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.

Bone of My Bone

Not going to lie, I didn't understand this at first. I was pretty confused. I blame the fact that it's late and I got home from work not too long ago.

Gotta love the subscript!

Anyway, this talk that JP2 gave was the first talk on "Original Unity", or the unity/oneness that Adam and Eve (the first man and woman) had before the fall. He focuses mostly on a few versus of Genesis 2 when God takes the rib from Adam, encloses it with flesh, and creates Eve.

Which sort of begs the question: why would God do this? He just finished creating a whole world out of nothing, so why would He need anything from Adam to create Eve? The answer, He doesn't.

There's a cute little story, that man used to be this amazing creature but the gods were jealous and split man in half. So to this day, man is searching for his other half. This is a similar concept here. Even before Adam and Eve consummated their marriage, they were one. They were of the same body, just like babies are one body that comes from their parents.

Not only were Adam and Eve "one", but they were the same. Adam had never seen another person before, and he's excited! When we read "this time she is flesh from my flesh...." we normally just read through it. But JP2 calls Adam joyful. He is excited, almost praising this new creature. Eve is the most amazing thing Adam has ever seen.

As a girl, I like this. Sometimes I wonder, do guys ever think of me in this way? But then I think about all the degrading things in society... from grievous things like pornography to basic things like music... and I'm just not sure. Sometimes I lose faith that there's still such holy love and respect out there. But then I have my guy friends who are like this, who do respect and love women. And really, it makes me happy.

Chivalry for the win!!!!!

Dear Lord, I would like to thank you for all the people of the opposite gender. Please help me in my search for my other half, and I would like to thank you if I am lucky enough to have found such a person! Also, please help me to encourage my friends to live out this love in respect seen so early in human history. It can be hard Lord, but give me the grace! Amen

Merry Christmas... let's talk about death

I was driving home from work tonight and a car turned out in front of me. It really wasn't a big deal, he was turning left and I was turning right and there was more than enough time for me to slow down and let him go (which is what I did). But that made me think: what if he hit me? What if I got killed in a car accident on the way home on Christmas Eve? What if anybody died in a crash or for any other reasons this close to Christmas.

That would suck for my family (hopefully I'd be singing with the angels).

My point is, we all know stuff about death. We've probably known somebody who has died or is at death's door. We all know it's painful. Perhaps we've read Heaven is for Real or other such books and know something of near-death experiences. Perhaps we've learned about judgement and as much about Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory as we possibly can. But in the end, we do not know a lot about death. What is it like to die? Very few people can answer this question. But we still don't know until we experience death.

Still, we know more than Adam did. He'd never read those books... this was just a little bit before 2000. He wasn't bombarded by news media: the news was that he woke up and walked around a bush. He'd never had anybody he had known die at this point, he was the first person. Adam had absolutely no exposure to death.

Yet, according to Bl. John Paul II, Adam had an idea based on what he had. He had a body and a spirit, he was blessed with the gift of existence. JP2 says that Adam knew that when God said "if you eat of this tree you shall die," Adam at least associated "death" with "leaving his body".

It's amazing. We owe are very existence to God. Adam existed because of God, and this command probably helped him understand that. We owe life to God, and we owe death (aka hopefully even better life) to God. God. God. God. We really are nothing without him.

We need God. That's the bottom line. Every aspect of ourselves needs God. Haven't you noticed when we decide that we don't need God, everything seems to go wrong? In my personal life, the days when I decide not to pray are the worst. My best days are definitely when I have received the Eucharist, the body and blood and soul and divinity of my God, Jesus Christ. My worst days are when I wake up and don't think about him. And in society, we can see how a lot of our crumbling comes from denial of God, or God's plan. My example: greed. The American economy is so bad because people are greedy. The rich and the poor. Enough Americans want what they cannot afford or exploit people for the sake of having more. Thanks to greed we get violent crime, white collar crime, and a crappy job market.

Guys, we need God. Whether or not we know it, we need God! And that is what Christmas is all about. We need God, and so God gave us himself. We definitely cannot beat that as far as Christmas gifts go, but we can at least give God ourselves in return.

Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday! Thank you for coming to the world for my sake. Help me to continue to acknowledge you throughout the week and to realize how needy I truly am! Also, please comfort those who have lost a loved one recently. Please be with them, and give them the graces they need to not only keep going, but to have a Merry Christmas nevertheless. Amen

2 Roads Diverge...

Did anybody read the poem by... I think it was Walt Whitman? It's about a guy walking in forest and he decides to take the grassy path because it looked like nobody else had. It is pretty easy to see the analogy here between the path and life. We all made choices and different choices will lead us to very different places.

That's one of the topics that JP2 brings up: choice. We all have the choice to choose right and wrong. God gave Adam a tree that he was not supposed to eat from. And for the time, Adam chooses not to eat of it.

If any of you have read my little bio, you know that I'm a Criminal Justice major. Well I just finished a Criminology course, it's amazing some of the theories. Some of them imply that you're bound to commit crime because you have these forces inside (or outside) forcing you to make this particular choice. The funny thing is, we still have the option to choose otherwise. Unless somebody has put some sort of brain-bug in your head and uses a remote control to force your hands to kill someone... it's your choice. We all have the capability to choose between right and wrong. Inside, we all at least have a basic understanding of that is good and what is bad. Do we choose to go through with it?

That does not mean the choice is easy. It can be very hard to make the right choice. It can be very hard to stay at home instead of going to the party where you know there will be heavy drinking and sex. It can be hard to go to a party and tell people you're not drinking. It can be hard to speak up when you watch your friends act in ways that you think may very well come back to haunt them. But do we still have the choice? Yes.

Second point, a point that I think I've been senselessly beating into your heads since the beginning of this blog: humans are not animals. Yes, I've taken basic biology and I know we belong to Kingdom Anamalia. But we are more complex than ordinary animals. JP2 puts that into his talk again because, in a world mixed with mechanism and relativism, we need to know. Here's one new piece of evidence he gives, though:

If you read Genesis 2, it lists out tilling the ground and making the waters rise (thank you Ancient Egypt!). What does this mean? I was confused until I thought about monkeys. Scientists have observed how monkeys, chimps, and several other animals have learned to use tools to help them survive. But, as far as I know, none of them actually farm. None of them have actually worked to grow their own food. Only beavers manipulate the water to help with food. There's a difference, in my opinion, between tools and technology. Tools (my definition) are the small things we use to help ourselves. Technology is changing, so I can't really think of a definition. Anyway, while humans have moved from pyramids to skyscrapers, animals are still hitting oysters with rocks.

My point, and I think JP2's point too, is that humans are much more special than animals. We are capable of so much more thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Dear Lord, please bless us as we live out this week! Help us all to develop our consciences so that we may make the right choices always. And help us remember your Son for His birthday next week! Amen.

... And We're Going to Pretend It's Still Sunday

Alright, so it's finals week and at my school that means breakfast and bingo!!! So I just(ish) got back from that, so forgive me for technically posting on Monday and pray for all my finals and papers to go well!!!!!

And back to solitude...

Yeah, I'm talking about "Original Solitude", one of the points JP2 draws from the beginning of Genesis. Man was out in the world, caring for the plants and the animals and the other things, but scriptures say that he was alone. Why would he be alone when he's clearly not? First of all, Adam was with God. Second, he was with the animals (such as the DOG for crying out loud!) but still, he was alone. This highlights how man is different from every other creation.

I know I've gone into this a lot... thank you History of Psychology... but we need to remember this! We're human. We're special. We're the most amazing, most diverse creatures on the planet. We have a body, but we also have a soul. I learned in a New Testament class that one soul is worth more than all the earth. Why? Because that soul is eternal. When our bodies die, our soul will live on forever. There is literally no way we could learn everything about humanity because we're infinite!

Humans are hard-wired for companionship. It's funny, in my... yes... History of Psychology class again we talked about how humans have these... glands I think (called monods or something like that?) that help us have relationships with others. We need each other.

