Who We Are

Reclaim the Gift

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” -Romans 12:1

“The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” -St. John Paul II

This week kicks off our five week preaching series on the Theology of the Body, perhaps my favorite topic to preach about, meditate on and discuss. It is an in depth, biblical exploration of God, sexuality, gender, the male and female difference and complementarity, and our destiny in heaven. It helps to make connections between all aspects of faith and life: the Sacraments, the Bible, relationships, marriage, heartbreak, sin and redemption. The Theology of the Body was developed by St. John Paul II and taught over his first five years of being Pope. When I first stumbled upon the Theology of the Body (or “TOB” for those in the know!) I was a senior in college, beginning to seriously discern priesthood for the first time in my adult life. All of a sudden, so many of the questions and struggles I had concerning chastity, purity, vocation and who I was as a man were being answered in beautiful and dynamic ways. The TOB brought me back to “the beginning” on how God has made us male and female, destined us to participate in and model the love of the Trinitarian persons, shown how sin has twisted the dignity of our original state, and how the Redemption that Christ brings can restore and heal our hearts. It brings up conversations about how we have learned about sex, dating, and marriage that I hope you and your family will be having in the coming days. The beauty of this teaching is that it immediately applies to everybody in their life and relationships. It is challenging but helps to give answers to the questions that people are asking and a way forward for every person, no matter what their situation or struggles in life. I pray that this series will open up doors of grace and insight into the beauty of how God has made us, in His divine image, male and female. St. John Paul II, Mamma Mary and St. Joseph, pray for us!

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Fr. Michael

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Reclaim the Gift, Part 1 - Homily Notes

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. -Romans 12 

“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”- Jesus to Peter, Mt 19

Reclaim the Gift: a five-week preaching series on love, marriage, sex, and what it means to be human. What’s our “why”?

• The reality of sin and brokenness that affects all of us: pornography, infidelity, traumatic and abusive relationships, self-harm and disorders centered around the body (eating, sexual, psychological)
• The startling divorce rate in Bay County
• The rise in confusion and precipitous shifts in understanding of who we are as male and female, normalization of gender ideology. 
• The 55th anniversary of the encyclical letter Humanae vitae
• Healing hope and redemption--we are in need of good news!
• Need for an integrated ecology--the goodness of creation and our role as stewards, always upholding the dignity and integrity of human persons.
• The wound of sexual abuse both inside the Church (and the subsequent decimation of faith and practice) as well as in the world at large: in the workplace, schools, and homes.

• What do I do with the sexual temptations that are a daily part of my life?
• Why is marriage so difficult, and does it become more and more tempting to just throw in the towel and give up?
• Why do I not feel at home in my own body?
• Why do I feel alienated and ashamed because of past mistakes or tragic circumstances like divorce or infidelity?
• What can the Church do for me if I am attracted to members of my own sex?
• What does the Gospel have to do with the very real trials I face on a daily basis?
• How can I have meaningful conversations with my children or grandchildren who might be living their lives, relationships and marriages in ways that I don’t understand or approve of?

Start with Jesus: Jesus Christ, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling. (Redemptor hominis, 12) and “[Jesus] was far removed from philosophies which despised the body, matter and the things of the world” (Laudato si, 98)

→Matthew 19: When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there. 3 Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 

Genesis 2: So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; 22 and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
    because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.--this is the way it was, so something has gone wrong

• Back to the Beginning: My experience
• What is your experience?

Theology of the Body--St. John Paul II- a response to the brokenness of the world around him--Fascism, Communism, sexual revolution, savage capitalism and materialism. 

• “The body in its masculinity and femininity has been called ‘from the beginning’ to become the manifestation of the spirit.” (TOB 45:2)
• “The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” (TOB 19:4).

• “The Incarnation means, in the first place, that the invisible God enters into the visible world, so that we, who are bound to matter, can know him.” (Benedict XVI, Spirit of the Liturgy)
• Human beings only find themselves through a complete and sincere gift of self. (GS) and this truth is inscribed in our very bodies, male and female, made in the image and likeness of God.

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*Saint Dominic Books & Gifts has several books in stock to help continue to conversation about Theology of the Body.

