#465 Why doesn't God show Himself? He does! Theology of the Body

And St Athanasius , an early church father and the doctor of the church , said the son of God became man so that we might become God . You know , I beg a while to guess at this , but I bet you , most of us , are a bit disconnected from this divine life that these saints are pointing us to .

Yet St John Paul II said there's an echo of this story , of this divine life that we're created for , inscribed in each human heart , in your human heart , and if you put on a proper lens , if I put on a proper lens , we can get in touch with this echo within us in such a way that we have that aha moment .

See , that's the genus of St John Paul II in the body . It connects our lived experience of life to the gospel in such a way that our life takes on a whole new meaning and helps us answer those big questions that our whole culture is so confused about today . Who am I ? What's my purpose ? Why were we created male and female ?

How do I find happiness here on earth ? How do I find love that satisfies forever ? Hey , glad you're with me . I'll be right back for today's episode . Welcome to Become who you Are podcast . I am with Linda Piper and we are talking Theology of the Body today . Today we are on audience number 82 .

If you've been following us , the man and woman , he created them at Theology of the Body . This was presented by John Paul II on June 23 , 1982 . He's talking about Paul's understanding of the relationship between virginity and marriage from 1 Corinthians , chapter 7 , christ's statement in the teaching of the apostles . Linda , welcome , good to see you .

So it's kind of an interesting diversion from some of what we've been talking about to get some background too of what was going on for Paul at that point .

In 1 Corinthians 6.9 he says do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived . Neither the immoral , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , nor homosexuals , nor thieves , nor the greedy , nor drunkards or revelers , nor robbers , will inherit the kingdom of God . And some , and such were some of you .

But you were washed , you were sanctified , you were justified in the name of the Lord , jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God . What St Paul is calling us into , linda , is the Holy Spirit is a temple . We are the temple of the Holy Spirit .

People don't get this and , to say it over and over , I gave a talk last night trying to bring this through that we are the visible sign of God in the world . So St Paul is addressing marriage or celibacy . He thinks , and he has this understanding and this sense that Jesus is coming back pretty fast .

So he thinks this we don't have a lot of time and in reality Jesus didn't come back yet for the second coming . But we have this sense again today . But whether he comes back today or tomorrow , jesus said , don't worry about the exact time . Even only the Father knows . But for all of us , time is ticking away , tick tock , tick tock .

So whether he's coming tomorrow , or he's coming 20 years from now , or 120 years from now , it may , I'm on a banana peel , I might be out tomorrow . So the point here is , whether you're married or unmarried , your fulfillment , your power , your grace is going to come from our Savior . Right , he comes into the story to redeem us , to save us .

And you know what , linda , when you look up at a cross , jesus is hanging there . He chose celibacy , right , he chose celibacy for the kingdom . And people say , okay , well then , you know he's a celibate man . No , he chose you . This is what you have to look at . When you look at a crust , he chose Linda . I choose you .

I gave up other marriages because I want to intimacy with you . And he looks at me that way . He's pouring himself out to us as the eternal bridegroom to bring us into the story . So Saint Paul says whether you get married , it's not bad , and if you don't get married , it's even better . And he says well , what's it's better than being married ?

It's not being married . A better , because it's the sacrament of marriages . Bad . He said this is not a good or evil , a More moral choice , it's a personal choice . And he said at the end of the day you'll be less anxious . He says you won't have . You won't have that anxiousness right .

He says here on , in verse 32 of 1 Corinthians 7 I want you to be free from anxieties . The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord how to please the Lord but the married man anxious about worldly affairs , how to please his wife and his interests are divided .

And the unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord how to be holy and body and spirit , but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs and how to please her husband . I say this for your own benefit , not to lay any restraint upon you , but to promote good order and secure your undivided devotion to the Lord .

What he's saying is the reason you know virginity or celibacy for the kingdom is better is because your focus exactly on God . That's the thing . But he says , on the other hand , you can't . You know , once you're married , you know you can't dissolve this thing .

You have to decide to be a gift to one another and the same thing you have to point yourself at the Lord , both of you in order to be filled and carry this out . Right ? So , whether you're married or not married , look it , we're going to the same place , right ? Yeah , and and and .

So what he's trying to do is say look it , you know , let's not live sinful lives , let's not live lives of , of just passion and grasping and wanting to take that your whole body is a Sacramento sign given to the Lord .

And , in reality , in this earthly life , that means to love your neighbor , to love your spouse , to love your family , and You're pouring yourself out . If I have a wife , and and and seven kids at home , I have to take care of them . That's my primary responsibility .

St Paul says that you know the end of the world might be coming here and if so , you might not want to get involved in that . You may want to go directly into the heart of Christ and Bring help me , bring the gospel message to all these people , and and that's what makes it better .