More than that, men and women need each other. Yes, the scripture seem to imply that man would be completely lost without woman (which is true! :D) but, women also need men. We're different, but we're complementary. It's sort of like cookie dough ice cream (my favorite btw). Men are the vanilla ice cream and women are the cookie dough. Both are good, but together they make something on a whole new level!

Anyway, JP2 does have more to say on this topic. But that's for another letter. If you want to get the book and read ahead... more power to you. But until then, pray that my finals go great!

Dear Lord, I would just like to thank you. Thank you for giving me people in my life. Continue to bless me with more people that will help me grow holier; help me grow closer to you. Thank you! Amen.

Movie time!

Sorry guys, I'm in the midst of finals so that plus the natural procrastination of a college student means I do not currently have the brain capacity to understand John Paul II.

HOWEVER...
for you viewing pleasure I found this video on youtube that I think brings up several good points about our culture. We just have so many problems with young people and "hot or not" and subjective views of the body.
Without further ado...
Proverbs 31 woman v. Victoria's secret model

Have a great evening/day/whatever time you're reading this!

Still in the Beginning

Just wanted to say, first of all, that I'm not going to do daily reflections. I've come to realize that sometimes this is too much for me to take in even every day like this. I'm definitely going to post Sunday, and on other days it depends.

Here's the main thing that stuck out to me in JP2's 5th audience, or his 5th Theology of the Body speech (because that's how he gave them). We sinned. Adam and Eve ate that darn apple... we know the story. But right after that God promises salvation. Right away, we have hope

This weekend, I went on a prayer retreat. During Mass, I was looking around in the chapel (because I had WAY too much coffee that day) and I saw the paining. It was the Annunciation, or when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she was going to have a Son. But in the background of that painting, on the wall of Mary's house, was a picture of the eviction of the garden. I immediately thought about the contrast between Eve's "no" and Mary's "yes", but now I think about the promise. God promised Adam and Eve that, despite their betrayal and their chosen fallen nature, he would save them. Then, several thousand or so years later, Mary said yes and conceived the savior of the world.

I guess my main idea right now is hope. I'd say that today we live in a more skeptic world than a hopeful one. A college kid goes and gets a degree, and then what next? We don't think about our dream job and hope for the best, we're praying (hopefully) that we'll be able to find a job in today's economy. But I guess in a world influenced greatly by the militant atheists, that should be expected. Without God, there is no hope. Without His promise, there is nothing to look forward to.

God gave Adam and Eve a gift, even though they didn't deserve it, before He gave us Christ. He gave hope.

Dear Lord, sometimes I struggle believing that you will pull through. There's a lot going on right now, and it's hard. Please give me the grace to trust in your providence and true hope. Amen

Creation Part Dos!!

So here's where I get you guys addicted to this little experiment of mine. I tell you that Bl. JP2 says that the second story of creation helps demonstrate the differences in humanity before and after the fall. The difference between our original innocence, and life after the fall. But I'm not going to tell you what any of them are. Partially because I don't know and understand completely myself. Those sections will come soon enough.

Even though there is a difference, the rules have not changed so to speak. This is something that Jesus is trying to tell the Jewish authorities in the Gospels. He said that Moses allowed them to have divorce because "of your hardness of heart." In other words, we were too pig-headed to just switch from free divorce to no divorce. But, as JP2 comments, Jesus didn't like it.

I think we need to think about this in every aspect of our lives. Like Sunday for example. The third commandment says "keep holy the Sabbath Day". But society says "whatever, you have so much to get done and you don't want to waste a second." Just because it is socially acceptable to work and ignore God on His day does not mean it's right. Yeah, it's funny what happens when you word it like that. We don't want to say that we "ignore God", but isn't what forgetting Him on His day is?

Once again, as a college kid, that gives me a lot to think about. There's a lot of things that are "socially acceptable" that I'm not sure coincide with God's law. Like parties. In and of themselves, they aren't bad. But we all know that college parties are pretty much people drinking as much as they can and rubbing on each other when they're too drunk to know exactly what's going on. ONCE AGAIN, just because it's socially or even legally acceptable DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT! God has a plan for us, and any step away from that plan is not right.

