“Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure,” ranks as one of my favorite quotes from Pope St. John Paul II. This simple, yet direct, statement always inspired me and I contemplated it many times as I began my internship with TOBET this summer. This quote emphasizes Pope John Paul’s idea, laid out in his Theology of the Body, that humans have a relational nature that leads us to share our lives with Christ. Keeping the quote in mind, I wanted to see how helping evangelize the Theology of the Body would impact my adventurous “Life with Christ.” As I began helping with preparing TOBET’s upcoming programs, I reached a new realization that I seemed to always forget about and yet is so central to Theology of the Body – that the body matters!
That word “body” is so central to many of TOBET’s programs and in the very title of “Theology of the Body” itself and yet I often forgot about it. When I encountered TOBET’s programs and heard phrases such as, “the body matters” and so forth, I discovered that when Pope St. John Paul II said, “Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure,” he didn’t just mean a spiritual life. Because of our physical bodies, we live an embodied life with Christ and it can indeed be a wonderful adventure. One of TOBET’s favorite quotes that I’ve become familiar with in my internship work is “So glorify God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Helping with the My Body My Identity: Discovering God’s Design program and encountering quotes and ideas like this, showed me that our lives with Christ intrinsically involve our bodies and that living out our bodily design not only lets us live out our wonderful adventure with Christ but also glorifies Him.
Not only did the material I worked with embellish my understanding of “Theology of the Body” but working with the amazing TOBET team further highlighted for me what living an embodied life with Christ looks like in action. From praying before Monday meetings, to lunch breaks together, to prayer walks, I observed how the TOBET team didn’t just evangelize about living out God’s design for the body but also lived out a real and beautiful example of it. Their sincere kindness and hospitality solidified for me that when we truly respect every person’s body and identity in Christ, it creates the most warm and welcoming environment to work, learn, and grow in all of our lives with Christ.
I thank God for this opportunity to gain a new insight into the Theology of the Body and to work side-by-side with the TOBET team whom I can see is so truly blessed by Christ. I’m so thankful for the experience gained from encountering their deeply rich, poignant, and insightful programs that spread the life-changing teachings of the Theology of the Body. This internship has added to and enhanced my life with Christ and will continue to encourage me to keep living out His wonderful adventure in and through the body.
Our intern and blog author, Megan, with Monica!
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I appreciated this article and am so thrilled at the ministry of Tobet! I’m a Protestant evangelical who has been on your email list for many years now, and I find myself agreeing and being blessed repeatedly by your ministry. God has made us whole persons, and we glorify Him with our whole persons, body and soul. Sadly, there’s a Gnostic impulse within some (not all!) of Protestantism, where the focus is exclusively on the mind/heart….Please keep up the good work! Your ministry is a crucial one today.
Thank you for your kind words Kevin! Praise God that our ministry can serve everyBODY! We are very happy that our Protestant brothers and sisters, such as yourself, see value in Theology of the body!