ARE YOUR TEENS IN TRAINING?

ARE YOUR TEENS IN TRAINING FOR
TRUE LOVE AND TRUE SEX?
YOUNG PEOPLE & THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

(by Sr. Helena Burns, fsp--originally printed in the “Engaging Faith” newsletter of Ave Maria Press)

 

It’s not a cliché to say that today’s young people are up against a lot. The breakdown of the family, divorce, remarriage, blended families and single-parents present profound challenges in teens’ formative years.

New media technology allows constant connection, information and creativity, but also has a dark side of addictions (e.g., porn and videogames) and dehumanization.

Teen sexual behaviors that lead to incurable STDs, infertility, heartbreak, inability to bond, cynicism about love, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, etc., are simply par for the course.

Record numbers of young people now self-describe as “unaffiliated,” “none” (no religion) or “atheist.” Young people are fond of saying that they’re “spiritual” but not “religious.”

Is there a comprehensive, consistent, Catholic approach to all these areas of young people’s lives, something that would tie them all together and offer a healthy, happy, holy alternative for the long haul? Yes! It’s called “Theology of the Body,” a gift from Pope John Paul II to the planet.

Our world no longer believes in what it cannot see. Our world no longer believes in religious authorities, sacred books and top-down systems. But our world has not given up on the body, sex, love, relationships and beauty. This is what they CAN see, what they DO know, what they ENJOY experiencing. John Paul II said: Fine! God is the Source of all these things! The Church is about all these things, too! And they are the BEST things in life (so the world has chosen well).

In his dual works, “Love and Responsibility” and “Male and Female He Created Them—A Theology of the Body,” John Paul II said: Let’s THOROUGHLY examine these five excellent things in the light of anthropology, philosophy, theology, Scripture, nature, and, of course, human experience, but we must be very HONEST about our human experience and we must be seeking AUTHENTIC human experience (because we can do things “wrong” for years and claim “but it’s my experience!” without gaining any true or practical wisdom from our actions).

By today’s tearing apart of sex and love, sex and marriage, sex and babies, we have created a culture of death. The definition of death is “the separation of body and soul.” Separating two things that absolutely go together, that are instrinsically united, results in spiritual and physical death. (To be “spiritual” [soul] but not “religious” [body] also rips the self in two.) Theology of the Body puts Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Theology of the Body begins with the fact that we ARE bodies, we don’t HAVE bodies. To HAVE something is to have a possession that is outside of us, something that can be used. To BE something is part and parcel of who we are. The human person=body and soul together forever (the resurrection of the body means we will get our bodies back)! What we do with our body we do with our soul, what we do with our soul we do with our body. We experience all of life through, with and in our bodies. Therefore, God must be accessible to our bodies, and He is. Not only did He become incarnate as one of us, but He remains with us in the Eucharist: God’s Body.

Certainly chastity, abstinence, and celibacy-outside-of-marriage is part of the message of Theology of the Body, but Theology of the Body doesn’t dwell on what we CAN’T HAVE, but rather what we CAN HAVE: true love and true sex. The world IS looking for true love and true sex, but if we don’t know what it is, how will we ever get there? Young people are in preparation, in training (or should be) for true love and true sex. It’s all about achieving our goals. If someone wants to be a soccer player, why go to basketball camp instead? Unfortunately, young people--by opting out of dating all together, being sexually promiscuous, not understanding the dynamics of male/female relationships and majorly delaying marriage--are in training for the opposite of marriage: a life of unwanted singlehood or marital discord, infidelity and divorce (not to mention the infertility that can be the result of STDs).

No one can deny that love/marriage/sex are a huge part of life, a kind of foundation stone. If we get it right, everything else in our life will go much more harmoniously. If we don’t get it right, we may be in for a lifetime of anguish and misery. Understanding what true love and true sex is is urgently needed today if young people and society in general are going to flourish. Theology of the Body is a big piece of that puzzle, or rather, “TOB” puts all the puzzle pieces of our everyday lives and Catholic Faith together in one of the clearest, most beautiful and complete visions of the human person ever.

Is it easy to live the Theology of the Body (or rather, conform ourselves to reality)? No. It’s one of the hardest things we’ll ever do, but it’s also the most “worth it” thing we’ll ever do, and young people are looking for a CHALLENGE (as well as MEANING). Sometimes I’m afraid young people actually LEAVE the Church precisely BECAUSE we were afraid to challenge them with the full truth, the truth that sets us free. Young people already love self-discipline because they play sports and musical instruments. Why are we afraid to show them how the self-discipline they already display so well can help them in the most important parts of their lives, too?