Well , it's all about that organizing of what's the most important and , yes , christ could come back anytime now am I ready to meet him ? So clearly ? That spiritual element of my life is important and if I have those seven kids that you mentioned , it's so important for me to Raise them in the faith and to model the faith and how .

Yes , trials and tribulations come our way every day , but I don't have to have the worry and anxiety about it if I know that I'm living God's plan by being gift of self to all these children .

Now , they were a gift to me , right , children are supreme gift in marriage and the reciprocal Way to deal with that is that I am the gift back to them , and the biggest gift I can give my children is to have them see that I am living a life of faith and that I truly believe that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit , as Is there .

So everything St Paul is saying here applies to us , whether we're married or not . It's just that the details , you know , of our life , the context in which we're living , it changes and while we do have to love others , who those others are specifically will change for each of us .

But that doesn't change the fact that that's our call to be gift to others , kind of where God planted us and that's where our circle of influence surrounds us , and those people are the ones we love the most , as we , you know , share that prayers for the entire , you know , community and the communion of saints .

So you know , you kind of see that ripple effect throwing that stone in the water and those immediately around you are the most affected and it carries on and on from there . So what Saint Paul has to tell us , I think , applies to every single one of us .

I mean the , the if you walk away from grace , if you walk away from what Saint Paul is talking about here , which is really , again , your body being a temple of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the sacramental sign of God's love in the world , however you decide to live that out , live it out properly , and you know , and don't look for the easy way out

. We all got to carry your cross , we all got to go through this , so , so what does this mean today ? Will you start to look around you with the brokenness again in the world , linda ? It's , it's pretty clear right now , the weeds in the weed are standing up .

Paul walks into Corinthians and to the , into this , into and speaking to these people in Corinth , and he's speaking to people that are sinful people just like they are today , and he's trying to put this all in the context for them and put the priorities straight . And I see this today . You know now the teaching today .

You know you can go a couple of different ways with this , linda , and I don't care where we go , but you know , what really bothers me now , even in the , in the church , is that we're getting very unclear messages . You know , and people are asking me every time I speak now , what about Pope Francis and the same sex marriages ?

What about we're worshiping the Pachamama ? When he came in where I , you know , it's like we're worshiping the , the goddess of of of earth . You know what about all these different idea , you know ideologies that he's really promoting it . And you know he says one thing and he does another thing .

And at the end of the day , you know , you realize , you have to be pretty clear on this that we have to make a decision . And same Paul says it in here that you have to discern what God wants for your life . But then you have to walk in that right .

You have to walk in at discernment and when you're vague and and and you know you're you're not giving people principles to live by . And this is what's happening today , linda . I think this is the difference .

Today and again , we , what we're doing here , by unpacking John Paul's work , saint Paul's work , we're trying to get to a root of what does Christ teach . And John Paul brings that up in here , and so does Saint Paul . They turn to Christ and say , okay , well , you know , saint Paul is being pastoral , he's trying to speak to these people in a pastoral way .

Look at , I empathize with what you're saying . Now , come to me a little bit and I'm we'll start to work together . You know , and and I'm bringing you up a little bit at a time you know , you can't just hammer people with with with rules and regulations , right . So that's what he's doing Now . Pope Francis seems that he wants to try to do that too .

But the difference is this Saint Paul and John Paul are going okay , what would Christ do ? And he would go have dinner with you , he would forgive you , he would try to heal you , right . And then he would say go out and sin no more . And this is the difference , you know .

Pope Francis says , yeah , go out to those people , go out , right , get the smell of the sheep on you . But then he leaves the sheep , if you look at what he does . he leaves them in their brokenness and see , this is a big deal . This is a big deal If we leave all the people we meet in their brokenness with no hope .

You should see the devastation with young people when they have no hope . It's very sad . And when you start to tell them that Jesus Christ came into the story to give them hope and strength and courage and grace , ooh , it changes everything . You know it's it sure does beautiful , when that happens .

Corinthians says now , concerning the matters about which you wrote , and we don't have that letter , we don't know what they were writing about specifically Hope , so let's , let's get so unpacked a little bit for people that aren't reading that verse .

So my point I'd like to make is that there there were many questions , there was a lot of confusion on how do we understand what Jesus taught us , and , and Paul , saint Paul is Working with him at trying to help their specific Issues and questions and teach them Historically within the context of what Jesus taught .

But I see that so much a Parallel today , because those of our shepherds who who have not gone into Parasy or gone , you know , just off the rails in so many ways , are still trying to do that with us , bringing us back to what did Jesus teach and what has the church taught for all these years .

But I see also the parallel between the division and confusion , because Paul addresses that in In the beginning part too , that he knows there's division and confusion Among the people , and and boy don't . We have that today as well . And that's what the evil one does he sows Division and confusion .