Stay tuned to learn a little more about God's plan, because it'd be slightly stupid to decide to follow it without trying to find out what it is.

Dear Lord, please open our hearts! Because the hearts of the Israelites were closed, there was a law in contrast with your plan for us. Help us to always be open to your will, or at least give us the desire to be open. Help us make the right choice always, no matter what others may think. And help us in this continued study, for lack of a better term, and help us learn what your servant Bl. John Paul II had to say to us. Amen

"in the image of God he created them" AKA the 1st creation story

There are two ideas that come out to me most in this small passage: the fact we are made in God's image and that he created us male and female.

FIRST PART: So we are made in God's image. That means we have to be good. JP2 points out here that the only comparisons in these biblical passages are between God and man. First, that means that we cannot just compare man to other animals. We can only get so far, and any picture would be incomplete.

It's funny... remember how I got really academic a few posts ago and blamed it on my Psychology class? Well, in this same psychology class I just turned in another paper of behaviorism and psychoanalysis. For those of you who don't know what those are... google psychoanalysis. But behaviorism is a science where, for the most part, you observe animals and draw conclusions from this. As I wrote in this paper, it sounds interesting but it does not completely make sense. As JP2 says, if we are made in the image and likeness of God, and we can never completely understand God, doesn't it make sense that we wouldn't understand everything about humanity either much less learn about it from animals.

Also, the Bible does not compare humans to the earth but it does say that we were put in dominion over it. This gives us a degree of superiority that the other animals do not have.

The most important thing, the thing I think most people struggle with, is that we are good. Because God made us, we are good. Yes, there is the fall so there is definitely some not good stuff with humanity. But our bodies are a gift. We need to respect them. How? As a female, the first thing that comes to mind is how we dress. Do our outfits reflect the dignity of our bodies or are they practically "grab here" signs. On the other hand, we need to be careful about how we treat our bodies. What sort of stress do we put them under? What sort of fuel do we put in them? Do we eat too much? Do we eat enough? Do we hurt ourselves. People, we need to respect this wonderful gift that God has given us.

SECOND PART... and I think a lot of extreme left-side feminists would scream at me right now, but at least wait.

JP2 says that the Bible is very objective in this point. It's not gloating or anything... it's just stating a fact that anybody above the age of 2 should know. Boys and girls are different. When I was little (according to my mother) I was in a class when she was pregnant with my little brother. I argued with the teacher because "the only difference between boys and girls is that girls have long hair and boys have short hair".

Haha. So I think we all know that 4-year-old me was not quite right, so what is different? Men tend to be bigger than women, but women have bigger hips. It's true. In 7th grade I learned from a classmate's father that you could tell if the person in an x-ray was male or female based on the hips. Clearly there's some other bodily differences that I just don't feel like going into, and I think we should all start thinking about what that means for gender roles.

One last thing: human beings were created last according to creation story. So God created the animals, created man, and then created woman ( :D ). Okay in all seriousness, that means that we human beings are the high points of God's creation. Even high than the angels. Isn't that amazing?

Dear Lord, I would like to thank you for all your gifts to me! I would like to thank you for my body and my life, as well as making me a (guy or girl depending on the reader's gender). Please continue to bless us as we try to learn more about you through the words of your Servant Bl. John Paul II. Amen

"In the Beginning..."

" "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator created them male and female and said, for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and unite with his wife, and the two will be one flesh?" So it is that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined let man not separate." They objected, "Why then did Moses order to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus answered, "Because of the hardness of your heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." Mt 19: 3 - 8

Clearly Jesus is saying a lot here. But JP2 focuses on "the beginning". In the beginning, before sin was in the world, everything was perfect. Everything was how God made it to be. What can we learn from this?

I took the verse directly from the book because I thought the italics were Jesus quoting Genesis. That may be true for the first part, but I'd have to check my Bible. Or leave you wondering in suspense until you pick up your own Bibles to find out? Yeah, I think I'll do the second.

