The Meaning of Our Bodies and Being Prolife

I.       Introductory story—All the stories I tell are true stories. (Either going inside abortion mill, catacombs, push out of the snow with Molly or floodgates). The reason I tell this story is to show you the meaning of the body…and then we will relate it to being pro-life.

II.     The Body reveals God

A.     How God could have made us. Get the ugly figurines already drawn in the ice-breaker exercise. Relate those to orcs from Lord of the Rings…that if God had made us that way, with spikes, with fangs, with guns for hands, God would have been telling us something: we were made for war. We are not supposed to be friends with each other…we are supposed to be enemies.

B.     How God did make us?

1.      The body tells us something; the way he DID make our bodies is a sign/clue/instruction regarding how we are to live. Like an orc is not the way we were made. We are made with hands to reach out and help someone, eyes to look to another person to show we care. Even a baby who does not know language knows that the smile says, “It is good that you are here; I love you.” We have lips to kiss our mama and daddy. (If time, demonstration: 3 scenarios—girl crying on another girls’ shoulder, lending someone a hand who feels dizzy, a guy rescuing a girl from a high place on a chair).

2.      So, what do these actions tell us? We are meant to be gifts. And that is the meaning of life. You teens are so good in questioning, “Why am I here on earth? What am I supposed to do with my life?” Now you know. You will find yourself by the gift of self—that is what love is. (This is based on Gaudium et Spes 24). From the biggest to the smallest gifts, you are living according to your body. Playing with your little brother or sister when you really don’t want to. Helping around the house for your parents. Tutoring a friend with algebra. Praying for those who still are struggling because of Hurricane Ike. All of these entail you living your life as a gift for others.

C.     How does this make us like God? Think about it. In God’s very essence, He is a gift. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are 3 distinct persons, always giving to the other. (Show diagram). When we live out the “language of the body,” as Pope John Paul calls it, we are like God. When we love our family, our friends, our neighbors, even those we just meet, we form a friendship with others. And that makes us like God Who, from all eternity, is a eternal friendship of best friends.

III.    How is living according to the language of the body a pro-life way of living?

A.     When we give the gift of self, we are living like God, Who is the source of life itself. Life-giving and love-giving is He in His very being. The Father and Son’s love is so strong that there has to be a third person, the uncreated Fruit of their love, the Holy Spirit. When you do not keep an exclusive friendship (I am not saying don’t have a best friend…that’s neat), hoarding each other, not being open—7^th grade style—that is not life-giving but exclusivity. Let’s reflect on our friendships and see if we are pro-life in them. Do we go to those who are not as popular? Do we reach out to the one who sits by herself/himself in the cafeteria? Do we try to talk with those who are new to town or who are shy? Do we invite those who are not as hip to birthday parties? That is being pro-life. Giving life, not hoarding it. Don’t be Smeagel/(what is his name??), holding on to a golden gift, saying, “My Precious.” He was not pro-life in sharing, nor was he pro-life regarding his own life. He “un-be-d” himself.

B.     Your parents show their openness to life and love is like God and thus is pro-life. (Parallel diagram).   This is why abortion is so wrong. It goes against the Blessed Trinity. It takes life and love and turns them into anti-life, anti-love. (Caveat: Remember, those who seek to have an abortion do not know this….We do not condemn, but the more and more we love and give life, the more they may repent).

C.     You can be pro-life when you are truly yourself. We often think about pro-life being mainly helping unborn babies or the elderly—it entails that. But, while I hope you go often to abortion mills to pray, you start being pro-life in your day-to-day actions. I call this pro-life living integrity. Look at it this way: You and I are to make sure we are becoming more and more pure of heart, and we are to make sure that is reflected in our actions. Our inner self is to be reflected in outer actions. Let’s some examples of being the opposite of being pro-life. (If time, act these out). Lying. Inside, we know the truth, but exteriorly, we use our bodies, particularly our tongues to say the opposite. Cheating. Inside, we know that we did not do the work, but exteriorly, we put our name on the paper which says to the teacher, “I did this work,” knowing we did not do the work. Stealing. Gossiping. Materialism. When our body and soul “split,” we are not being pro-life. We are “un-being” ourselves, which is the opposite of living like God who is the source of the fullness of being. Our Lady is a great example of living in a pro-life way. Her inner, pure heart always was reflected in her bodily actions. She was a woman of integrity at all times. Let us be like our Mother Mary, not 2-faced like that ugly dude in Batman (whom I could not look at).

IV.   Conclusion/Exhortation—Let me summarize and wrap up. We spoke about what our bodies are a sign of—being a gift to others at all times. We don’t have spikes/horns, etc. We are meant to be gifts. By living according to the “language of the body,” we are like God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are gifts to each other from all eternity. And a fantastic thing is that is the meaning of life—the gift of self. Also, in our friendships which are open to another, we are like God, not Smeagel. Your parents in their love and life image God. Finally, we can be pro-life by making sure we live according to inner purity of heart. When our bodily actions correspond with our loving hearts, we are pro-life; the opposite, lying, cheating, gossiping, is anti-life…for ourselves and others. How do we live in a pro-life way? How can we purify our hearts and live as such? Mainly through the Sacraments. We meet Jesus there. Grace is not a thing. It is the life and love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, poured into our hearts. Let’s live in such a way. Amen.