So we need to be very much aware that there's an all-out effort in this spiritual battle to confuse us and to divide us . And yet it does not have to be .

If we pay attention to that , that truth , the teachings of Jesus that we know from From everything that we have talked about so far in theology , the body and the St Paul is delivering it in a very pastoral way , as do others of our bishops today , so that that home that Paul has is still with some , many of our good bishops is saying , yes , we recognize all

this confusion that's coming from our culture , but the church still provides , as you just said , the grace , and then the healing , and then the Way forward of go and sin no more . A lot of us aren't wanting to hear that , though , right . Yeah , that's part of the problem .

And then he goes on to say you know , christ came to free us . You know , and we want to become slaves of Christ . If you were bought with the price he said , do not become slaves of men . And this is what we do when we sin . But look at a body and a soul without grace , without the Holy Spirit , that the fault position is just Sin and death .

That's what it is . You see it all around you . You know . I love GK , chester 10 and CS Lewis to say just look around and See the evil and the sin that that's in the world and then look into your own heart . You're gonna see it there , we know it , it's as clear . Gk would say as a potato .

Sit in front of you and then , linda , we have that tick , tock , tick , tock , tick , tock , we're . You know , you , you're gonna , you're gonna have death . So our default position when we walk into this world is sin and death unless , unless we breathe back in the Spirit , right , the Holy Spirit , you know Jesus breathes on us . I love that .

You know Jesus breathes that back in , you know . And and when we read , we can reject that again , and when rejected it it's so ugly . So , yeah , you can live in your sins . You can choose your sins . You can , you can use and abuse people . You can see . You see this all around us . There's divisions and the hatred and the vitro .

At the end of the day , we're going somewhere and if you want it and again , I see this in young people when you , when you really proclaim the gospel to them and give them hope , their initial reaction sometimes is a Rejection .

Right , because they're , they're told to reject God , reject , you know , anything that's religious , but at the end of the day , it touches their hearts . It touches their hearts . You know you , you're expecting something from them better . Then the garbage pit that they're living in or they see around them and they go . Oh my gosh , there's hope for me .

I knew something in my heart said there must be a better way to live , and now you just told me what it was . Don't give up on this message to young people , because this is innate in us . It's just that they haven't been told it hasn't come alive .

It's like a little spark there that needs to be kindled , you know that spark or that echo that we talked about so so long ago .

That was not God's plan , and yet we know that we have that . What is it ? There's something more .

God's plan was for the complete integration of body and soul and yes , looking at the cross , that's what Christ offers to us is to come back together , through Him , in Him , with Him and through Him , to that integration of body and soul , which then will allow us to live as temples of the Holy Spirit .

So it sounds kind of , again , not very practical or realistic , but in truth it is very realistic . We talk in our language I've got to get my act together , I've got to get myself together .

We say that a lot when we know we're kind of in chaos and in disorder , and I think that's another sign of we know that what is God's plan for us is to have the order and have the integration where I do have my act together and I have my whole self together . So we know that over and over again .

So it is extremely practical in our day-to-day lives and all the things that you're telling the young people . It's going to give them hope immediately because they know that the way I'm living just is not right . I don't have my act together and I need something else . It really makes sense .

And then John Paul , speaking at the canonization of Edith Stein , who became St Teresa of Benedict , a convert and a Carmelite , and before she went to the gas chambers in Auschwitz , she said always speak the truth in love and always speak about love and the truth . One without the others , a destructive lie . And I see again , this is the , this is .

And again , I just want to , because I'm getting this . I'd rather not address this , but I get this all the time about this vagueness of Pope Francis . He's the real Pope . If anybody asked me , he's the real Pope . He's sitting on the . You know , in fact . In fact , the Gospel .

Today , as we're recording this , which is a Tuesday , this won't come out to Windsor , but the for a mass today was about the Jewish leaders . He said you know they're there , they're sitting on the throne of Moe . You know the , the , the Chair of Moses .

So you know , we have to give them respect , and so that's what we do with Pope Francis , we give them respect . But then he said you know , don't do as they do . So he was very clear . Jesus was very clear on this , and I think that's what we have now with the Pope . Now he's really our Pope . God's gonna have to judge them .

But but unfortunately , I'm in a position where People are asking me about the same confusion that you just brought up with Saint Paul . So I can't just brush it off , linda . I would like to . I'd like to say you know , just ignore him . We have Catholic teaching . But they say no , I didn't know John Paul , I didn't know Pope Benedict .

You know , I I came into the church eight years ago , ten years ago , whatever , and all I know is Pope Francis and he's been confusing all this time . You know , saying one thing and then doing another thing . And so John Paul said this to young people . He says dear young people , pay attention , your life is not an endless series of open doors .

