Back In the Game (I hope?)

Hey everyone! So hopefully this means a more permanent revival of my weekly updates on what it really means to love!!!!

No lie, I was definitely inspired by today's readings to start up again. For all you non-Catholic readers, the entire Catholic church gets a uniform set of scripture readings for each Mass. Today's happened to be Genesis 2: 18-24:

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.

 

Now think about it this way. This is the first love story ever! The man is searching for somebody to love, somebody to fulfill his needs. God gives Adam animals, but he's like "no, there's just something not right there." So God uses part of Adam to create Eve. Adam wakes up and he's like: "WOW!! Look at this! Look at you! You are the most amazing thing I've ever seen". God could have given humanity any method to reproduce, but he chose to put together two creatures that go perfectly together. How do you think they become one flesh? In the garden, Adam and Eve were able to give themselves completely to each other and receive each other's love. There was no shame and no use.

 

That's a short reflection on today's scripture passage. And considering this is where JP2 gets the majority of his material for Theology of the Body, it's sort of important.

 

Dear Lord, you created love. You orchestrated the first love story ever! Please help me to love everybody, no matter what our relationship is, in the way you want. Amen.

EEP!

Imagine you just walked on in somebody in the shower. It doesn't matter what your relationship was to them, they would say something along those lines. "EEP!" "What?" "Get out!!!" Or a few other choice words that I will choose to not put on my blog.

Why? Why is it that we are so protective of our bodies? Why is it that most girls are extra careful when walking around in a skirt and most boys find the need to pull up their pants when too much of the boxers are showing?

I'll tell you: shame.

But imagine this, Adam and Eve, for the first several days or weeks or however long didn't have shame. Remember that verse in Genesis: Naked without shame? That was them. Then suddenly they cannot look at each other when they are naked. Even though they were husband and wife. More than that, they do not want God to see. They do not want anyone to see. Enter, original sin. When they ate that apple, they became imperfect.

So why do we feel shame? First, JP2 wants to look at before the fall.

Why did Adam and Eve not feel ashamed before the fall? I have no idea what it was like, unfortunately I've never been perfect. But, listen to what JP2 says. He basically says that they did not feel shame before because their bodies manifested why they were as man and woman. They showed them who they were.

On a much more shallow level, I think I know what that means. I used to play sports, and I remember how it felt to receive my high school jersey. This was when I was a freshman and still excited about my school. I was excited. I was proud that I was actually on the team. I wore it with pride. Why? It signified who I was, and what I'd done.

Sure this is not the deep knowing who you are and what your role is, but since original sin has blocked us from that, let's take the little analogies as they come, shall we?

Dear Lord, thank you for bringing me back. Thank you for your servant Pope John Paul II's inspiring ideas. Help me to continue to grow and discover myself through your gifts.

A Long Drawn Out Excuse

Hey guys... it's been a while. I am sorry about that. I've been in my school's musical and for the past few weeks, it's pretty much taken over my life. Is that a good excuse? No.

Still, now I have good writing material! I'm on Spring Break now, and I regret to say that I left my Theology of the Body book at school so I can't read a section and analyze it like I usually do. But, I would like to talk about my experiences with the play, Pippin, in relation to Theology of the Body.

For those of you who don't know (CONTAINS SPOILERS), Pippin is about a young man trying to find his place in the world. Even more entertaining, it's a play within a play. There are a bunch of players in a troupe who decided to pull a random man off the street, name him "Pippin", and cast him as the lead. First, Pippin tries war and fights in the crusades. Then, Pippin tries random sex promoted by his grandmother, Berthe (played by yours truly - ironic, right?). Last, Pippin tries revolting against his father, King Charlemagne, and ruling over the empire. None of those work out well, so Pippin runs away in despair and meets Catherine, a regular women (in the play-within-a-play plot, she's not a "player" so to say). She lives a very ordinary life, but the two fall in love. Pippin decides that it's not enough and runs away again. In his moment of despair, the players come back and tell Pippin that he should participate in the "Grand Finale", which is essentially burning himself alive. He almost gives in, but Pippin runs back to Catherine and they live... ordinarily, but happily. So the moral of the story is that you don't have to be extraordinary to be content.