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Reclamar el Don parte 1, notas de la homilía

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“Los exhorto , hermanos y hermanas, por las misericordias de Dios, a ofrecer nuestros cuerpos en sacrificio vivo, santo y agradable a Dios, nuestro oración espiritual. No se conforme a este siglo, sino transformaos por la renovación de vuestra mente, para que podáis discernir cuál es la voluntad de Dios, lo que es bueno, agradable y perfecto. -Romanos 12

“No pensáis como Dios, sino como los hombres”- Jesús a Pedro, Mt 19

Reclaim the Gift: una serie de predicaciones de cinco semanas sobre el amor, el matrimonio, el sexo y lo que significa ser humano. ¿Cuál es nuestro “por qué”?

• La realidad del pecado y el quebrantamiento que nos afecta a todos: pornografía, infidelidad, relaciones traumáticas y abusivas, lastimarse uno mismo, trastornos centrados en el cuerpo (alimenticio, sexual, psicológico).

• sorprendente empezando con el divorcios en encontrados en Bay county

• El aumento de la confusión y los cambios precipitados en la comprensión de quiénes somos como hombres y mujeres, y la normalización de la ideología de género.

• El 55º aniversario de la encíclica Humanae vitae

• Esperanza sanadora y redención: ¡necesitamos buenas noticias!

• Necesidad de una ecología integrada: la bondad de la creación y nuestro papel como administradores, defendiendo siempre la dignidad y la integridad de las personas humanas.

• La herida del abuso sexual tanto dentro de la Iglesia (y la consiguiente aniquilación de la fe y la práctica) como en el mundo en general: en el lugar de trabajo, las escuelas y los hogares.

•  ¿Qué hago con las tentaciones sexuales que son parte diaria de mi vida?
• Por qué es tan difícil el matrimonio y se vuelve cada vez más tentador simplemente tirar la toalla y darse por vencido?
• ¿Por qué no me siento cómodo en mi propio cuerpo?
• ¿Por qué me siento alienado y avergonzado por errores del pasado o circunstancias trágicas como el divorcio o la infidelidad?
• ¿Qué puede hacer la Iglesia por mí si me siento atraído por miembros de mi propio sexo?
• ¿Qué tiene que ver el Evangelio con las pruebas reales que enfrento a diario?
• ¿Cómo puedo tener conversaciones significativas con mis hijos o nietos que podrían estar viviendo sus vidas, relaciones y matrimonios de maneras que yo no entiendo ni apruebo?

Comenzar por Jesús: Jesucristo, en la revelación misma del misterio del Padre y de su amor, revela plenamente al hombre a sí mismo y pone a la luz su altísima vocación. (Redemptor hominis, 12) y “[Jesús] estaba muy alejado de filosofías que despreciaban el cuerpo, la materia y las cosas del mundo” (Laudato si, 98)

→Mateo 19: Cuando Jesús terminó de decir estas cosas, salió de Galilea y se dirigió a la región de Judea, al otro lado del Jordán. 2 Le seguía mucha gente, y allí los curaba. 3 Se le acercaron unos fariseos y, para ponerlo a prueba, le preguntaron: ¿Es lícito al hombre divorciarse de su mujer por cualquier causa? 4 Él respondió: “¿No habéis leído que el que los hizo al principio, varón y hembra los hizo, 5 y dijo: Por esto el hombre dejará a su padre y a su madre y se unirá a su mujer, y ¿Los dos serán una sola carne? 6 Así que ya no son dos, sino una sola carne. Por tanto, lo que Dios ha unido, que nadie lo separe”. 7 Le dijeron: “¿Por qué, entonces, nos mandó Moisés que demos un certificado de Despido y divorcio de ella? 8 Él les dijo: «Porque erais tan duros de corazón, Moisés os permitió repudiar a vuestras mujeres, pero al principio no fue así.

Génesis 2: Entonces el Señor Dios hizo caer un sueño profundo sobre el hombre, y mientras dormía tomó una de sus costillas y cerró su lugar con carne; 22 y de la costilla que el Señor Dios había tomado del hombre, formó una mujer y la trajo al hombre. 23 Entonces el hombre dijo:

“Esto por fin es hueso de mis huesos

   y carne de mi carne;

ella será llamada Mujer,

   porque ella fue sacada del Hombre”.

