Overview of the Theology of the Body

1. All humans have arms to hug others, lips to kiss loved ones, etc. (Not orcs)—why did God make us as such? To show we were meant to go toward the other—to form a communion of persons—how is that like God? God’s inner life is LOVE, a communion of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Genesis 2:18: “It is not good for man (Adam) to be alone.” God made our bodies to show us that we were meant to be in friendship with others (communion of persons). The complementarity of the sexes reveals God….Gift to another. Communion of persons. Original Unity.
 
3. Genesis 2:25: “The man and woman were naked and unashamed.” This shows that they knew that were to be gifts to one another. They knew because of the complementarity of the bodies that they can say, “This is my body, given,” and so know the meaning of life which is to give.
4. The body reveals God because the male and female bodies go together, and so a husband and wife form a “one-flesh union” (Eph. 5 and Gen 2), making a communion of persons. The deepest thing that can be said about God, “God is love” (1 Jn 4) has everything to do about God being a communion of persons in God’s very nature—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit loving each other from all eternity. Pope John Paul II called the Trinity the First Family.

1. The 4 F’s of Christ’s gift of self on the Cross: Free, full, faithful, and fruitful
1. Jesus loves freely: He says, “I lay down my life; no one takes it from me.”
2. Jesus loves fully: He holds nothing back, even going to the point of shedding His flesh and blood.
3. >Jesus loves faithfully: At any point, He could have decided not to give His life for us, but He remained committed…so committed, He says, “And I will be with you until the end of time,” and He is: in the Eucharist. He remains truly present to us in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, until the end of time.
4. Jesus loves fruitfully: If He did not, we would not be saved, for, as Pope John Paul says, “The first fruit of the Cross is the Holy Spirit,” He Whom we receive at Baptism. If Christ was not fruitful, if He had not “handed over His Spirit,” we would all be damned, for the Holy Spirit gives us divine life.
2. All true marriages not only reflect but bring God’s life and love (otherwise called Grace) to bear on the earth. (Diagram of Parallels)
1. Husbands and wives should love freely. Even as a couple goes through hurt, hard times, doubts….Those are times to be reminded of the free vows made and to enter in to those words, once again. One’s freedom cannot be taken away.
2. Husbands and wives should love fully. They are to hold nothing back. Bank accounts shared. One’s time is geared toward and for the other (caveat—if one needs “space” it is to recharge oneself so as to love the spouse). Spouses should say, “Honey, I give you my emotions, my imagination, my money, my time, my gifts…but not my fertility???” No, what contraception does is it goes the “language of the body.” Instead of a full gift, a barrier is put up. It is a lie. (Act out movie scene) (Caveat: This is why Natural Family Planning is licit; when it is prudent for the couple not to conceive a child, they do not engage in the marital embrace when the wife is fertile. She does not HAVE her fertility to give most of the month, and therefore she is giving all during intercourse at the time of her infertility.
3. Husbands and wives should love faithfully. This entails not just fidelity regarding sexual relations but also with regard to one’s sharing of emotions and one’s use of the imagination. Women especially sometimes might share too much with someone (her mom?!) about her husband (caveat: there are some trusted friends that woman need to connect with) or simply about her feelings, but she does not open up to her husband. Men especially sometimes allow their imaginations to go in ways not faithful to their wives. This is the violation especially that pornography entails.
4. Husbands and wives should love fruitfully. This is not only in regard to being open to kids; rather, couples should seek to find how they are to impact the Church and society fruitfully. Have you ever thought about the word, Matrimony? It means, “mother’s mission.” All marriages are
3. Application to marriage, with its 4 F’s and with men protecting/providing/put on pedestal to pursue and women welcoming/nurturing/being mysterious/providing adventure or mission
1. Men: Before marriage…the husband did everything to “capture” his beloved…poetry, star-gazing, flowers, jewelry, etc. Why does taking a vow negate such living the “language of the body”? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?
2. Women: Before marriage…the wife did everything to attract—conceal and reveal, flirt properly by nice dress, affirming words, make-up, beautiful hair, etc. Why does taking a vow negate such living the “language of the body”? Shouldn’t it be the opposite!
3. Reality check: CHILDREN, bills and more bills. How does one juggle all of these things yet keep the romance?
 
4. The parallel between Marriage and the Mass (the Liturgy)
• And for us Catholics, what is the normal way we receive grace? Through the sacraments, especially Mass. The first practical application for us living out the nuptial meaning then is by participating in Confession and the Mass. Remember the power of the Mass, which Vatican II has reiterated as the “font and summit” of our lives. When we go to the Mass, we get a “flux-capacitor ride.” (My students and some of you younger folk know the analogy of the movie, Back to the Future whereby the characters go backward to the future). Mass somehow propels us back in space and time to the foot of the Cross, the source of all graces!! Jesus’ pierced Sacred Heart is that which contains all graces, and we get to be right there, there where Jesus died some 2000 years ago. We listen to His Holy Word, His transforming Word, and then we receive Him into us, into our bodies. The 2 become 1-body that we spoke of about Adam and Eve is now realized in our one-flesh union with Christ. Allow me to give you parallels between receiving the Eucharist and the marital embrace, both highlighting giving us insight into concrete living.

Receiving Holy Communion    

• Every time we receive the Eucharist, it is a renewal of our baptismal vows.
• If we receive Jesus worthily, we become more whole, more holy. 
• The words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper were ratified on the Cross through action which we participate in at Mass.
• In receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we become more open to spiritual fruitfulness in our lives.
• Through the Eucharist, we share in a 1-flesh union.
• At Mass, we enter into the highest Liturgical form of worship—by being one-flesh with the Son, we can offer our lives to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

• Every time the couple engages in the marital intercourse, they are renewing their wedding vows.
• If the couple receives each other worthily, they become more whole, more holy. In fact, the Pope does something amazing with the word virginity. He says the couple becomes more virginal, more integrated, body and soul, just as Adam and Eve were virginal, whole, integrated before the Fall.
• The words the couple spoke at their wedding are ratified in their sacred bed.

• In the marital embrace, the couple is open to physical and spiritual fruitfulness in their lives.
• In consummation, the couple shares in a 1-flesh union.
• Marital intercourse becomes a form of worship!! The Holy Father puts it this way: In marital union, “man and woman encounter the ‘great mystery’ (sacrament). . . .In this way conjugal life becomes in a certain sense liturgical” (380). The marital embrace is worship.