So much of catechesis in the past has stressed the spiritual, almost to the overlooking of the physical, almost to the encouraging of a radical split between the two! Not so with Theology of the Body. Theology of the Body STARTS with the physical in order to get to the spiritual. TOB starts with the concrete, the visible, what can be encountered and verified. Same conclusions, just a different method, perfectly adapted to our times.

Young people respond exceedingly well to TOB because it is such a positive take on the body, sex, love, relationships and beauty in a way they have never heard before--especially not coming from the Church!

Young people respond best to TOB when the following are emphasized and incorporated:

--the sacredness of sex
--the “language of the body” (fundamental, free, faithful, full, fruitful)
--diagrams/visuals
--edutainment
--God (divinity) interfacing with us (humanity), physically and spiritually
--scientific data regarding the body/sex

How can TOB cut across various subjects/disciplines? By always starting from the physical, from tangible facts, from “authentic” experiential knowledge. Mastering and memorizing some basic TOB principles, basic biblical texts, basic quotes from TOB texts, frequently referring to them, and applying them will help students grasp the concepts and be able to apply them to themselves and current issues (and they will blow you away with their understanding and original insights, of course).

NEED SOME QUICK RESOURCES? www.tinyurl.com/TOBresources

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HOLY WEEK VOCATION RETREAT!

Get your discernment on!

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WHAT DO THE FRENCH KNOW THAT WE DON'T?

Here's another post from when the continued marches to protect marriage reached 1.8 million people:

http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-people-of-france-have-spoken.html

On January 13, 2013, one million French marched to protect marriage. Vive la difference!

France Marches for Marriage

Led by a provocative comedian, a gay atheist, and a socialist teacher, protest against same-sex marriage draws one million

As many as a million protesters descended upon Paris from every corner of France today to demonstrate their opposition to the Socialist government’s plans to introduce same-sex civil marriage. The Prefecture of Police estimates at least 380,000 participated in the three marches from different starting points that converged at the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower. Organisers, however, set up counting stations and claim that, by 7:30pm tonight, over one million protestors had joined the march.

Volunteers charted more than eight hundred vehicles to bring protestors to Paris, while six TGV high-speed trains were reserved for demonstrators. “Had the conditions for chartering trains not been as stringent,” an organiser told Le Figaro “the number could easily have been double.”

“In the freezing cold,” Le Figaro reports, “young, old, and families with children were trying to keep warm waving thousands of pink flags to the jerky rhythm of techno music.”

The entire workforce of the Directorate of Public Order & Traffic was called out to handle the massive demonstration, which forced a Paris Saint-Germain football match to be brought forward. Police believed it would be impossible to secure the area around the Parc des Princes stadium when hundreds of thousands of protesters were expected in the centre of the French capital.

The protest today was organised by the eccentric comedian Frigide Barjot, founder of the Collectif pour l’humanité durable, joined by gay atheist Xavier Bongibault of the association Plus gay sans mariage (“More Gay Without Marriage”), and Laurence Tcheng of La gauche pour le mariage républicaine(“The Left for Republican Marriage”).

The unlike troika claim to have launched “a guerrilla war” against the current Socialist Party government’s proposed same-sex civil marriage legislation. Avoiding the mainstream media, ‘Team Barjot’ went direct to supporters through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and, countering the government’s branding of same-sex civil marriage as “Mariage pour tous”, named their protest “Le Manif Pour Tous” (‘The Protest for All’), asserting that all children have a right to a mother and father.

If opinion polls are to be believed, the campaign against the proposed law seems to be changing perceptions. From 2000 to 2011, polls showed a steady rise in support for same-sex marriage. In 2012, this percentage began to decline; support for allowing same-sex couples to adopt also fell. Meanwhile, polls claim that 69% prefer same-sex marriage be put to a referendum.

The three marches organised by Le Manif Pour Tous began at separate meeting points before they converged on the Champs de Mars.

The Institut ‘Civitas’ organised a fourth march on its own initiative.

full blogpost: http://www.andrewcusack.com/2013/01/13/le-manif-pour-tous/

"I need a Dad and a Mom!"

"Sex, not gender."

"1 Father + 1 Mother: It's elementary."  /  "Don't Touch Civil Marriage!"

"Frigide Barjot" (far right)

"All born of a man and a woman!"

"1 Dad and 1 Mom is best!"

Tear gas was used against protesters on the second march (March 24, 2013)

These are the "Madelines" who symbolize the French Revolution.
They're holding up France's Civil Code.

(President) Hollande, you will hear us!

"The 'difference' is the key of existence."

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GANDALF SEZ...

