Last week I noted that to truly love is to revel in the other’s very existence. That is, to love that person for who he or she is, not how they make you feel or what you can gain from them. The opposite of that love is use, which I’ve also talked a lot about here in the past (here, … Read More
TOB Tues: To Love is to Revel in Each Other’s Very Existence
I just love this: Adam revels in the goodness of Eve’s very existence, just as she revels in the goodness of his; it is as if they said to each other: “It is good that you exist and that we exist together.” It’s only when lovers recognize this depth dimension in each other that their love becomes hardy enough to … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Sexuality, Sacrifice and Love
Fr. Robert Barron:
TOB Tuesday: Xtranormal TOB
Very well done. Watch it in Spanish Portuguese
TOB Tues: The Icon Of Marital Love
On this feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Christopher West shares his thoughts upon discovering the Eastern church’s popular icon of the saints embracing with a marriage bed in the background (pictured right). They call it “The Immaculate Conception”: To be honest, I had never given any thought to the reality of Joachim and … Read More
TOB Tues.: Freedom and the Body
Since we just celebrated our country’s freedom yesterday, a few good paragraphs from Called to Love: Aproaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body on freedom and the body (p. 35): Human freedom is a capacity for creative communication. It is fittingly rooted in the body, because the body opens us to participation in reality. This is what Pope Benedict … Read More
TOB Tues.: To Love is to Create Anew
Love this: The pope’s interpretation of Genesis rings true to our experience: To know love is to be created anew. By the same token, to love others is, in a sense, to create them in our turn. After all, to love someone isn’t just to appreciate his good qualities; it is to rejoice in his very being in the first … Read More
TOB Tues: The ‘Liturgical Dignity’ of Work
Shifting gears here a bit this TOB Tuesday. I usually focus on the TOB and the relationship between the sexes, but I love this passage from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s book Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body on the body and work: The body enables man to respond creatively to the world and to God … Read More
TOB Tues: Benedict on the TOB
On May 13, Pope Benedict met with the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family to help celebrate its 30th Anniversary. There he talked about the importance of ‘connecting the theology of the body with the theology of love.’ The National Catholic Register has more: The human body is a God-given instrument for communicating love, although … Read More
TOB Tues: Keep Holy the Marriage Bed
Sex is not merely some recreational activity designed for human pleasure. 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. Therefore: Both husband and wife should be fully aware of the … Read More