The Theology of the Body: Telling Truth With Our Bodies
So, what is the Theology of the Body? There’s a lot more to TOB than sex and marriage.
Fr Mike Schmitz was recently asked to explain it. Beautiful, Complex, Massive, were the words he used to describe it.
Theology of the body answers two fundamental questions: (1) “What’s it mean to be human?” and (2) “How do I live my life in a way that brings true happiness and fulfillment?” with one fundamental answer: self giving.
The human body includes right from the beginning... the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift – and by means of this gift – fulfills the meaning of his being and existence.”
-John Paul II
Other questions TOB answers are:
Is there a real purpose to life and if so, what is it?
What does it mean that we were created in the image of God?
Why were we created male and female? Does it really matter if we are one sex or another?
What does the marital union of a man and woman say to us about God and his plan for our lives?
What is the purpose of the married and celibate vocations?
What exactly is "Love"?
Is it truly possible to be pure of heart?
Telling a lie with our bodies will bring fulfillment? Hollywood has normalized sex outside of marriage for one. So much so, that most Christian coupled don’t think twice about moving in together before marriage. Second is that from the get go, we humans have fallen for the question, “did God really say?” “Did God really say that sex outside marriage is wrong? Surely not…” And we fell for it. We deny the truth.
our souls are made for truth. They suffer without it
We can deny the truth all we want but we cannot outrun the consequences. Our souls are made for truth. Just like we can deny gravity all we want but we can’t outrun the truth of it if we were to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. The difference is that denying gravity’s effect is immediate and final in that situation. The effects of telling lies with out bodies may not be immediate, but they are just as real. The cost to our souls can’t be avoided.
A culture in which it is widely acceptable to tell lies with the body would be likely to exhibit a high level of addiction, widespread depression, conflict, and stress-induced disease with high health care costs.
Anyone?
Sadly, it is deeply embedded in our culture to tell such lies with our bodies. We’ve swallowed the subjective messages that pervade our culture (sex is free, sex is a universal right, what I do with my body has no effect on anyone else) without weighing them against the objective truth. The body has been made a liar, over and over. And that has a cost. -Tell the Truth. All the Time
sex is objectively a potentially a life-giving act
Objectively speaking, sex is a potentially life-giving act. There’s no getting around that. To avoid the life-giving character of the sexual act requires chemicals, surgery, side effects, expense, hormonal manipulation, disease risk… and even then, it is not foolproof.
The possible creation of a new life means that God is somehow involved. No one can create a soul, and yet every person has one. God is at work. He conditions the creation of a new being upon our actions. He could create new beings any way and any time He chose, but He has deigned that humans shall come into being by an act of love between the parents.
This implies that the act has gravitas. -Sheryl Collmer Tell the Truth. All the Time
Gravitas. That means dignity. It means it has significance. To attempt to thwart that life giving potential that is part of sex- by God’s design- is to shut out God and say, “ you are not welcome here. I got this”. I got this. Best laid plans when it comes to “birth control” often fail. And for that I am eternally grateful. Three of the biggest and dearest blessings of my life are ones I thought I wasn’t prepared for. I am so thankful that God was involved in spite of my foolish and misguided ideas. . I am deeply and eternally thankful that I didn’t get what I thought I wanted.
God created sex to be unitive and pro-creative. God designed sex so that Openess to Life and Love go together in the marital embrace. The attempt to separate the unitive and procreative aspects of the sexual act with chemicals, surgery, or hormonal manipulation is an attempt to alter or harm the body so the body no longer functions normally. Think about that.
Sex in marriage is a sign of an invisible truth. sex outside marriage denies that truth
MARRIAGE IN GOD'S PLAN
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."
Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church. -CCC
Marriage is a commitment to lay down my life for the other-in good times, bad times, sickness, health. The goal of marriage isn’t personal happiness, its about love. Love isn’t a feeling. Love doesn’t demand its own way. Love wills the good of the other person, it doesn’t use the other person for pleasure. Its a noble goal and one that isn’t easy to achieve. Many times I have failed to do that in my own marriage. But it it the goal I aspire to because its it good and true and beautiful.
"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." -CCC
Our culture has attempted to deny that sex is a sign of a life long commitment before God. Our culture preaches that saving sex for marriage is outdated. But the truth of what sex is designed for can’t be evaded.
For example, a one-night stand says with the body, “I unconditionally trust, accept, and love you in the presence of God as my family.” But when the partners depart the next day with no thought for each other or for a possible child, they make liars out of their bodies.
Someone who uses another person sexually to accrue power or social status is saying with the body, “I unconditionally trust, accept, and love you in the presence of God as my family.” But actually, they are only taking what is desired, as if on a shopping expedition. Again, the body has been made a liar.
Someone who thoughtlessly uses another person for temporary gratification is saying one thing with the body but treating another human being as worth no more than a cigarette or a beer, thereby betraying the truth the body has spoken. Tell the Truth. All the Time
God designed sex to occur within marriage
All Christians, married, unmarried, single, or celibate are called to the virtue of chastity. The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason.
Sex– like all gifts – has to be used appropriately. God has designed sex to occur within marriage. According to the Bible, marriage occurs when a man and a woman “become one flesh.” Thus the consummation of a marriage happens during a sexual union. When two people don’t commit to be together for the rest of their lives, sexuality becomes tied to a tentative relationship, something that can be ended at any moment. If we engage in such an intimate, powerful experience as sex with someone we aren’t committed to, then in effect we are using the other person’s body to feel good, either physically or emotionally. -Cohabitation and Church Teaching
Marriage is a Visible Sign of The Future Hope of Christ and His Church Forever United. ndeed, Christian marriage is an image of the New Covenant: it is indissoluble, life giving, and loving.
The culmination of all of Scripture may be identified by the nuptial sentence, “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). Inasmuch as Scripture guides toward salvation, this unique wedding is the image of that goal. It is the future hope of Christ and his Church forever united. Thus, the Bible is the wedding planner par excellence. -
Because the sacrament of marriage makes Christ present in our midst. Like the other sacraments, marriage is not just for the good of individuals, or the couple, but for the community as a whole. The Catholic Church teaches that marriage between two baptized persons is a sacrament. The Old Testament prophets saw the marriage of a man and woman as a symbol of the covenant relationship between God and his people. The permanent and exclusive union between husband and wife mirrors the mutual commitment between God and his people. The Letter to the Ephesians says that this union is a symbol of the relationship between Christ and the Church. -Authentic Christian Marriage
TOB is for all Christians. Its about more than sex and marriage. Fr. Mike Schmitz gives a great overview of the Theology of the Body (TOB) in this video and takes a topic that is beautiful, complex and massive and packs it down into its most salient points.