But can you picture Jesus talking to people of today, people in a society where about half of marriages end in divorce? His words, the words from 2000 years ago, still apply to us today. There will be more talk on divorce later, but for now I'll just say this. Jesus tells us that the man and his wife become one flesh. And when the flesh is severed through a divorce, what happens? Intense pain. Pain in the family. Pain between the former lovers. Any of you who have been through or know someone who has gone through divorce knows this. Even if the other person is not good, it's hard to leave.

Jesus tells us that "what God has joined let man not separate". For college kids, my age group, how does that apply? We need to be careful who we date. At this point, we need to think "this man (or woman) is someone I could potentially marry." Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is the person you're with going to love you through sick and suffering? While there is no way to know, if you cannot see yourself marrying the person you're with, get out. Don't date just to date. It's not worth it.

Alright, so I'm done there. Back to the beginning. I'd recommend reading the book of Genesis sometime this week. Time to go all the way back and see what God created... and see how JP2 says it reflects our relationship with God and others.

Lord, help us all have an amazing week. Bless us as we begin our reading, and help us to learn a little more how to truly be human! I'd like to offer a prayer for all those who are victims of divorce, and all those marriages that are really struggling. Bless them, Lord and please help them to discover and want to do your will. Amen

Happy Advent Ya'll!!!

Why Theology of the Body?

You know what, I'm just going to quote straight from the book here. I think Michael Waldstein says it better than I ever could: "To conclude, the purpose of theology of the body is to defend the body against its alienation from the person in Cartesian rationalism. Put positively, the purpose is to show the divine plan for human spousal love, to show the goodness and the beauty of the whole sexual sphere against its cheapening in the "objective, scientific" way of looking at nature" (page 105). Waldstein also talks about how only through doing God's will are we happy.

What does this mean for humanity, specifically for me and my age group? First of all, our bodies and sex are amazing things. I mean, wow! We are able to work with members of the opposite gender to make a baby. Think about it. We could reproduce asexually. God could have put Adam and Eve in the garden and said: "Alright guys, now if you want to continue the human race you need to chop off a part of the body, so get going!" But no, a married man and a married woman can come together and have a baby, a visible sign of their love.

Now, I know most college kids don't see things this way. Lots of times, sex just becomes something that two people do when they love each other. Or even worse, something to do for fun. To fling around at parties after the alcohol is served. But that's not God's plan for us. God's plan is for man and woman to unite through the sacrament or marriage, and then have sex, bringing them together on a whole new level. Then have babies! :)

And you know what? God's plan is what will make you happy. Like really happy. I can't say I'm the best Catholic. I can't say that I've always had admirable faith in God. But for a long time, I've known that God has a plan. And following that plan is what will bring us joy. True joy.

And now, unless I say otherwise, I'm going to read the actual Theology of the Body all the way through from cover to cover. I'm going to go in whatever order the book has.

Just a note (which you will know if you have the same book I have), there is a section in the introduction I'm not going to blog on. But it's basically about the structure of the book, and I don't see the necessity. That said, I hold the right to completely change my mind and have a 100,000 page summary of that next week.

Lord, please bless us all in this week! And please help us accept your will. More than that, please give us the desire to do whatever you want. If we're not ready for that, give us the desire to want to do your will. Amen

Day... Let's call this -10

Well, after a long day, I'm finally posting! What can I say? I got busy. But I guess that happens a lot in life. You get busy and have to choose: am I too busy for God or will I make time for him? Today, I choose to make time for God. It's a resolution that we all really have to renew each day.

Well, there's a lot in here, but what this part of the book talked most about was faith. We all need it, but what is it based on? This sort of reminds me of the part of the Gospel when St. Thomas told his fellow apostles that unless he touched the wounds of Jesus, and put his hand in Jesus's side, he would not believe. A week later, Jesus appeared and told him to touch his wounds. Thomas knelt down and said "my Lord and my God." Jesus then told him (and this is NOT a direct quote): "You believe because you have seen. But Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe."