24 Por tanto, el hombre deja a su padre y a su madre y se une a su mujer, y son una sola carne. 25 Y estaban ambos desnudos, el hombre y su mujer, y no se avergonzaban. Así fue, entonces algo ha ido mal.

• Regreso al principio: Mi experiencia

• ¿Cuál es tu experiencia?

Teología del cuerpo--St. Juan Pablo II: una respuesta al quebrantamiento del mundo que lo rodea: fascismo, comunismo, revolución sexual, capitalismo salvaje y materialismo.

• “El cuerpo en su masculinidad y feminidad ha sido llamado ‘desde el principio’ a convertirse en manifestación del espíritu”. (TOB 45:2)

• “El cuerpo, en efecto, y sólo el cuerpo, es capaz de hacer visible lo invisible: lo espiritual y lo divino. Ha sido creado para trasladar a la realidad visible del mundo el misterio escondido desde la eternidad en Dios, y así ser signo del mismo” (TOB 19,4).

• “La Encarnación significa, en primer lugar, que el Dios invisible entra en el mundo visible, para que nosotros, que estamos ligados a la materia, podamos conocerlo”. (Benedicto XVI, Espíritu de la Liturgia)

• El ser humano sólo se encuentra a sí mismo a través de una entrega total y sincera de sí mismo. (GS) y esta verdad está inscrita en nuestros mismos cuerpos, masculino y femenino, hechos a imagen y semejanza de Dios.

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Reclaim the Gift, Part 2 - Homily Notes

“The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” (TOB 19:4).

“Have you not heard that in the beginning, God made them male and female…” Mark 10
- In the Beginning: Creation. All of creation is good, but the human person is very good:God delights in you
- Can I hear God proclaiming my goodness as he delights in me?
Image and Likeness:
Genesis 1:26-28, 31—God said, “Let us make man in our image and likeness…and it was very good!”
- The function of the image is to reflect the one who is the model, to reproduce its own prototype. Man becomes the image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion. Right "from the beginning," he is not only an image in which the solitude of a person who rules the world is reflected, but also, and essentially, an image of an inscrutable divine communion of persons, (Theology of the Body,TOB 9:3).
- -God gave us a symbolic key to his plan by creating us in his image as “male and female”—that is, with bodily differences that are designed for union. The one-flesh union of man and woman in marriage is a sign pointing to God’s own mystery and our call to communion with him.
The Human Body as Male and Female
1. The meaning of the body for the person; It is in the body, in fact, that masculinity and femininity are inscribed and from which each person’s self-identity is constructed.
a. The body is not something added to the human person. It is an integral and essential part of what it means to be a person.
i. Body vs. Soul false dilemma
b. The “Sacrament” of the Human Person
i. The visible manifestation of the invisible reality. In human bodiliness, human persons can express themselves, can communicate with others, can enter into relationships, and can give themselves and accept others.
ii. Not mere matter to be manipulated. Not the sum total of organs, tissues, functions. Not the prison of the soul nor is it an idol.
2. The “Sacrament” of the Body and the Blessed Sacrament
a. The Eucharist offers the ultimate meaning of human bodiliness. The Eucharist gives shape to the spousal love of Christ who gives himself completely for his Bride, the Church, becoming her nourishment. (Ephesians 5:21-33)
b. At the supreme moment of his life and mission, Jesus proclaimed the words that reveal the ultimate meaning of the body: “Take this all of you and eat it. This is my body, which will be given up for you. Do this in memory of me.” These words express his complete gift of self in the Eucharistic meal and in his sacrifice of the cross. Jesus’ entire earthly life was giving himself to others through his body so that human persons—seeing him, touching him, listening to him— might encounter God.
i. 1 John 1:1-3 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ.”
ii. Colossians 2:9 “for in him the fullness of the deity dwells bodily”
iii. Hebrews 10:10 “... we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.”
c. The body expresses the person in the concrete conditions of his or her existence. The body is made for the gift of self and the worship of God. In the gift of the body, the gift of the person is made real.
i. Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.”
3. The meaning of sexual difference in God’s original plan.
a. Human bodiliness is essentially marked by sexuality, so that the human being exists as either male or female.
b. Original solitude and the spousal meaning of the body
i. In our very flesh we experience an incompleteness, a limit, an emptiness.
ii. Original Solitude: Our ultimate dependence on God and, at the same time, the need to establish a relationship with a person of the opposite sex, by whom we feel mysteriously attracted. Sexual difference speaks of attraction and complementarity.
iii. Spousal meaning of the body: The man’s body does not make sense by itself. The woman’s body does not make sense by itself. Only in light of the other can they become the gift they were created to be.
c. Sexuality, inscribed in the body, is shown to be the invitation to reciprocity in communion. Prior to any decision and social influence, man is oriented toward woman and woman toward man. The erotic phenomenon, therefore, is not an irrational or deviant variant of rational thought. Love does not come from the “I,” but precedes it. Only by love the “I” comes to itself in the original tension toward the other.
d. It is precisely in sexual difference that men and women discover that they are destined to find fulfillment in unity with another person of the opposite sex. Sexuality thus reveals something essential to the person, namely that persons do not exist for solitude but for communion.
i. Gen 2:18 “It is not good that the man should be alone so I will make him a partner suitable for him”
ii. Gen 2:23 “Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
iii. “Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et spes)
e. Creative Love
i. By its very nature, love is oriented toward bearing fruit that transcends it.In order to avoid self-absorption and self consumption, love must open itself up to a further fruitfulness, of which procreation is naturally the most obvious aspect.
ii. Unity in love is always fruitful and the body’s fruitfulness, which in the sexual act opens itself to the possibility of procreation, is the sign of the spiritual fruitfulness of the marital act of love: “two beings are now only one, and it is when they are one that they become three” - Maurice Blondel
1. The child is like a Sacrament of the love between spouses: a visible sign of the invisible reality of spousal love.