Listen to your heart , but do not stay on the surface of things , but go deeper into the heart of things . So understand your faith . And I think this is the challenge , and this is the point I make when I say this .

This is a challenge for each of us to go deeper into our faith , because when you , you have a time of confusion in the world , a time of confusion actually coming from the Vatican itself , then you , you have to own your faith . I think God is permitting this because he's saying you know what ?

There's so many lack , some so many lukewarm Catholics , so many lukewarm Christians that have ignored so much of what I taught , and they're listening to these people and they don't even know how to discern . So you know what I'm gonna ?

Let the confusion rain , because Pope Francis is just a manifestation of all the , all the Understanding of all this confusion and corruption underneath them . And the same thing with somebody like Joe Biden is president he . You know , if you take out Biden , you're still gonna have morally corrupt people all around us . And the same thing at the . Vatican .

So what ? I think God is allowing us to do and what John Paul is challenging these people , these young people , go to the heart of things . What is your faith ? What does Jesus Christ teach ? And then he said when you find that out , he goes . Like this , he goes . And when the time is right , have the courage to decide , put it in front of you .

Have the courage to decide . St Paul says whether you get married or don't get married . We're still aiming for that , for the truth of Jesus Christ . He's the underlying one . And whether you're married and here's the last thing I'll say to this , linda Young people are getting married outside the church . They're going on Destination weddings .

You know they have no idea what they're doing . They have because they , they feel like this . Whatever they're feeling at that time is just gonna last forever , and it doesn't . You need race To sustain this , because this is , this is a self-sustaining . You know this is a gift , this is a sacrifice that we make to one another , but they don't see that yet .

You know right .

They're not going deep , they're on the surface . It just brings up the whole thing of all the video games . It's like they're out . You know , so many of them are always just playing games and Going to the heart , jack , that's that search for the truth .

And when we do that , the Pope says be courageous , you will find the truth , and it's Jesus Christ , the way , the truth in the life , and recognize that when you find it , our culture makes it and then decide right and when you decide then walk into the story and that's again .

Right , they go have dinner with you and then they bless you in your sin . They never say go and sin no more . They never just say go , carry your cross . You ever hear them say that . They don't , they don't . You don't hear Father James Martin , you know , as he's blessing same-sex marriages .

He doesn't say now , go and sin no more , or carry your cross right directly to Jesus Christ . Jesus Christ was a celibate man who pours himself out to you . You'd go and sin no more . You do the same .

You know and at the end of the day Saint Paul talks about this right the idolaters that you know , the , the , any , look at you can name my sin , your sin . We can name all our sins .

At the end of the day , you know we're here to be purified and be temples of the Holy Spirit , not , not , not given into our passions , and not use and abuse people , that you know things . It's like same-sex marriage and abortions . This is against nature's laws . This is against natural law . You know , you don't ?

You don't have to be some kind of Even a great Catholic to understand that this stuff is not normal , that we're pushing down on people and we're breaking marriages in the Society and the whole culture starting to come down around us and , at the end of the day , if we don't speak the truth in love and love people in the truth and Tom , then it's a destructive

lie and that's what we're living right now .

It's that , within that discernment that we each make , we're being called to one or the other . We have to have that courage to really , you know , dig deep to see where is God calling me and how am I going to be a gift to others through that call .

There's no purpose or meaning for our lives , you know , and so young people get the message that their life is an accident and whatever you make of it , you make of it and you know it gets so nuts that you really think I'm a man , I think I can become a woman and get pregnant and breastfeed , and it's totally impossible , but I think I can do it .

It's amazing , bk Chesterton , when you know , when you no longer believe in God , it's not like you don't believe in anything , nothing . You will believe anything , and it's so true . He said that in the 1930s he would have never looked . He didn't . I mean , he said that then and this is what , almost a hundred years later , and what are we looking at ?

You know , I mean , it's nuts , right .

You want to re-image God in your own image , and this is going back to Genesis three and and and these people are pushing this , unfortunately , on a lot of young people and a lot of people that are just nefarious in their own hearts are using this as an excuse , like James Martin right , to just push more heresy on people and you know , blessing , you know I

mean , it's just getting almost to the point of being ridiculous , which is why I like it in a way , and when I say I don't , I don't like evil and I don't like to see this . But it's so clear now that I like it because of its clarity .

It's very easy for you to discern now the , the weed and the weed growing together and and to say what John and Paul said look out at the world , get beneath the things , find out what the teaching of Jesus Christ really is and then decide , then decide and make it the size of direction for your life .

You know , and and only then will you find joy , peace , happiness , all these things at the end of the this is at the end of this is a beautiful thing , not , you know we think oh , my God , I got to do all of this stuff . This is going to be so hard . No , you're finding what's true , what's good , what's beautiful and especially the beauty of love .