TOB Tuesday: Beware of False Prophets

ChelseaMarch 16, 2010Sex, Sexuality, Theology of the Body, TOB Tuesday6 Comments

Everyday my local newspaper quotes a Scripture passage on the top corner of the “Opinion” page. Today’s passage was from 2 Peter:

There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.

These words of Holy Mother Church’s first Supreme Pontiff remind me of what his successor, JP II, says about the language of the body:

When we affirm that the “language of the body” also enters essentially into the structure of marriage as a sacramental sign, we appeal to a long biblical tradition. This tradition has its origin in Genesis 2:23-25 and finds its definitive crowning in Ephesians 5:21-23. The prophets of the Old Testament had an essential role in forming this tradition. When we analyzed the texts of Hosea, Ezekiel, Deutero-Isaiah, and other prophets [see TOB 36:5-37:6, 94:6-95b:2], we found ourselves on the road of that great analogy whose ultimate expression is the New Covenant under the form of a marriage between Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:21-23). On the basis of this long tradition, it is possible to speak about a specific “prophetism on the body,” both because we find this ananlogy above all in the prophets and also in regard to its very contents. Here the “prophetism of the body” signifies precisely the “language of the body.” (John Paul II, Gen. Audience of 1/12/83 or TOB 104:1)

The Pope here refers to Ephesians 5 in which St. Paul tells us that when husband and wife come together as one flesh, the language of their bodies is a “great mystery” that is meant to prophesy to the world the union between Christ and the Church.

If we place ourselves in the future-oriented perspective of conjugal consent, which…offers the spouses a particular share in the prophetic mission of the Church handed down from Christ himself, one can in this regard also use the biblical distinction between “true” and “false” prophets. (TOB 106:4).

The body speaks. And just as with verbal speech, we can tell the truth with our bodies, or we can lie. All questions of sexual morality come down to this: Is the act a sign of God’s free, total, faithful, fruitful love or is it not? Masturbation, fornication, adultery, intentionally sterilized sex, homosexual acts: though the world doesn’t seem to have a problem with either one, none of these can claim to portray that image and those who engage in these activities commit lies and falsify the language of the body (TOB 106:3). They can, in a certain sense, be considered “false prophets” who are, as St. Peter says, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. This is not to say that those who prophesy falsely with their bodies are necessarily evil people for all are subject to concupiscence and destined to fall. Nevertheless, their behavior is destructive and they are called, through the grace of God, to repent, turn away from sin and speak the true language of their bodies.

Through marriage as a sacrament of the Church, man and woman are explicitly called to bear witness – by correctly using the “language of the body” – to spousal and procreative love, a testimony worthy of “true prophets” (TOB 106:4)

Says Christopher West:

In order to be “true to the sign,” the spouses must speak as Christ speaks. Christ gives his body freely (”No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own accord,” Jn 10:18). He gives his body without reservation (”he loved them to the last,” Jn 13:1). He gives his body faithfully (”I am with you always,” Mt 28:20). And he gives his body fruitfully (”I came that they may have life,” Jn 10:10). —God, Sex, & Babies: What the Church Really Teaches about Responsible Parenthood

TOB Tuesdays

The Human Experience World Premier!

ChelseaMarch 16, 2010Pro Life, videoLeave a Comment

I have been following the progress of this film since I saw the trailer a few years ago. Now, it looks like The Human Experience will finally get its World Premier this April 9! Deacon Greg was able to see it a few months ago at an advanced screening and had this to say:

It’s not without flaws, but it’s a beautifully realized celebration of life, and living, and learning. You will be uplifted and deeply moved.

Watch an exclusive clip from the movie on Hulu.

Check out Grassroots Films and their other awesome productions. Not sure how widely this will be distributed, follow them on Twitter for the latest updates.

Marriage Sustains Love

ChelseaMarch 15, 2010Faith, Love, Marriage2 Comments

Last weekend I went out for drinks with several girlfriends of mine – a very rare occurrence in my life, these days! I am blessed to still be friends with several girls I have known since childhood and high school and it’s always nice to get together and see how everyone’s grown – one of the biggest transitions these days being that so many of us are getting married and having children and finding out what real responsibility is. During the course of our little girls’ night, one of my friends mentioned how surprised she was to find already, after only two and a half years of marriage, how hard it can be to sustain a marriage. Looking at the divorce rate in our society – even among Catholics – I’d say that’s a surprise to a lot of people. But what’s the problem?

I’m sure there are many different reasons why marriage can often be a struggle and why some, eventually fail – infidelity, abuse, etc… But I think, for the most part, it comes down to this: Marriage is a call to total self-surrender. It calls for humility, fortitude, a spirit of sacrifice and docility and, despite what you may think on your wedding day, those wonderfully amorous feelings you have for your spouse will not last forever – at least not constantly. And here is where the will to love often falls apart.

