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Created for Love

Created for Love. Bell Work. Please answer the following in a few sentences What is the reason for our existence? What is the purpose of our bodies?. Bell Work 8/27/09. Copy this quote into the bell work section:

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Created for Love

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  1. Created for Love

  2. Bell Work Please answer the following in a few sentences • What is the reason for our existence? • What is the purpose of our bodies?

  3. Bell Work 8/27/09 Copy this quote into the bell work section: “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” Gen 1:27

  4. Pope John Paul IIand “Theology of the Body” • Theology is the study of God • Theology of the Body is a study of God and the purpose of our existence as discovered and revealed through our bodies • Our bodies reveal something about God • We can look at our bodies and sexual desires and discover the purpose of our existence and the meaning of life 1

  5. How? • sacrament: makes a spiritual reality visible to us • Eg. The 7 Sacraments make a spiritual reality (grace) visible to us • Eg. Baptism • The body also is a sacrament 2

  6. John Paul II says: • “The body, in fact, and it alone is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery of God…and thus be a sign of it

  7. Sacramentality of the body: • the human body is capable of making the invisible spirit, visible. • God is invisible but our bodies reveal something about him and make him visible • Christ of course, does this most perfectly • Because we are made in his “image and likeness” 3

  8. Sacramentality of the Body • The inherent ability of the body to act as a visible sign of God’s invisible love 4

  9. The body is a “sign” • Sign: points to a reality beyond itself and makes a reality present to us. • Eg. Road sign • The body is a sign of something beyond itself • What might that be? 5

  10. God’s original plan • Being made male and female (human sexuality) points to our call to love one another • Sexual union between man and woman is meant to point to our union with God in heaven • union with God sexual in nature • Sexual union is a “sign” 6

  11. Bell Work 8/28/09 Copy the quote before answering the questions: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe, plans to give you a future full of hope.” - Jer 29:11 • What was the purpose of JPII’s “Theology of the Body”? • How is the body “sacramental”? • What deeper reality is the body a sign of?

  12. “God is love” - 1 John 4:8 • We’re made in the image and likeness of LOVE itself • Bodies reflect our being created for love • God is one and at the same time three • Trinity • Trinity is an eternal exchange of love • We are called to share in this eternal exchange 7

  13. Love is never present in isolation • In order for love to be present, you need something to love. • Love must have • A lover • A beloved • The love between them 8

  14. Love = communion • Communion of Persons: when two or more persons give themselves to one another in love 9

  15. God is a Communion of Persons Father Son (lover/beloved) (lover/beloved) Holy Spirit (the love between them) 10

  16. Man as a Communion of Persons • Humans were created to participate in the Trinitarian life • To live as a communion of persons • Being made male and female makes it possible for us to image God as a communion of persons • We reflect the eternal exchange of the Trinity in and through our sexuality 11

  17. We best reflect God in context of the family Woman Man (lover/beloved) (lover/beloved) Baby (the love between them) The love between them is so strong it creates another person. 12

  18. Foreshadowing heaven • The love between man and woman is a sign that points to something beyond itself • The union between God and man • Sexual love foreshadows heaven • The desire for sexual union is an expression of a deep spiritual desire for union with God 13

  19. Our experience • We don’t experience our bodies this way • Many are burdened by their bodies • Many feel ruled by the “urges” or passions of their body • Because of this many feel burdened by rules imposed by the Church about sexuality 14

  20. Original Sin • This disconnect of spirituality and sexuality is a result of original sin • We now experience concupiscence - a tendency toward sin as a result of original sin • More sin, broken families, sexual abuse, addictions, infidelity… 15

  21. Satan Counters God’s plan • “Satan seeks to counteract God’s plan in plagiarizing the sacraments” - Tertullian • Satan wants to ruin God’s plan of our union with God • Attacking our view of the body, sexual union and marriage is the most effective way to draw us away from that original plan 16

  22. Culture dominated by lust • Lust– disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure • Primarily selfish in nature • “In the beginning it was not so” – Mt 19:8 17

  23. Bellwork 8/31/09 • “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another.” • John 13:34 • In what way does the family image the life of the Trinity? • What is concupiscence? • Why does Satan attack the image of the body?

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