offers that man and woman (in marriage) shall become one flesh reflecting the union between Christ and His Church. In his discussions about the love of man and woman, “Christ himself points to the marriage of the beginning (Adam and Eve, unashamed of their nakedness), the marriage of our ultimate destiny (union in the kingdom of God), and our history in marriage (our need of purification)” (Freedom to Love pg 3, 4). These are the three key words of Christ for the sake of love, especially between man and woman. But before one can simply love as planned, one must be free in order to do so.

The love that many of us have come to know has been merely imprinted on us by society, but we need to realize that love, in fact, has many faces. The expression “falling in love” is something we hear a lot but can easily be proven as misleading. The components that make up the process of falling in love are parts of the picture but do not draw it in its entirety. “Emotions, feelings, and sensual attractions constitute only the raw material of love” (Love and Responsibility pg 139). Authentic love is attracted not just by sexual attributes or “qualities” of a person because qualities are repeatable, can be found in others, while the person is unrepeatable. With the necessary pieces to fill in the puzzle, authentic love is in reach.
“Authentic love does not say: ‘I long for you as a good’ but ‘I long for your good’, ‘I long for that which is good for you’. The person who truly loves longs for this with no ulterior motive, and no selfish consideration. This is the purest form of love and it brings the greatest fulfillment. But without this purest form of love and all that it entails, we receive only the counterfeit of what we were looking for; and that is lust.

“Lust impels people very powerfully towards physical intimacy. But if this grows out of nothing more than lust it is not love, in fact, it negates love” (Love and Responsibility pg 150-151). Love affirms others as subjects, respects the body as someone, is directed towards self-donation, and sacrifices oneself for others. On the other hand, lust treats others as objects, sees the body as a thing, is directed towards self-gratification, and sacrifices others for oneself. Lust looks to others as an outlet to please themselves. “Far from feeling loved and affirmed as a unique and unrepeatable person, those objectified by lust feel used and debased as a repeatable commodity” (Freedom to Love 21). We are called to be servants to one another, not use each other as objects or as a commodity. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. … [and] love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:9-12). In order to love others as Christ loves, we must first receive Christ’s love. We cannot give what we don’t have, like anything in life. One cannot teach someone how to be happy unless they themselves are happy, and one can teach someone how to play basketball unless they themselves know how to play basketball. This is one of the most fascinating things about the Theology of the Body, at least in my opinion. We must first be able to love ourselves and experience God’s love in us before we can learn how to love other people. And who better to teach us how to love than the almighty lover himself. But before we can love others faithfully as God has, we must practice the key component that is chastity.
Chastity is not a “no” to love, but a “no” to lust. It demands that we say “no” to lust in order to free us to say “yes” to authentic love. Authentic love is impossible without chastity; for chastity is the virtue that orients all our sexual desires and emotions toward the truth of love. (Freedom to Love 19) Chastity, from a subjective opinion, is a tool needed to go into battle and without it we are at a major setback from those who have it. One does not just become chaste, but instead it requires much practice and learning. It is through exercising chastity in which we achieve the love most pure- Christ’s love.

Christ’s love, along with many things, comes down to be free, total, faithful, and fruitful which we also call marriage. Questioning of marriage and sexual morality come down to one basic question: Is this act an authentic sign of God’s free, total, faithful, fruitful love or is it not? With this “rubric” we are able to evaluate and deem acts of ourselves and our bodies “right and wrong”. But because we can speak the truth with our bodies, we likewise are able to speak lies. As we continually speak truths through our life we are conformed inwardly to Christ, our bodies also resound with holiness. And when we can mimic the free, total, faithful, and fruitful that God has for the world, we then in union with God, experience the true reality of what it is to be human.

-Stephen V.