Sounds great, right? Here are my moral objections: first, the love between Catherine and Pippin. It develops slowly, but it peaks at a point in the play where they have sex. I guess I don't have to point out that they're not married. I think I've mentioned in my blog at least a few times... that's not love. Whether or not they know it, they're using each other. There are bonds and commitments that come with sex that, unless the couple is married, they are not ready for! Two blogs back, I wrote that sex within marriage brings the couple together. But sex without a marriage is a lie, and I can't think of any good relationships based on a lie.

Probably the worst part about this is that it is presented as good in the show. When the players try to fry Pippin, this is where he chooses to go back to. Because he loves her, and Pippin sings about how "it", or happiness, was never in the flashy lights and the costumes and the "magic" that the players provided. It was in the simple love. This would be perfectly good if the play wasn't misrepresenting love! "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor 13:4-7). Pippin wasn't always patient, Catherine sings that he wasn't a good or kind man. Their love is based on a wrongdoing, premarital sex. Most important of all, love endures all. Look, in the play it does, but in reality... there won't be any lasting or enduring relationships based on a lie.

Second problem with the morality of the show: me!

My character was Berthe, who I accurately describe as Pippin's horny grandmother. Berthe live in the country with her men, and you can only imagine what these men do for her. Then she encourages Pippin to go out and "start livin'!"... in other words, have sex with everyone he possibly can. This moves onto an orgy scene, which I can gratefully say gave a representation of sex without being graphic. In other words, my character wanted her grandson to go out and use as many people as he could for his own pleasure. Once again, anybody else see the irony of me being cast as this character?

One thing I can say for this part of the show: it was presented as wrong. After the orgy, Pippin breaks away and tries to stay away. In the plot of the story, random sex was not going to make him happy. So, you've got to be happy with the silver linings!

So you may be asking, why was I in this play? I will partially play the ignorance card. I truly had no idea what Pippin was about. I watched a little bit before I auditioned, but I suppose I was hopeful that the play wouldn't be too wrong. I do attend a Catholic school. It could have been worse... I will give it that much, but it was wrong. Did I have fun? Yes. But it was difficult for me balancing the line between this is fun and this is wrong. I think this is a struggle we all face at times.

Dear Lord, we all struggle discerning right from wrong at times. More than that, we all struggle choosing to do right in amongst the wrong. Please guide us Lord, and protect us all from sin and evil.

That awkward moment when...

Have you ever walked in on someone while they were changing? Or perhaps using the restroom? We automatically gasp, say "Oh! Sorry!" and close the door/turn around/ close eyes or something like that.

Well let's look at the second chapter of Genesis. It says that the man and women were naked, but without shame. Hmm.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, we are moving on from the "Original Unity" section and leaping into the "Original Nakedness". Now in today's society, when you say "naked" or "nude", people think you're referring to porn. This is clearly not the case. However, we are definitely talking about Adam and Eve seeing each other naked before and after the fall. And of course, it all comes from the Pope that told the restoration artist to take the fig leaves off Adam and Eve's private parts in the Sistine Chapel.

Now, the first thing JP2 does is brings "shame" to attention. Before they ate the apple, Adam and Eve were naked without shame. After, they make themselves loincloths and Adam tells God that he hid because he was afraid.

So what changed? If you're well-versed in theology (or not), you probably know about original sin. That's what changed. Thanks to the ideas from Original Unity, we know that Adam and Eve looked at each other and saw how they completed each other. They knew what it meant to be masculine. They knew how it meant to be feminine. There's nothing wrong with that. So why are they suddenly ashamed? We'll see as we continue these reflections. So no stripping in the name of Genesis people!!

Dear Lord, thank you for my body. Please help me to learn to love it and protect it and see it as the gift it is. Amen.