I feel like Jesus is talking directly to us. From two-thousand years ago, Jesus is speaking directly to his church today. None of us have seen him directly, but we believe. But even with us, is our faith based on experience? Have we had something happen, and now we say "I believe". Honestly, that can go away. But deep faith, internalized faith, it won't just leave when things are tough. Does this mean we have blind faith? No. But at a certain point we do have to acknowledge that we do, in fact, believe.

This section also mentioned works of Bl. John Paul II, one of which being Love and Responsibility. I can say that I read somebody's summary of it, the book by Edward Sri. Basically, it goes a lot into how love is a gift, and for love to be real you have to be able to give and receive it. But that's not just in a marriage. Any relationship.

God, please help us learn how to love like you! You want us to be perfect in love, so give us that grace! And help us believe. For those of us who struggle, give us the grace to continue in the easy times as well as the difficult. For those who do not, give the grace and reveal your love to them!

special announcement and day -14

Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that for November (and perhaps the beginning of December) I will only be posting on Sundays. I just have a lot going on right now with school and NaNoWrimo, so I'm going to stick with once a week for a while.

Now... about Scheler....
From what I understand, JP2 liked him in some aspects. He was different than Kant. But there are two problems with Scheler's philosophy:
1. It says that religious acts are done because they make you feel good.
2. It objectifies humans.
Hopefully, you all reading this see the problems without me going into them.

Objectifying humans if one of the basic "no no's" of theology of the body. We were made in the image and likeness of God himself. That means all of our bodies are beautiful and deserve respect. That's one of the biggest issues with pornography. It makes the human body just a sex object. It does not make that woman (or man) beautiful and respected. It does not glorify the human body.

The glory of the human body is actually seen through the Sistine Chapel. For anyone who does not know, that's where Michelangelo painted the famous Creation. And Adam and Eve were naked. For years they covered the private parts with fig leaves, but JP2 actually said not to. He said that it brings out the beauty and glorifies the human body. We'll all see that later in this blog, whenever I get to the part where he talks about "naked without shame".

As for the happiness, that reminds me of a retreat I went on my freshman year of high school. It was called "More Than a Feeling". I don't remember much, but I do remember the basic message was that a relationship with God is based on more than feelings. And how true it is! Think about it: how many people would be Christian if it was just based on how happy you were? I mean, in the first few centuries I could get capital punishment for being Christian. Even now, Christians (especially Catholics) seemed to be mocked by the media. It's hard! But we know we can do it because Jesus warned us. He told us that we need to learn to pick up our cross. Yes, sometimes it feels amazing to go to mass. Sometimes you're happiest when serving the poor. But not all the time. There are definitely days that I don't want to act like a Christian. But I choose to, even if it doesn't feel good.

Dear Jesus, please bless us all! Please give us all the strength to respect each others' bodies as well as our own. And teach us that the path to Heaven is the same path you took: the path to the cross.

"Wojtyla and Kant" part 2

Okay, I finished. And it was interesting to say the least.

The two main points I remember are how Kant believed in total autonomy, which meant not needing a connection with a person much less a God. I don't think I really need to go into how Christianity in general is different here, but it's funny. This is actually one of the topics for an essay I'm working on right now. In order for religious worship to be real, you have to put yourself into it. You NEED to relationship with God. Kant just does not see that.

Then sex (gasp!). It's funny, both Kant and JP2 say that 1) sex should not be just using the other person and 2) it is a total gift of self. But it's interesting to see how the two completely diverge from there. Kant says that there is no way to not use the other person in sex. Not to use them for pleasure. But John Paul II says that it does not have to be that way. Sex can be a beautiful thing that not only images God's love, but also makes babies. It's special, and not necessarily useful of the other person.

But it's interesting that both philosophers agreed that using another person for personal pleasure is just wrong. But think. How often do I do that? Not just in a sexual way, but do I use another person for his or her abilities? Do I have this one friend that I really only talk to when I need something? I think we all need to think about this, and make a commitment to love each other not for what we do, but who we are. Not for what we get, but for the sake of that other person.