Halfway Down the Fuse

The indomitable Christopher West once commented that he wanted to be the spark that lit the fuse on what George Weigel called "a timebomb": John Paul II's Theology of the Body reflections.

Accordingly, he has jumped into the late Pope's pontifications on the subject with a profound zeal.

To sum up the Pope's teachings is difficult. Weigel, JPII's biographer and a prominent theologian in his own right, said the pope's lessons would affect "virtually every major theme in the Creed."

Recently I've jumped in to that pool as well, and am seeing what Weigel meant. If you want to gain an understanding of what the Theology of the Body is, think of this: Take Creation, the Incarnation, the Trinity, the mystical meaning of marriage, the dignity of the human person, the splendid complementarity between the sexes, the marriage act itself, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the Eucharist. Jam them all together in a way where each one is connected to the other on 7 different planes of profundity, and you'll just begin to scratch the scratch on the surface of this new perspective on our faith that Christopher West has summarized.

It's that deep. And it's set to explode in the coming generations, bringing in a Culture of Life.

My wife and I will be giving a talk on ToTB Saturday at a Singles For Christ conference. It's going to be challenging, as we don't pretend to have any sort of a full understanding of the concept, but we hope we can present the message with enough clarity to generate some interest in more in-depth studies.

Please pray for us and our work in this important mission.