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Reclame el Don Notas de homilía de la semana 2

“El cuerpo, en efecto, y sólo el cuerpo, es capaz de hacer visible lo invisible: lo espiritual y lo divino. Ha sido creado para trasladar a la realidad visible del mundo el misterio escondido desde la eternidad en Dios, y así ser signo del mismo” (TOB 19,4).

• En el principio: la creación. Toda la creación es buena, pero la persona humana es muy bien:Dios se deleita en ti

• ¿Puedo escuchar a Dios proclamar mi bondad mientras se deleita en mí?

Imagen y semejanza:

Génesis 1:26-28, 31—Dios dijo: “Hagamos al hombre a nuestra imagen y semejanza… ¡y fue muy bueno!”

• La función de la imagen es reflejar a quien es el modelo, reproducir su propio prototipo. El hombre se hace imagen de Dios no tanto en el momento de la soledad como en el momento de la comunión. "Desde el principio", no es sólo una imagen en la que se refleja la soledad de una persona que gobierna el mundo, sino también, y esencialmente, una imagen de una inescrutable comunión divina de personas (Teología del Cuerpo, TOB 9:3).
• -Dios nos dio una clave simbólica para su plan al crearnos a su imagen como “varón y mujer”, es decir, con diferencias corporales diseñadas para la unión. La unión de una sola carne entre el hombre y la mujer en el matrimonio es un signo que señala el propio misterio de Dios y nuestra llamada a la comunión con él.

El cuerpo humano como masculino y femenino

1. El significado del cuerpo para la persona; De hecho, es en el cuerpo donde se inscriben la masculinidad y la feminidad y desde donde se construye la identidad de cada persona.

1. El cuerpo no es algo adicional a la persona humana. Es una parte integral y esencial de lo que significa ser persona.

1. Falso dilema cuerpo versus alma

1. El “Sacramento” de la Persona Humana

1. La manifestación visible de la realidad invisible. En la corporeidad humana, las personas humanas pueden expresarse, comunicarse con los demás, entablar relaciones, darse y aceptar a los demás.
2. No es una mera materia para ser manipulada. No la suma total de órganos, tejidos y funciones. No es la prisión del alma ni es un ídolo.

1. El “Sacramento” del Cuerpo y el Santísimo Sacramento

1. La Eucaristía ofrece el significado último de la corporeidad humana. La Eucaristía da forma al amor esponsal de Cristo, que se entrega completamente por su Esposa, la Iglesia, convirtiéndose en su alimento. (Efesios 5:21-33)
2. En el momento supremo de su vida y de su misión, Jesús proclamó las palabras que revelan el sentido último del cuerpo: “Tomen y coman todos de el, porque esto es mi cuerpo que será entregado por ustedes. Haz esto en memoria mía”. Estas palabras expresan su entrega total de sí en la comida eucarística y en el sacrificio de la cruz. Toda la vida terrena de Jesús fue entregarse a los demás a través de su cuerpo para que las personas humanas –viéndolo, tocándolo, escuchándolo– pudieran encontrar a Dios.

