BONUS: God Wants to Marry Us (Theology of the Body)

"What are you looking for?" | "Come, and you will see."

We're so excited to be introducing a series of BONUS EPISODES on The Theology of the Body!

The Theology of the Body is the first major teaching of Pope St. John Paul II’s papacy given over a series of 129 Wednesday audiences at the Vatican. Contrary to what you may or may not have heard, it is not reducible to “Catholic Sex Ed,” it is this (in a sense) but it is also SO MUCH MORE! This teaching from John Paul the Great is an in-depth biblical reflection on (1) what it means to be human and (2) the call of man and woman to become “one flesh.”

Bible Passages Quoted:
- John 1:35-41 
- Hebrews 12:2
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 
- Ephesians 5:31-32

Have a question about the Faith you’d like to have answered on the Podcast? Submit it here: https://forms.gle/zorQwuUGtSdukzjc6

Transcript

Hi friends, welcome to this bonus episode of Catholicism 101, forever learning and living the faith. The first of many bonus episodes on this topic that I am especially passionate about and just really love. And that is the Theology of the Body. What is the Theology of the Body? 

You may have never heard of it before. You may have an may have an idea of what it is, but I would really encourage you as you listen to this episode and the ones that follow these bonus episodes on the theology of the body  that you maybe start fresh with what you may or may not have been taught with the theology of the body, go in with an open mind is all I ask.

So what is the Theology of the Body and maybe why am I so passionate about it and why is it like  the love language of the Catholic Church to me? So the Theology of the Body is the first major teaching of Pope Saint John Paul II's papacy and he gave it over a series of 129 Wednesday audiences at the Vatican for the first five years of his pontificate. 

And so contrary to what you may or may not have heard, it is not reducible to just Catholic sex education. It is this in a sense, but it is also so much more. This teaching from John Paul the Great it's an in depth biblical reflection on what it means to be human and the call of man and woman to become one flesh. 

And before I start getting into what some of this catechesis is and start diving into it with you. I want to give you like a rest assured of I'm not just,  I'm not just pulling this out of my own behind. I've been trained in this and I'm still being trained in it. So I am currently a student on the path for certification with the theology of the body Institute in Corrieville, Pennsylvania, and I'm currently halfway through my course load.

In pursuit of certification. So I'm halfway through the course load. And after I finish all the courses, I'll do a practicum project and over the course of a year and then receive my certification. So rest assured this isn't really stuff I've made up. It, the parts that are like my own interpretation or my own prayerful reflections on it.

very much. I think you'll be able to tell,  but and you'll be, I think you'll be able to tell. And I'll probably preface it to of this is just me. So  rest assured this is not something I've made up. This is something that the Catholic church truly teaches. And it came from the magisterium under John Paul the second.

I'm also one of many people who believe that in the realm of Catholic theology. that what St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae, what that has meant for the church for the past few hundred years since he wrote it and lived and how that has permeated Catholic theology. And you can't take a theology class nowadays without studying St.

Thomas Aquinas in depth and what he wrote in his Summa Theologiae. I think, and many others do truly believe, that Give us like, give us a few years and let time run its course. And that will be the legacy of St. John Paul II is the theology of the body and it will have the just gargantuan effect on Catholic theology that St.

Thomas Aquinas has. JP2 is my papa. I love them and dearly,  and if you've spoken to me about the faith, you probably know that I love John Paul the second. Anyway, let's go ahead and let's just get into it. I actually want to start with a passage from the Gospel of John, and it comes from John chapter 1, verses 35 to 41. 

The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. And as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God.  The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.  Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,  What are you looking for?  They said to him, Rabbi,  which translated means teacher. 

Where are you staying?  He said to them,  Come, and you will see.  So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.  It was about four in the afternoon.  Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him,  We have found the Messiah. 

So what's really impactful about this gospel passage is, it's the first words out of Jesus's mouth in the gospel of John. He says, what are you looking for?  That is the first thing he says to the disciples. And that is what he says to us. What are you looking for?  And that can be something small like what leaves you aching in its absence? 

What what are the things that kind of prick at your heart?  And again, like I said, it can be something small. It can be like a tiny little prick. For me, some things that I just, I long and I ache for in a minor way would be my grandmother's dressing at Thanksgiving. We have a tradition where we like, We make it the night before and then we fry it like cornbread on the skillet just to make sure it tastes okay and all the seasonings are right because my grandma her recipe is wild.

But I long and I like yearn for that and as it gets closer I get really excited and then whenever I have it I'm like, oh, this is awesome. And then I never want to stop eating it. The other thing is I'm from Paducah and we have a place called Tokyo Hibachi, which is like the best Hibachi restaurant ever.

I don't make the rules. I only enforce them, but to Tokyo Hibachi fried rice. I love that stuff. I don't know why, but that has a very special place in my heart. And I think it's because we celebrated a lot of birthdays there,  but the things you can, so however silly they may be, those are some things that like can prick at your heart and everyone's different.