I know alot about sex for a Virgin

Okay, I had to have a catchy title, right?

But seriously, this is where I get to talk about sex and how good it is. At least in the context of marriage.

See, in marriage, sex brings the couple closer. The couple literally becomes "one flesh" (think about your basic biology or sex-ed course) and enters the creation act itself. As JP2 says, sex "allows them [the married couple] to recognize each other reciprocally and to call each other by name, [!] as they did the first time" (pg 167). When a married couple has sex, they're reuniting, they're giving themselves to each other just like they did on their wedding night. It's not exciting because of all the crazy moves they have learned over the years (I guess), it's exciting because it IS.

See, this is something I think we college kids forget about sex. It's not just some fun thing we do. It's not even something you do to show a significant other you love them. It's a choice. You choose to freely, totally, faithfully, and fruitfully give yourself to your spouse. There should be no pressure. You should not feel pressured to give away something so special to anybody who promises anything less than eternity.

The sexual act unites a couple and can take them down a certain path. For a married couple, it teaches them more about each other. More about Christ and his church. The man learns more about the woman and vise versa. For an unmarried couple... it's a lie. You say I'm forever yours even though it's not true. You unite yourselves in a way that you're not ready for until marriage. Then when (okay if... but stats show that premarital sex isn't good for relationship stability...) you break up it's even harder.

I have a friend (who will remain anonymous) who has told me that she has been sexually active with her boyfriends at different periods. And you know what I notice? I notice that all of her breakups are hard. Very rough. Harder than they would be if she had remained chaste? I cannot say for sure... but that's what I believe.

Anyway, that's a little about what I know about sex. And with that I can proudly say on the World Wide Web that I'm waiting for marriage. :)

Dear Lord, it's hard living in this culture today and doing your will. Please help me to live out your plan for me. My body is a temple. My body is beautiful. Please do not let me profane it by using the sexual act in the wrong way. Amen

Take Two - We need each other

This is the second time I tried to read the 9th letter of JP2. I think this time I have a better understanding of it. Or at least one part. Maybe I'll be able to re-read over the other in a few minutes and understand it.

Well the title says it all. We need each other. Men and Women need each other. We need each other because we complete each other.

Wow, I've just not been up for reading heavy philosophy recently! Oh well, I think it's not too difficult to see what that tells the average college student like ourselves. You know how we always label certain tasks as "man things" and others as "woman things"? Maybe we need to take a closer look at that. Not just blow it off like society tells us to.

But this unity does mean that men and women need to respect each other. I don't think we have enough of that in society. On the woman's side, I know we have pornography and strip clubs. Let's face it, the men looking at those girls are not viewing them as a beautiful woman of God! They're using them for personal pleasure. And I know we girls can objectify men as well. We look at some guys based on how cute they are. We flirt with them for fun, giving them false signals.

Guys, we need to respect each other! For crying out loud....

That's all for this week. I've got a crazy week ahead wish me luck and I'll see you next week (metaphorically speaking).

Dear Lord, yes, sometimes I know I fail in my duty as a man or a woman. I know sometimes I do not work beside my brothers and sisters and help them to become holier. Please help me to always show my friends and family and others the respect I wish for myself.

Awkward intermission

Yes ladies and gentlemen, we are still talking about unity. I'm sorry for not posting last week. I don't have a good excuse, so just accept my apology and know I'll try to be better here on out!

Well I'm reading this and I'm finding it hard to understand. I blame the NyQuil. So I'm just going to give a tip to all the men looking for ways to woo a woman. Song of Solomon/Songs. It has some of the most beautiful verses praising the woman ever. Let's face it: "Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, ha, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down the mountains of Gilead..." (Songs 4: 1) while sounds kinda cheesy is MUCH more complementing than "you look better with the lights off".

Theology of the body is about how the human body reveals God and his plan for male and female, for the human race. Hopefully when I'm not drugged up I'll be better able to help unravel this mystery.