1. 1 Juan 1:1-3 “Les escribimos a ustedes acerca de aquello que ya existía desde el principio, de lo que hemos oído y de lo que hemos visto con nuestros propios ojos. Porque lo hemos visto y lo hemos tocado con nuestras manos. Se trata de la Palabra de vida.”
2. Colosenses 2:9 “porque en él habita corporalmente la plenitud de la deidad”
3. Hebreos 10:10 “... hemos sido santificados mediante la ofrenda del cuerpo de Jesucristo una vez y para siempre.”

1. El cuerpo expresa a la persona en las condiciones concretas de su existencia. El cuerpo está hecho para la entrega de sí mismo y el culto a Dios. En la donación del cuerpo se hace real la donación de la persona.

1. Romanos 12:1 “Por tanto, hermanos mios, les ruego por la misericordia de Dios que se presenten ustedes mismos como ofrenda viva, santa y agradable a Dios. Éste es el verdadero culto que deben ofrecer.”

1. El significado de la diferencia sexual en el plan original de Dios.

1. La corporalidad humana está esencialmente marcada por la sexualidad, de modo que el ser humano existe como hombre o como mujer.
2. La soledad original y el sentido esponsal del cuerpo

1. En nuestra propia carne experimentamos una incompletitud, un límite, un vacío.
2. Soledad Original: Nuestra dependencia última de Dios y, al mismo tiempo, la necesidad de establecer una relación con una persona del sexo opuesto, por quien nos sentimos misteriosamente atraídos. La diferencia sexual habla de atracción y complementariedad.
3. Significado esponsal del cuerpo: El cuerpo del hombre no tiene sentido por sí solo. El cuerpo de la mujer no tiene sentido por sí solo. Sólo a la luz del otro pueden convertirse en el regalo para el que fueron creados.

1. La sexualidad, inscrita en el cuerpo, se muestra como la invitación a la reciprocidad en la comunión.Antes de cualquier decisión e influencia social, el hombre se orienta hacia la mujer y la mujer hacia el hombre. El fenómeno erótico, por tanto, no es una variante irracional o desviada del pensamiento racional. El amor no proviene del yo, sino que lo precede. Sólo por el amor el yo vuelve a sí mismo en la tensión original hacia el otro.
2. Es precisamente en la diferencia sexual donde hombres y mujeres descubren que están destinados a encontrar plenitud en la unidad con otra persona del sexo opuesto. La sexualidad revela así algo esencial a la persona: que las personas no existen para la soledad sino para la comunión.

1. Gén 2:18 “No es bueno que el hombre esté solo, por eso le haré una compañera adecuada para él”
2. Gén 2:23 “”ésta sí que es de mi propia carne y de mis propios hueso!Se va a llamar mujer, porque Dios la sacó del hombre”.
3. “El hombre, que es la única criatura sobre la tierra que Dios ha querido para sí, no puede encontrarse plenamente a sí mismo sino mediante un sincero don de sí mismo”(Gaudium et spes)

1. Amor creativo

1. Por su propia naturaleza, el amor está orientado a dar frutos que lo trascienden. Para evitar el ensimismamiento y el autoconsumo, el amor debe abrirse a una fecundidad ulterior, de la cual la procreación es naturalmente el aspecto más evidente.
2. La unidad en el amor es siempre fecunda y la fecundidad del cuerpo, que en el acto sexual se abre a la posibilidad de la procreación, es signo de la fecundidad espiritual del acto conyugal de amor: “dos seres ya no son más que uno, y es cuando son uno que se convierten en tres” - Maurice Blondel

1. El niño es como un sacramento del amor entre los esposos: signo visible de la realidad invisible del amor esponsal.

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Reclaim the Gift, Part 3 - Homily Notes

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“The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” (TOB 19:4).

