A breakfast conversation with the priest who celebrated our morning Mass turned to the subject of John Paul II's impact on history. He is of the impression that the Pope, despite his masterful use of communication and his sense of drama, will not have much of an impact, and that for the millions who saw him in person and participated in Papal events, the experience is already faded. When Sr. Yvonne said, "What about his Theology of the Body? It is one of the most asked-for titles around." He shrugged. There aren't exactly crowds and crowds of people who are that into it. (This is true, but I think that is because--among other things--it hasn't made it to Oprah...)
I remember when JP2 started those talks on Genesis. To me it was something utterly new that no one else was saying. It was so divinely countercultural! It offered a new vision. And when I hear women dissing it, dismissing it, shrugging it off, I just shake my head. This is the most pro-woman presentation of the relationship between man and woman that the world has ever seen. I am afraid that most people have just never really seen it at all, and when they do get a sound byte of it, it is within the context of the overall culture and its givens and so is interpreted by those standards. Women don't see how redemptive and liberating it is, because they have already been molded to the values of a secular society which interprets relationships in terms of power. They don't realize that the Theology of the Body puts not "man" or "woman" but the "couple" at the center of human life: "it is not good for 'Adam' to be alone."
So it is not really taken seriously even by members of the Church. Does that bring us back to the concept that has been attributed to Joseph Ratzinger that the Church may indeed get smaller, but that is okay if its members are more faithful to the Gospel? That Christians may become again a "little flock" and not a significant demographic?
4 comments:
AMEN, sister. I stopped by the shop today with my daughter. I am a fan of your blog ; ) And I have to question that priest, JPII changed world history (think Solidarity in Poland/fufilled a secret of Fatima/ TOTB--just a few things off the top of my head---and I am no theologian!)
TOTB changed my life, and continues to. And while the "faithful" are few, we are a radical force in the world. Just wearing your veil sends a message, a message many sisters avoid. I am going to blog soon on why we need more faithful sisters, not demands for women priests. I think TOTB properly taught would show our different but equal roles (men and women). And I am not speaking of stupid traditional ideas of roles like who cooka nd cleans, but more profound roles like those nurturer or protector. Off soap box.
Great insight about the pearl!
There is something scary about letting ourselves be challenged by an idea that may shake our presumptions and stretch us in ways we would rather not be stretched. I think our culture's contraceptive mentality is also at work in this: we put up barriers to ideas that threaten to germinate into a totally new life, that might take us "where we would not go" (to paraphase Our Lord's words to Peter).
The call to ongoing conversion of mind and heart involves the risk of openness to new life. Ultimately, TOTB offers a profound spirituality. It is not limited to the "body" at all.
Since it is countercultural, TOTB wouldn't be visible to those immersed in the "secular culture". We get our share every Sunday at church (check out Light of the East)
Like the mustard seed, the theology of the body is growing more and more. It may not seem like much to some people, but like George Weigel said, it's a time bomb waiting to go off sometime this century.
I think of what Fr. Alberione said in "Sanctification of the Mind"--that the world is changed by ideas. Little by little, the ideas of JP II in theology of the body will change the world.
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