That’s right, the will to love. Ultimately, “Love,” Mother Angelica reminds us, “is not a feeling. It is a decision.” It is a commitment. And to truly love means to keep on loving – “through good times and bad”, as they say. Even when sadness, annoyance, anger or other emotions temporarily drive those happier emotions out of our minds. It seems easier said that done, but help is close at hand:

Marriage sustains love? What does that mean? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

1638 “From a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament.”

1641 “By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God.” This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple’s love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they “help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children.”

1642 Christ is the source of this grace. “Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony.” Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,” and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:

Finite human love needs to be nourished and strengthened by the Infinite. Marriage is a sacrament, not just because of what it symbolizes (Eph. 5:32), but because of the grace that is needed for husband and wife to be that icon in the world. The most important thing for a married couple to keep in mind is that it takes three to make love:

The basic error of mankind has been to assume that only two are needed for love: you and me, or society and me, or humanity and me. Really it takes three: self, other selves, and God; you, and me, and God…One cannot tie two sticks together without something outside the sticks…Love of self, love of neighbor and love of God go together and when separated fall apart (Abp. Fulton Sheen, Three to Get Married, p. 43)

Couples who wish to grow in love must remain close to love’s Divine Source by regularly make time for prayer and receiving the Sacraments as often as they can. That doesn’t mean that married life will never be unpleasant or rocky. But, that the marriage bond will be strong enough to endure hardships when they arise.

No Greater Love

ChelseaMarch 12, 2010Faith, Love, Pro Life, Sacrifice, Suffering1 Comment

This article by Peter Hitchens, on his conversion to Christianity and relationship with his brother, atheist author Christopher Hitchens, is a must read! A good bit:

For a moral code to be effective, it must be attributed to, and vested in, a non-human source. It must be beyond the power of humanity to change it to suit itself.

Its most powerful expression is summed up in the words ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’.

The huge differences which can be observed between Christian societies and all others, even in the twilit afterglow of Christianity, originate in this specific injunction.

It is striking that in his dismissal of a need for absolute theistic morality, Christopher says in his book that ‘the order to “love thy neighbour as thyself” is too extreme and too strenuous to be obeyed’. Humans, he says, are not so constituted as to care for others as much as themselves.

This is demonstrably untrue, and can be shown to be untrue, through the unshakable devotion of mothers to their children; in the uncounted cases of husbands caring for sick, incontinent and demented wives (and vice versa) at their lives’ ends; through the heartrending deeds of courage on the battlefield.

Christopher Hitchen’s complaint reminds me of a famous quote from G. K. Chesterton:

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”

No one says that following Christ is going to be a piece of cake. That’s certainly not what Christ promised us himself. And yet, as Peter points out, there are examples of the kind of love that Christ calls us to all around us. From the everyday sacrifices that parents make to care for their children to the soldiers who give up their lives for their country on the battlefield. This passage from Hitchens’ article had me thinking of one of the Church’s modern Saints in particular who, while going through a difficult pregnancy, famously said:

“If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; choose – and I demand it – the baby. Save her!”

In 1961 Gianna Beretta Molla developed a fibroma on her uterus, a diagnosis that left her with the decision to either sacrifice the baby or give her own life. In her husband’s words: “Gianna was firmly convinced that the baby she was carrying was someone to love, to respect, and not an object about which she might exercise her own preference.” So, Gianna told doctors to spare the life of her unborn child and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. Seven months after surgery to remove the fibroma, Gianna gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Gianna Emanuela, and, despite efforts to save both mother and child, died one week later after cries of “Jesus, I love you!” She was 39 years old.

No, it isn’t easy, but with God’s grace, selfless, self-sacrificing love is possible, even to the extent that one is willing to die for the sake of another (though, we certainly won’t all be called to make that ultimate sacrifice).

Sacrifice: the final end of prayer and action is not to receive praise or self advantage but to busy oneself, as did Jesus, with the total giving of oneself for others at the cost of renunciation and suffering, in the impassionate competition of love which arrives at the sacrificing of one’s own life.
~St. Gianna Beretta Molla

No Such Thing As Unwanted Human Life

ChelseaMarch 10, 2010Abortion, Love, Pro Life, Rape/Incest, videoLeave a Comment

Beautiful!

No one is an “accident” and there is no such thing as an “unwanted child”. Every human being is the result of a deliberate, creative act on the part of Almighty God. It is by His will that each human life comes into being and though mother and father may not “want” the child, God does.

Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. –Isaiah 49:15

The hateful acts of rape and incest are certainly terrible terrible circumstances for any child to be conceived under. But God, who is the author of life, is also Love and He creates out of love. Therefore every human being, whether conceived ideally through the intimate and loving union of husband and wife or as the result of a brutal rape, is always the fruit of a Great and Glorious Love!

TOB Tuesday (on Wed.): Crisis of Fatherhood

ChelseaMarch 10, 2010Family, Fatherhood, Love, Marriage, TOB Tuesday, VocationLeave a Comment

For God, we are children. We have a name. He loves us and wants to be near us. On my retreat two weekends ago, the priest told us:

Whoever does not know that she/she is a child of God does not know THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about him/herself!

Sadly, for so many of our young people today, God is a complete stranger, much less a loving Father, and I can’t help but think that this is largely due to the break-down of the family.

By calling the two to become “one flesh”, God’s intention was to make Himself visible through the love between parents, “so that every child could glimpse the divine Fatherhood in his own human father and mother” (Called to Love, p. 121). This is why the institution of marriage is so important for the good of children and society.

Unfortunately, many young people grow up without this great image before them. According to recent records, 4 out of every 10 U.S. babies are born out of wed-lock and, of course, we all know about our unacceptably high rate of divorce!

This is not to say that a single mother or father cannot by themselves be for his/her child(ren) an adequate image of God’s love or that all married couples perfectly live out their vocation to love as God loves, for that matter. Nevertheless, it was God’s will from the beginning that children be born and raised in a home where both mother and father are present, together, giving themselves to one another, and their children, just a God gives Himself freely to His Son (and the Son gives Himself in return) and to all mankind.

“Marriage is a vocation. Parenthood is a vocation…In fact, in many ways, the love between a husband and wife is the foundation stone upon which every other Christian vocation is built. Strong marriages and families make a vital, joy-filled Church. The opposite is also true: Families who are lukewarm in their love for God and indifferent in their worship weaken every other dimension of Catholic life. That’s why the Church so urgently needs men and women who can provide the example and guidance our families need.” (Archbishop Chaput, Denver)

St. Joseph, Pillar of family life, pray for us.

TOB Tuesdays

Betraying Kids With Condoms

ChelseaMarch 8, 2010Chastity, Contraception, Sex, Sexuality3 Comments

Sometimes I just have to weep for our young people – not just because of the decisions they make themselves, but for the way they are constantly betrayed by the adults who should be protecting them. Case in point ( h/t CMR):

[DailyMail] Extra small condoms for boys as young as 12 could soon be on our shelves.

The Hotshot condoms are going on sale in Switzerland after research found that not enough 12 to 14-year-old boys were having protected sex.

The condoms are likely to end up on sale in Britain, said their manufacturer Lamprecht AG.

A spokesman said the UK would be ‘top priority’ if the company expanded abroad, considering it had the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.

Nysse Norballe said: ‘At the moment we are only producing the Hotshot in Switzerland.

‘But the UK is certainly a very attractive market since there is a very high rate of underage conception.’

Hmm.. my guess is the UK has a “very high rate of underage conception” because the UK has no problem promoting underage copulation. Recently, a woman had to take her daughter out of a school in Legbourne, Lincolnshire because of the school’s graphic “sex education” material – a scene from which one must prove to be “18 or older” on YouTube, but somehow is being shown to kids as young as seven.

“Not enough 12 to 14-year-old boys having protected sex” is not the problem. The problem is that too many 12-14 year old boys are having sex, period. No contraception can “protect” them from the harm they are inflicting upon themselves physically, spiritually, emotionally. In fact, it can only serve to encourage them to continue engaging in this dangerous and sinful behavior.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Mt. 18:6-7).

Kids do not need condoms! What they need is support and encouragement to see and love with a pure heart and aspire to something higher and greater than what the world would have them settle for. Don’t we want the best for our children? How can we ever encourage them to aspire to greatness or practice self-control in other areas when we constantly tell them it’s not possible in this most vital and intimate part of their lives?

Stupak “Prepared to Take Responsibility” for Taking Down HC Bill

ChelseaMarch 4, 2010Abortion, Activism, Health Care, Legislation, video2 Comments

See the GMA interview with Rep. Bart Stupak and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in which Stupak says he refuses to vote for the Senate version of the health care bill in its current form because of its pro-abortion language. Sebelius, like Obama, Pelosi and other Dems, denies that the language is there, but Stupak even points out the pages of the bill that call for the Federal Government to directly subsidize of abortions:

According to LifeNews, Democrats have set March 18 as their target date to vote on the pro-abortion Senate bill that Stupak talks about in the video above. That means pro-life advocates have two weeks to contact lawmakers and urge them to vote no.