• Genesis 3 
• What are we left with→Division and breakdown: Original Sin is an attack on Fatherhood. If the human person doesn't know his or her source in God (Who is love), the way they relate to others will always be impacted by sin, and this will always lead to separation and shame. 
• The problem is rooted in when we normalize the abnormal situation of sin that we have inherited, specifically in the ways we engage with the sexual difference. 

The world is not the way it should be, according to Jesus. How we experience our bodies, community, sexual difference and attraction, marriage, intimacy, is all impacted by the three-fold concupiscence:

• the world (as in the fallen world in rebellion to God)
• the flesh (the person, body and soul, cut off from relationship with God)
• and the devil (the fallen angel of light who wars against God and those made in His image)

1. The Devil--temptation and division

• He hates the incarnate (2 John 1:7)--the one who denies Christ in the flesh is the deceiver and the antichrist.
• He has a Hatred of sex and marriage and especially the fruit of sex and marriage, children

• His desire is to divide man and woman from God and from each other. This results in  manipulation, abuse, violence, exploitation. 
• He wants to divide sex from marriage and from procreation. 

• The contraceptive mentality: against life, against creation of those made in the image and likeness of God.

• Sr. Lucia of Fatima: “A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.”
• John Paul II: “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

• Hatred of the woman: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15

Our Antidote to the machinations of the Devil: repent and believe the Gospel. Re-learn our own sexuality and humanity in light of Jesus. Confession. Counseling. Jesus Christ is LORD. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Michael and all the saints fight on our behalf.

2. The World-in response to the brokenness we all experience, philosophies arise that try to encourage a way forward, apart from God. 

• Rene Descarte, “I think therefore I am” (cogito ergo sum)--Cartesian dualism
• Two heresies of the modern age: 1) The lack of belief in the Fall/Original Sin (which means we can restore society through having the right programs or education or technology) and 2), that I am not my body--my body is mere matter that I can manipulate however I want or need to match my “mind”

• Scientific rationalism 
• New age spiritualism 
• Hedonism
• Marxism 
• Feminism (not as the expression of equal and complementary dignity of men and women and the feminine genius expressed by philosophers like St. Edith Stein, but the feminist trend that moves towards the abolishing of gender completely)

Antidote: recognizing simultaneously, in Christ, the need to be saved from Original Sin and the integral goodness of us as human persons, body and soul. Allow yourself to be formed by good, true and beautiful philosophy, art and meditations on the human person.

Romans 8: 19-24  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.

Romans 12: 2 Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

3. The Flesh: our own disordered tendencies, concupiscence, Trauma, abuse and the effect of our own sin.

• Lust: the disordered use of myself and others for sexual satisfaction, divorced from proper ends of sex within marriage towards union and procreation. 
• Abuse
• How we learned about and experienced sex 
• Trauma—brain goes into fight for survival, body can feel cut off from the person

• Dr. Bessel van der Kolk: I was amazed to discover how many of my patients told me they could not feel whole areas of their bodies. …traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from themselves.

• Contraceptive shift: sexual activity divorced from God, marriage and procreation leads to sexual identity as something divorced from the body.  

Antidote: integration and healing (in and through the body); Confession, Sacramental and liturgical expressions of faith; loving and caring community, relationships that are not exploitative or based in sexual acting out. Within marriage, experiencing sexual love that is free, total, faithful and fruitful.

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***Remember that next week at all the Masses we will have a special Liturgy of the Word for our children (6th grade and younger) so we can have our homily dedicated to answering some of the more difficult topics about sexual morality in light of the Theology of the Body. Though the homily will not be graphic, it will intentionally be specific for the sake of clarity and truth. Fr. Richard will be offering Confession before and after all Masses next week, Confession will not be offered during Mass.

Our resident counselor, Ryan Rogers, sees patients for counseling here at Saint Dominic and can be reached at saintdominiccounseling.com. Let’s keep each other in prayer in the coming week!

Most people don’t experience supernatural moments in their everyday lives.

There is a big disconnect between their own experiences and those in stories of scripture or the lives of saints.

If deep down you are looking for the "more" that is promised by God to see the Gospel impact your daily life, the Encounter School can radically renew your mind and transform your life.

As a part of the St. Dominic Evangelization line of effort, we encourage all men and women of our community to "come and see" these first 3 Monday nights from 5:30-8:30pm.

Monday Sept 18, Monday Sept 25, & Monday October 2 are open "come & see" classes.

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