And Not everyone is going to agree with me about Tokyo hibachi, what, teach their own. But these things we yearn for, we ache for, and we long for they can be big things, obviously. So sometimes that may be like a promotion or a raise. Oftentimes for young women, especially speaking as a young woman, I can attest to this, that the longing for a spouse, the longing for a spouse and then the longing for children.

The longing for children. These things are obviously major aches, major pricks in our heart that we just yearn for.  What are you looking for? Jesus asks us, what are you looking for?  And when we get to it, we're really looking for the fulfillment of our heart.  And we, how we experience a semblance of that, either in grandma's dressing or fried rice. 

Or when you get married or you get that promotion or raise, or you have a child, like there, there is something in you where your heart is just like exploding, to the degree of how deep the ache is.  Now, something I've noticed personally is that as we age, we typically will numb ourselves to that ache and that longing.

But  the greatest mystics of our Catholic tradition, so people like St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross who both actually heavily influenced John Paul II,  they teach us that to endure the suffering and endure that ache of longing enables us to find  such sweet sweetness and such lightness

So in the book of Hebrews, St. Paul in chapter 12,  he's talking about running the race and persevering. And in verse two, he says  while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith, for the sake of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame, And has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. 

St. John of the cross and St. Teresa of Avila really teach us how to enter into that and how to see, see the cross for what it is and despise its shame. But not let our sights be fixed on the suffering,  to fix our sights on the glory, to endure the cross,  keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and the glory that follows. 

And a saint that was  just impeccable at this. She really allowed the Lord to just stretch her heart  in a way that really hurt. She, yeah, it hurts, but it is.  You have to stretch your heart in order for love to fill it. The farther your heart is stretched, the wider your heart is stretched, the more that it can be filled.

Let me just tell you what St. Therese of Lisieux said. She said that she would undergo all of the tortures inflicted upon the martyrs for just one more degree of glory in heaven, which means that she would be in greater intimacy with Jesus Christ in heaven.  She would undergo all the tortures of the martyrs just for just to be a little bit closer to Jesus and it's what kind of ecstasy Bliss joy and peace did this woman experience that would lead her to say something?

So insane  and again st. Paul in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 He says what I has not seen an ear has not heard what has not entered the human heart What God has prepared for those who love him?  What did this woman see?  That filled her heart so much that she desired for it to be stretched even more by all of the pains and tortures of the martyrs  so that she could be just a little bit closer to Jesus.

It is absolutely mind boggling. That woman is mad, but I love her, and I'm like, oh my gosh, okay,  what eye has not seen, she didn't even see the full thing, and she wants to undergo all the tortures of the martyr. I think she's insane, but insanely awesome. But that's what Jesus's response is  when he sees these disciples trying to follow him.

He's what are you looking for?  And they're like, teacher, where are you staying? We want to be where you are.  And he's okay, they've got a little bit of an idea. But come and you will see.  Come with me and I will make you into one who sees. Come and become one who sees. One who sees what I has not seen  and what God has prepared for you. 

You will experience and see and know  in a glimmer, however great the glimmer, it's still just a glimmer  of the glory, the peace, the ecstasy, the joy  that will make you say something as seemingly insane as Therese of Lisieux, where you would want to, not even okay, I guess I could do it, but it's no, I want to.

I want you to stretch my heart. I want to undergo all of the tortures of the martyrs, just so I can have a little more. Just so I can have a little more of the glory. It's oh my gosh, it's like Nacho Libre. I want a little taste of the glory. Oh  gosh. But really, however silly or serious, whatever you ache for, may be, whether it be hibachi fried rice or grandma's dressing.

And sometimes for me, it's sweet potato casserole, especially this time of year, however, silly or serious it may be.  This is just a glimmer into an incredibly redeeming reality. You're longing for whatever it may be that pricks your heart, that leaves you aching in its absence. It is a little glimpse.

It is a drop in the ocean.  It is a drop in the ocean into Christ's own longing for intimate communion with you and with me.  I recently Had the great privilege and blessing of going over to Medjugorje. And while I was there, I got to take a day trip to Dubrovnik in Croatia. And while I was there, this is going to seem like a side tangent, but it's not, while I was there I was walking the wall around the old town of Dubrovnik and I get to this part over looking like the Adriatic sea, like everything in front of me is the Adriatic sea. 

I was like, holy crap. Number one, it is so blue and it is so beautiful. And number two, this is a ton of water.  This is a ton of water. And I just, I felt the Lord speak in my heart Emily, like the joy and the ecstasy and the bliss that you are experiencing right now, like I am romancing the heck out of you on this day trip to Dubrovnik and on this trip to Medjugorje.

