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Karol Wojtyla regularly escaped.
He escaped from not one, but two of history’s most terrifying totalitarian regimes: German Nazism and Soviet Communism. His method of escape was not to rally across the border with military might. Nor was it simply to negotiate footholds through diplomatic skill. Rather, Wojtyla escaped into the mountains of Poland with young married couples to discuss with them the nature and meaning of the human person and marriage as a communion of persons through the authentic gift of self.
The Nazis and Communists knew that the first step to destroy a people was to take away their cultural identity. Karol Wojtyla knew this too. The regimes outlawed discussion of the prime coordinates of culture: the meaning of the human person and marriage. That which the regimes forbade, the mountains invited.
The theology of the body was not born in a lecture hall or a library. It did not originate as a discourse of academics or theoreticians. It arose from the common conversation of ordinary parishioners with their concerned pastor. The theology of the body is, therefore, front-loaded with pastoral experience. The reflections that led to the theology of the body emerged on a grassroots level from Wojtyla’s own combination of reading, reflection and risk. As a result, it is ready-made for pastoral effectiveness.
Even in Rome, after Karol Wojtyla was elected pontiff and took the name John Paul II, the theology of the body was delivered not at a symposium among world experts, but as a catechesis of the universal pastor to his flock. What began on the mountains of Poland was proclaimed amidst the hills of Rome to the entire world, as John Paul II and the Church now faced a third totalitarian regime: the secular relativism of the culture of death.
The combination of reading, reflection and risk that gave rise to the theology of the body represents the very sequence by which its treasures are released in pastoral effectiveness.
Reading
The one who approaches the text of the theology of the body finds familiar links. The text is based on passages of sacred Scripture that serve as anchors. In fact, the text is similar to a prolonged meditation on various verses of Scripture. For example, John Paul begins the text with Jesus’ response to the Pharisees concerning the question of divorce in Chapter 19 of the Gospel of St. Matthew. In his response to the Pharisees, Jesus quotes the two creation accounts from the Book of Genesis.
John Paul carefully guides us along the path to Genesis and explains both what it means to be a human person and the meaning of marriage. It can be intimidating for Catholics to turn to Genesis. We sometimes feel embarrassed, hesitant or even apologetic about the creation accounts. Ever since we learned that the creation accounts of Genesis are myth, we have been convinced that they aren’t true. John Paul points out that mythical does not mean the same thing as false. In fact, myth in the classic sense actually conveys a robust truth that is too dense to fit into a mere fact.
John Paul shows that Genesis reveals that the human person is created, is a gift given, and, therefore, the human person’s deepest identity is to be a gift of self, one to another. This takes place in a pre-eminent manner in marriage, in and through the body, and is uniquely expressed in the conjugal marital act in which the moment of love is the moment of life, the moment of the gift. As we patiently read, re-read and discuss John Paul’s teaching, its treasure is yielded up. We learn that the human person is created to be a gift of self that opens him or her to an authentic communion of persons. One reason for the traction of John Paul’s teaching is that he presents in a personalist key the same truth we have already heard, though we may have heard it previously in a more juridical tone or with a strong emphasis on duty and obligation.
Reflection
As we read the text, we must reflect on it and also on the signs of the times. How different the pages of the theology of the body are from those of the cable news or talk shows or popular magazines. Everywhere we turn, the popular notion is that to be a person we must always be a success. And being a success means: Make straight As; be more popular; get into the college of our choice so that we earn the most money after graduation; live in the upscale zip code; to have bought gold 10 years ago, get $7 trades and have kids who get straight As when they are not on summer break at the vacation house. … The all-too-routine failure to comprehend the mystery of the gift of self again plays itself out.
Our culture talks us into the lie that to be a person we must acquire pleasure quickly, at all costs … of family, life, blood pressure and ulcers. And if we miss out on any one of the status requirements, we are somehow a loser and do not count. John Paul overturns this notion just as surely as Jesus overturned the tables. John Paul shows that the Genesis text, as well as the texts of St. Matthew and St. Paul, are saturated with the reality that to be human means not that we acquire pleasure quickly, but that we give beauty slowly. And through the gift of self we come to an experience of an authentic communion of persons. And from the communion of human persons, we are led to the inscrutable mystery of the communion of divine persons in the Trinity.
Risk
Finally, to open up the pastoral effectiveness of the theology of the body, we take the risk. We begin to live life as a gift received and to be given. We turn again to the sacraments, to the teaching of the Church, to our prayer life, to the path of virtue, and we make a gift of self. These are not automatic steps. They take time and grace. They are the training ground that forms us to live the life of virtue through the impetus of the Holy Spirit. It is on this path that we respond to temptation, weakness, human frailty and sin.
In our training we learn to slow down. As we slow down, we awaken to a new momentum. As we awaken to this new center of gravity, we learn that the nucleus of love is the gift of self, found first in the sacrificial self-gift of Jesus on the cross. On the cross, the Son of God reveals the Father and his love. The Holy Spirit invites us into this communion of love. The only thing better than reading or reflecting about the gift of self is risking it. And we dare once again: Husband and wife take the risk. They risk seeing beauty — the beauty of the communion of persons — and are led beyond themselves in love.
Through patient reading and careful reflection, the teaching on the gift of self, on the communion of persons, finds its way to marriage-preparation programs, RCIA, homily preparation, catechetical instruction and daily life. Husbands and wives, engaged couples, and each one of us are released from the hypnotic spell of acquire pleasure quickly as we discover again the happiness of the vocation to give beauty slowly. We learn to see the other as a person rather than a thing.
And all of a sudden, we realize, we have escaped.
