Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

I am “filling in” for David, as he is in the process of moving this week. It’s hard to write as clearly and concisely as he does, but I will try to just lay out some initial thoughts. I recently graduated from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC. The curriculum covered at the Institute is right in line with the message that David is promoting. I encourage everyone to read John Paul II’s encyclicals from the theological perspective of who man is as laid out in the “Theology of the Body”. Without this perspective of the person as a “being-gift”, it is not possible to get a full understanding of what John Paul is teaching. For instance, his teachings on social ethics are based on his anthropology, i.e on who man is. It is my experience that people easily miss the depth of his teachings due to not having a grounding in his anthropology. It seems to me that John Paul’s Theology of the Body is the key for approaching all of reality–whether it’s marriage, family, politics, work, school, play, whatever– and I think David has been making that point. Why are we here? Where are we from? Where are we going? What is the purpose of getting up every day and doing what we do? We exist to image God as a “being-gift” in all that we do. That’s why we teach children to say “thank you”. It ingrains in them the reality that everything is a gift from God–especially themselves and their bodies. The human being, as the pinnacle of creation, carries within himself the dimension of the gift, and is therefore called to freely choose to be a gift for God and others. In other words, we are “from and for” : from God and for others. Only when we are “for others” do we fulfill our mission and destiny and truly become ourselves. This is what David has been saying, and I just want to stress how critical this understanding is in order to “be all you can be”. With this view, it is possible to see sexual “do’s and don’ts” as something different than arbitrary rules imposed on us from a God who wants to limit our fun. God desires nothing for us that is contrary to our good and our happiness. But this mission from God to realize our full potential as “being-gift” is also a task and a requirement. It takes hard work and the development of virtue through the gift of the Holy Spirit–and this gift of the Holy Spirit only comes through the Church and the sacraments. That’s all for now. I will try to post again later this week in David’s absence. God Bless.