Emily, what you have experienced is only a drop in the ocean  of what I am preparing for you.  And you're not even looking at the ocean right now and you're overwhelmed. You're looking at the Adriatic Sea, which in comparison to the ocean is tiny and minuscule and you're overwhelmed by the sea. Emily, you have no idea what I have planned for you.

And I share that because that is what the Lord is saying to each and every one of us. He longs for us. He longs for us and the experiences of this life whether it be getting married or the birth of a child or even finally having sweet potato casserole after a year with like extra butter,  it is a little glimpse, a drop in the ocean. 

of his own longing for intimate communion with us.  So suddenly,  these things, no matter how silly they may seem, like sweet potato casserole suddenly these things become  sacramental.  They become like a visible, tangible  sign, a real thing that we experience  that points us to an even greater reality, an invisible grace.

A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible grace. And the seven sacraments are instituted by Christ to give us grace and all of that. So these are small s sacramentals. So like I, I always joke with my RCIA OCIA people, I'm like  sweet potato casserole is sacramental to me.

And sometimes they look at me like I have seven heads, but you know what? It's okay. It's okay.  And then there's a flip side to this because in all of this is virtue and virtue is a balance between two extremes. Yes, sweet potato is sacramental. Yes. Fried rice is sacramental,  but  we cannot idolize  the icon. 

These things that awaken a yearning in us or awaken an ache in us, no matter how small like I said, they point us to a heavenly reality. So they're icons. They're icons of heaven, but we cannot idolize them. And we have to find that balance in enjoying them rightly. And that's where the spiritual life comes in with learning how learning how to grow in virtue.

So like temperance and prudence and all of these things. That is a lifelong journey, and it is a tough one, but you know what? It is well worth it. It is well worth it. If what I experienced in Medjugorje and Dubrovnik is a drop in the ocean and I was overwhelmed looking at the sea, then by golly yeah, it's a lifelong journey. 

So now you may be like, Emily, we're like 18 minutes into this. And what does any of this have to do with the theology of the body? 

So here's the thing.  We all ache. We all ache. It is just human nature. We all ache. Especially, most deeply, to be seen, to be known, and to be loved for who we are.  We all long for intimacy with other people for relationship, for shared joys, shared sorrows.  And honestly, the most evident sign of this deep ache within each and every one of us and this yearning and longing in each of our lives,  it is the sexual urge.

And we know that just by looking at the sexual chaos in our world.  In all of my own personal study on the theology of the body and then my formal study taking courses at the theology of the body Institute something I've really come to not only learn in my head, but really has begun integrating itself into my heart is that what is most heavily attacked by the devil. 

Is what is most highly favored by God. And the way I typically explain this to people is like when you're playing basketball, if the other team has a really good point guard, you're going to put your best defenders on them. You're, you don't want them to score. You're going to put your best against their best.

You're going to put your most valuable player against their most valuable player. That's how it's how the enemy works. He knows what is most valued by God. And so he is going to put his greatest attacks on that,  and you can just look around us and see  that the sexual chaos of our world is  being deeply and greatly, profoundly attacked. 

So I just want to speak truth to you  that our bodies, our sexuality as male and female is very good. It is so good.  We were made in the image and likeness of God who himself is a loving communion of persons.  And sometimes I wish  that this wasn't just a podcast, that this was like a video and I could show you my like two or three draw.

I have two go to drawings of the Trinity. But,  God himself is a loving communion of persons. The father gives his entire self, not holding anything back, to the son.  And the son receives that gift, and gives not only that gift back, but he adds to it the gift of his own self, the gift of his own self, withholding nothing, and gives it all back to the father. 

And the father receives this and gives it back to the son. And it just,  it is this spiration. It just, you can imagine me drawing on a board from the father to the son, they're just spinning back and forth with one another  giving of themselves to each other. And from this love, this total outpouring and gift of self, this completely selfless gift of self comes the Holy Spirit.

The theological word for how the Holy Spirit comes to us is spiration.  And so he is the Holy Spiration of love, as I would like to call him.  And so He is love. He is love. God is love. God is a loving communion of persons  and we are made in the image and likeness of that.  We are called to give ourselves fully to one another without reserve.

And  the most potent,  the most actually the correct term is the least inadequate parallel,  like  of how God  communicates himself to us. Like we know how God communicates himself to us, that he is a loving communion of persons and how he operates.  By looking at the sacrament of marriage  and by looking at a husband and wife  and how they're called to give their whole selves to one another the sacrament of marriage  As established by christ  it is a call to love how god loves so intimately how god loves and it is the least inadequate way of understanding The trinity is by looking  at how a husband and wife love one another or are called  to love one another And I just have to like Stop here for a second and say that God is not sexual. 

We are made in his image. He is not made in ours. That's why it's the least inadequate way of understanding the Trinity,  because we cannot, we can't cast our own human brokenness and fallen tendencies and all of this onto God and be like, Oh, I struggle with lust. So God struggles with lust.

