43 years ago this week, Pope St. John Paul delivered the very first audience of his Theology of the Body (TOB), his greatest contribution to our Church and our culture.
Having soaked it in for over 23 years, I am convinced that this man saw the trajectory of what he called “detachment.” His use of the word detachment means thinking the body does not matter. For the past few months, I have given numerous Educating the Educator trainings for faculty and catechists, and one of the main things I try to convey to them is that they need to speak about the body and its meaning to children and youth, so as to counter detachment. I will say the same thing in person at conferences in Tulsa, Denver, San Diego, Orange County, Oklahoma City, just like I said last night to teachers in the Philippines online.
Instead of merely directing your 7 th grader to stop playing video games past his allotted time, say, “Joe, your body matters—that means you need to bring your body into the living room and talk with everyBODY: your parents, brothers, and sisters.”
St. John Paul knew what he was doing when he called his work the “Theology of the Body” (not the Theology “of the person,” or “of the family,” or “of sex.”), for he knew the BODY matters… eternally. Thank you, St. John Paul for taking the Incarnation so seriously and applying it to our lives. Pray for us.
Monica Ashour, MTS; MHum is President, Author, International Speaker, and Content Creation Director at Theology of the Body Evangelization Team, Inc. (TOBET)