Father J. Brian Bransfield, STD, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and currently serves as assistant general secretary at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is the author of The Human Person: According to John Paul II (2010, Pauline Books). This is the second essay in the Register’s symposium on Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body. Tomorrow: Janet Smith answers the question, How does the theology of the body’s teaching on chastity affect pastoral practice, and how do we teach and live chastity as a result? What does “the redemption of the body” really mean?
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Dear Father Brian Bransfield, I may have shared this story before, and I’d like to share it again. In fact, I just re-read a few pages of your blessed book this morning. “I can’t thank you enough!”:
In 2009 my 14- year- old son had the blessed privilege of attending classes for 10 weeks on Theology of the Body at our Church through the graciousness of our Religious Director, Daniel Rackers.
I attended the parents meeting that presented an introduction and a video that explained the teachings of Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body As I browsed through the parent hand book, I was immediately aware of ‘answered’ questions of clarity as “the gift” through a personal testimony of experience. I knew without a shadow of doubt that my son would only benefit through this sacred knowledge of truth, and that I wanted to know more about it as well.
Through answered prayer and an announcement of invitation posted in the National Catholic Register, I attended the Theology of the Body Congress on July 30th 2010 in Blue Bell, PA. I listened, prayed, and reflected at every workshop with prominent speakers as Dr. Janet Smith, Damon Clarke Owens, Fr. Brian Bransfield, and Dr. Philip Mango and more. I had the pleasure to dine with Rev. Severinus from Uganda, and met Executive Director of HLI and Association of Large Families, Jenn Giroux. I celebrated mass with Cardinal Justin Rigali, bishops, priest, church leaders, and clergy from all over the world. The Theology of the Body Congress has become my truest guide of confirmation and inspiration that graciously led me to the meeting of Fr. Brian Bransfield and his book The Human Person.
When I first opened the book and read the introduction, I skimmed over to the last chapters (a habit of mine looking for inspiration.) But, I immediately started over at the beginning with intense reading in awe of high lights - In essence, I could have highlighted the entire book! There are answers in depth of Theology, Philosophy, and the Church, and the ‘the gift of love’ that we crave as the Human Person that most everyone (regardless of religious or vocation) can resonate and benefit from. I’m most certain that this book alone will reach our humanness in a new understanding love of one another as Christ love.
The Human Person is a magnetic compass to love. Every word of truth and fulfillment are pointed out through its pages. I find myself re- reading the infinite preciseness as the voice of God’s love of the family, marriage, and Church.
I do not have any degree in the field of psychology, ministry, or teaching of any kind. However, I would be proud and honored to claim that I have a degree in any of those fields or to be amongst them. But I certainly have listened with an open heart and mind from another’s view or suggested reads of New Thought, and only by His Holy Grace, John Paul II “This is my recommended reading from a Christian view that fulfills the promise as no other…!” God Bless Brian Bransfield’s The Human Person and that it remain a necessary and valuable guide to support us in the Christian life for the whole world to know, love, serve, and live by; receiving and proclaiming The Gift.
“We need a new apologetic, geared to the needs of today, which keeps in mind that our task is not to win arguments but to win souls. Such an apologetic will need to breathe a spirit of humanity, that humility and compassion which understand the anxieties and questions of people.”
- Pope John Paul II
I feel that Theology of the Body should be the backbone of teaching our 6th graders on up of the beautiful gift God gave them. If we arm the children with truth we can spare them the damage of falling for the lies of popular culture. Some may want to water it down feeling that they can’t handle it. Don’t underestimate them. One reason the young were drawn to Pope John Paul 2 was he never talked down to them or underestimated them but challenged them. If we don’t arm the children with the full strength of God’ truth, we will lose them to the half-truths and pretty lies of the evil side.
While EVERYTHING the Roman Catholic church teaches may be 100% correct, when I read or hear anything coming out of Rome on issues such as marriage and family, I am skeptical of it. After all, this is coming from a group of men that have no idea what it is to manage a family. All they hear of family life is in the confessional, and it’s skewed because all they hear are the problems. If priests were married, with families of their own, it would make them more credible - like Paul wrote to Timothy: “For if a man cannot manage his own little family with dignity, how can he take care of the church of God.” We need role models and we CANNOT look to any priest as a role model, because their lives are just different from those of us in the real world. With no contraception, I have to think, “Hmmm. Do you want big families so that a mother can ‘give’ a son to be a priest?” After all, these clerics want to replenish their numbers, it has to be something in it for THEM.
It’s not like our clergy spend time explaining Scripture verses, line by line, and PREACHING in an expository fashion, so that Catholics will be learned about our faith, in matters that have ETERNAL VALUE. Most of it is short-term. Most of it is what’s in it for THEM. Most of it is to see how much power and control they can have over people. It’s sad that I have almost no trust in any of our church leaders. Even if they know better, they seem to go with the flow - deception, cover-ups, and all those apologies. Day after day - nothing but “We’re sorry. Please forgive us. We’ll do better next time.” - Who trusts men like that? Not me. I am 100% Pro-Life (even believe the death penalty needs to be abolished, and we need prison reform instead); I am 100% for the preservation of marriage between one man and one woman; and I believe women are NOT to be ordained to the priesthood, because it is against Scripture and there’s no basis for it in universal Church Tradition. But turn my brain over to the Vatican and have those ungodly men take control over how I think? No thanks.
What a beautiful explanation of Theology of the Body! I have not read Fr.Bransfield’s book but I am certainly going to do it now. This comment in particular I found so profound:
“John Paul shows that the Genesis text, as well as the texts of St. Matthew and St. Paul, are saturated with the reality that to be human means not that we acquire pleasure quickly, but that we give beauty slowly. And through the gift of self we come to an experience of an authentic communion of persons. And from the communion of human persons, we are led to the inscrutable mystery of the communion of divine persons in the Trinity.”
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