No, it doesn't work like that. We have to look at how he instituted marriage and what he calls us to be.  Now St. Paul affirms this.  St. Paul affirms this in Ephesians chapter 5. And actually John Paul II referred to this passage as the synthesis of all scripture.  It's Ephesians chapter 5, verses 31 to 32. 

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery.  But I speak in reference to Christ and the church.  So marriage is what we would call the primordial sacrament. It is the first sacrament. We see it and we see it in the garden of Eden.

And Genesis, it is the first sacrament and it is the most fundamental sacrament because by their union, a husband and wife image, the life giving love of the Trinity,  and It is so good. And it's so beautiful. It's the primordial sacrament, but it is not the greatest sacrament.  The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith is the catechism says, and it is the greatest sacrament because what is being imaged by the sacrament of marriage is actually happening still under a sacramental veil of bread and wine, but is actually happening in the Eucharist.

When Jesus says at the Last Supper as he's instituting the Eucharist,  This is my body, given up for you.  In the Eucharist, he gives his whole self to you, body, blood, soul, and divinity, without reserve,  and asks you to give your whole self back to him. And there are some really beautiful prayers and they're in most everyone's missiles, honestly like you're breaking bread missiles that are in your pews at church.

They're in the prayer section. There is a prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas for prayer before mass, like before receiving communion.  And then there is a prayer of Thanksgiving after communion, after receiving the Eucharist after mass. And that's something I've recently started adopting personally is.

praying that before mass and then praying after mass. It's two separate prayers, but they're in your missal and they are so beautiful. They're both written by Thomas Aquinas, but they really help you enter into that of Lord, help me to understand More deeply that you're giving your whole self to me  and empower me to give my full self to you because I can't do it on my own. 

Now the last thing I wanted to talk about is the resurrection of the dead.  And you might be like, Emily, I knew you were all over the place, but girl, you're really throwing me for a loop here. Just hang on. So the fullness. Of the reality that both marriage and the Eucharist point towards  is a full bodily participation in the life giving love of the Trinity. 

I'm gonna just say that one more time. It is a full bodily participation in the life giving love of the Trinity.  The Holy Spirit is here to scoop you up and bring you into that inspiration of love, that communion of the Trinity.  That is what we are made for, to not just like gaze upon the Trinity,  but be brought into the Trinity.

Full  bodily participation in  the exchange of love of the Trinity. It  is a mind boggling, it is a mind boggling. It is definitely a point for prayer and meditation and reflection and it's like, what does that even mean?  But,  whenever we pray in the Creed, every Sunday I look forward to the resurrection of the body.

We say that every Sunday when we pray the creed, we are, what we are saying there is that we are proclaiming that we have faith that our deepest aches and desires will be fulfilled super abundantly.  Not only will we get to gaze upon the Trinity and the beatific vision  is a participation.

In the Trinity where those aches that are awakened when you think about sweet potato casserole or grandma's dressing or Tokyo hibachi fried rice. Those aches that are awakened and you're okay. And maybe that doesn't ring with you. Maybe the whole food thing doesn't ring with you,  but that ache you have for a husband or for a wife or for a child.

And you're like, Oh my gosh.  This hurts and this cuts deep. The joy and the peace and the ecstasy and the bliss 

that comes from experiencing those things is still just a drop in the ocean  of what awaits us in the beatific vision.  And I feel like I've never had a child before, but you always see and hear about people like seeing their newborn child for the first time.  Or like a husband watching his bride walk down the aisle after they open the doors.

And just,  they always say there is no greater feeling in this world. And it's honey, you got a big storm coming in the best way, because that is still just a drop in the ocean  of what The beatific vision is like. So times that by like a million. Times that feeling by like a gazillion, gajillion, million, billion.

Whatever  gargantuan number. And that is what awaits all of us.  And that.  Is. What the theology of the body is all about is how the, our creation of, as male and female, and how marriage, like how it is  an image of the Trinity and how it is like the greatest image of the Trinity here on earth, or, the least inadequate, however you want to say it, man.

But that is what theology of the body is all about  is the Bible summarized in five words. God wants to marry us,  God wants to marry us, and I know that there is a lot packed into this episode and this is like only the introduction to all of this, but I would really encourage you maybe listen to it again  and what sticks out to you?

What maybe don't you understand? Get your journal out or something and what sticks out to you? What do you need to pray with? What?  What is the Lord trying to tell you and where is he meeting your heart at?  So  until next time I hope you have learned something new. But even more I hope the Lord has spoken to your heart in some way of how much he loves you and cares for you.

And that together we can begin to more deeply understand the mystery of our creation as male and female. and the call to become one flesh and what the great mystery of the resurrection of the dead and the beatific vision is.  So until then, I hope you have a blessed day.