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MOVIE: "SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK"

DO NOT WATCH ANY TRAILER FOR THIS FILM! SOME OF THE WORST TRAILERS EVER MADE!

“Silver Linings Playbook” is a very funny, family (ABOUT families and marriages, not FOR family viewing), terribly feel good film. Screenwriter/director David O. Russell (“Three Kings,” “Flirting with Disaster,” “The Fighter”) wows us again with his realistic, detailed relationships; rapid dialogue and delicious situations that never totally sell out to pure quirk. Russell must be a real actors’ director. He knows how to let them do their thing to the max and really perform (obviously ad-libbing was encouraged). And there’s a lot of Theology of the Body in it, spoken and unspoken (and a little anti-TOB, too). Although mostly TOB, it's as if Hollywood still has to leave the door open for anything-goes, total sexual license.

Set in Philadelphia, Pat (Bradley Cooper in a difficult comedic role that he fills with ease by simply deadpanning and reacting as his character would—usually violently, but it’s funny) is a young married man with mental issues that caused a lengthy stay in a psych ward…AND basically the end of his marriage. But Pat, newly released from the hospital into his parents’ care (his underdog, OCD, sports-obsessed father is played by Robert De Niro with much vulnerability; and his loving, worried Mom, Jackie Weaver) is determined to win his wife back. How do family and friends react to the “new” Pat? In all different ways, but Pat is blessed with some truly great support.

Enter Tiffany (a “look out world, I’m only going to get better at this” Jennifer Lawrence) for one of the plainest “meet cutes” ever--but it’s perfect because these two have no use for niceties and conventions. They don’t even know how to do them. Tiffany is an unstable young widow who is as unfiltered as Pat (according to Tiffany it’s “telling the truth”). But Pat only has eyes for his wife and enlists Tiffany in his plan to win her back. Since Pat now owes Tiffany, he must join her as her partner in a dance competition which Tiffany thinks is a better plan to get Pat’s wife back. But then things get complicated with Dad’s plans, and all plans converge around an Eagles’ game and the dance competition.

The betting that goes on around these two contests carries with it an incredibly long, convoluted and boring exposition, but no matter, the film had us at “excelsior,” “no negativity,” and “look for the silver lining.”

Will a love relationship develop between these two well-matched misfits and kindred spirits? All I can tell you is that, if it does, it will be in great part because Pat totally respects Tiffany even when she doesn’t respect herself  (and many other men don’t respect her). There’s a beautiful scene to this effect: of a man defending a woman’s honor, rather than just standing aside because she’s “free” to do what she wants.

OTHER STUFF:

--Everyone will be able to relate to Pat and Tiffany. Because we’re all a little crazy.

--Beautiful portrayal of a beautiful chaste relationship (and very physical: dancing).

--There’s a sense of respect, waiting and earning the woman on the man’s part.

--Solid use of Led Zep.

--Great soundtrack—lotsa 60’s & 70’s: Danny “Good Taste” Elfman.

--The precision of Alexander Payne (“The Descendants”), but not as anal (sorry, don’t know how else to phrase it).

--The “R” rating states that there is “nudity,” but not really: a quick shower scene where nothing really shows. Some sex talk and f-bombs, yes.  Common Sense Media says:  for 16+.

--Pssssst. In real life, Jennifer Lawrence is unfiltered, too. J

--Wouldn’t mind if this film wins some Oscars. Like, the actors win.

--Palpable love story. Intense male-female interaction—in every way. When male-female relationships are authentic? Men and women “catechize” each other about God, love and the human in a way no one/nothing else can.

--Hemingway! ha ha ha

--The side characters (the cop, the kid with the FLIP, Tiffany’s brother-in-law, etc.) are all so necessary, fleshed out and hilarious. Julia Stiles is a REVELATION here.

MY FIVE MINOR PROBLEMS WITH THE FILM:

1. One does not simply stick Chris Tucker (who is way overdue for a comeback) in a teeny, tepid, barely-funny role. Thank you.
2. Russell is the master of the "button" (ending the scene with a snappy or funny bit of dialogue or great visual) and then cutting deep into the next scene. He does this throughout “Linings,” but then does one distracting fade-to-black that just bugged me.
3. The convoluted laying out of the bet (parlay) in Act Three.
4. No one likes to be judged (and Jesus told us not to), but Tiffany’s near nymphomania is treated waaaaaaaaaaay too lightly. (It's not shown, only spoken of. Often.) 
5. The climax was so well set up, but it needed to be more twisty. At least a little more. A little too direct. Perhaps.

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LIMIT BREAK: BMX

Q: Can someone be a professional BMX biker, med student & Catholic all at the same time?

A: 

(Spirit Juice, of course!)

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