Freedom To Love 2009 06 27

Freedom to Love
The Theology of the Body
Applied to Our Lives

OLOP|YA
Our Lady of Peace
Young Adult Group

Table of Contents
A Brief Overview of the Theology of the Body
1. Sex and the Meaning of Existence
2. Understanding the Body as a “Theology”
3. God‟s Mystery & the Spousal Analogy
4. Unmasking the Counterfeits
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free
1. What is Freedom
2. The Dependence of Freedom on Truth
3. How Do We Know the Truth?
4. The Freedom for Which Christ Set Us Free
5. The Holy Spirit is the Source of Freedom
Love as I Have Loved You
1. What is Love?
2. Chastity & the Integration of Love
3. Love & the “Unrepeatability” of the Person
Living the Redemption of Sexuality
1. Sex, Lies, & Redemption
2. The “Great Divorce”
3. Integration in Christ
4. Some Practical Points

OLOP|YA
YOUNG ADULTS Freedom to Love 2

Theology of the Body

“The body, and in fact, it alone, is capable of making
visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It
was created to transfer into the visible reality of the
world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in
God, and thus to be a sign of it”
(TB, 76).

OLOP|YA

“Sexuality… is by no
means something
purely biological, but
concerns the inner-most
being of the human
person”

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“The redemption of the
body… is, in fact, the
perspective of the whole
Gospel, of the whole
teaching, in fact of the
whole mission of Christ.”

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DUALISM
Angelism Animalism
Prudery Indecency
Rigorism Permissivism
Repression Indulgence

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“It is necessary continually to rediscover in what is
„erotic‟ the nuptial meaning of the body and the
true dignity of the gift. … which means the
aspiration of the human spirit towards the true,
good, and beautiful – so that what is „erotic‟ also
becomes true, good, and beautiful” (TB, 171).

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“Man cannot stop at putting
the heart in a state of
continual and irreversible
suspicion due to the
manifestations of lust…
Redemption is a truth, a
reality, in the name of which
man must feel called, and
called with efficacy” (TB,
167).

OLOP|YA

We must learn with perseverance and consistency
the meaning of our bodies, the meaning of our
sexuality…This is a “science” which can‟t really be
learned only from books, because it‟s a question
here of deep knowledge of our interior life…And
although these internal movements of the heart
can sometimes be confused with one another, we
have been called by Christ to acquire a mature
and complete evaluation. And it should be added
that this task can be carried out and is really
worthy of man (see TB, 172).

OLOP|YA

Living the Redemption

Make it your mission in life to come to know,
understand and live the TOB.
• Theology of the Body for Beginners, Christopher
West, Ascension Press
• Introduction to the Theology of the Body,
Christopher West, Ascension Press
• Theology of the Body for Teens, Jason Evert
• Naked Without Shame CD Set, Christopher West,
The Gift Foundation
• Heaven‟s Song, Christopher West, Ascension Press
• The Love that Satisfies, Christopher West, Ascension
Press
• Love and Responsibility, Karol Wojtyla, Ignatius
Press
• Sex and the Marriage Covenant, Kippley, Ignatius
Press
OLOP|YA


Continually pray and meditate on
God‟s plan for sexuality.
• 30 Day Challenge
• For the next 30 days, every morning, pray,
“God, if you exist, show me why you made me
a man/woman.”
• Pray the Rosary
• Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
• Pray in times of temptation
• Lord, you created man and woman with a
purpose
• Lord, thank you for sexuality
• Lord, redeem my lust and teach me to see your
plan in every person

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Frequent the sacraments of Eucharist
and Confession.
• Attend Holy Mass more than once a week,
every day if possible
• Go to Confession once every 2-4 weeks

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Keep nothing of your sinfulness and
woundedness from the light of Christ.
• Frequent Confession
• Honesty and humility in prayer
• Do a General Confession (by appointment)

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Forcefully reject the lies that bombard
us every day.
• Reject the lie in that instant, verbally or in
your heart
• Replace it with the true image of the
masculine and feminine

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Pray for redemption of desires in moments of
temptation.
• “Lord, thank you for the beauty of this person.
Thank you for the gift of my own sexuality. I
surrender this twisted lustful desire to you, and I
ask you, please, by the power of your death and
resurrection, to untwist in me what sin has twisted,
so that I might come to experience sexual desire as
you created it to be.”
• “Lord, through your death and resurrection you
have redeemed man. Take my lustful desires and
wash them clean by the Blood and Water which
flows from Your Sacred Heart. Make my heart all
pure. Allow me to desire to genuflect to this man or
this woman. Grant me the grace to refuse to view
them as a “good” for myself. O Blood and water
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a
fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.”

OLOP|YA


Seek God‟s grace to forgive those who
have wounded you.
• In humility, pray for them and their healing
and conversion
• Meditate on Christ‟s Passion

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Seek God‟s grace to forgive yourself for
your own failings.
• Prayer, confession, and Mass
• Actively work towards holiness and for His
Will

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Seek the forgiveness of those you have
wronged (when appropriate).
• Pray for them

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Seek professional help or counseling
when needed.
• Catholictherapist.com
• www.couragerc.net

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Witness to the truth in your own
family, workplace, school, etc.
• Live and speak the truth
• Be a man: Hold open doors
• Be a woman: Allow doors to be held open

OLOP|YA

1. Make it your mission in life to come to know, understand and
live the TOB.
2. Continually pray and meditate on God‟s plan for sexuality.
3. Frequent the sacraments of Eucharist and Confession.
4. Keep nothing of your sinfulness and woundedness from the
light of Christ.
5. Forcefully reject the lies that bombard us every day.
6. Pray for redemption of desires in moments of temptation.
7. Seek God‟s grace to forgive those who have wounded you.
8. Seek God‟s grace to forgive yourself for your own failings.
9. Seek the forgiveness of those you have wronged (when
appropriate).
10. Seek professional help or counseling when needed.
11. Witness to the truth in your own family, workplace, school,
etc.

OLOP|YA

I appeal to you, in view of God‟s mercy, to offer
your sexuality as a living sacrifice, whole and entire
to God. You need not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but you can be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will
understand and desire God‟s will for your sexuality –
his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
(see Romans 12:1-2)

OLOP|YA

If not now, then when?

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Salt and Light

If not this, then what?

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Longing…

“…to set the world ablaze.”
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Choose the Next Topic

Truth: Still “straight up” after all these years.
Tradition: The Pillar and Foundation of Truth.
Authority: Who‟s your Papem?
Deuterocanonicals: Got Maccabees?
Purgatory: On the Way Up.

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For the Future…
Apologetics (Faith and works, Sola Scriptura, Purgatory, etc.)
Catholic History
Church Fathers
Current Events
Catholic Economics and Politics
Papal Encyclicals and Writings
The Holy Mass
Morality
Non-Christian Religions
Other Christian Denominations
Philosophy
Prayer
The Sacraments
The Saints
Scripture
Sexual Morality
Social Teaching
Theology
Vatican II

OLOP|YA

Pope John Paul the Great

pray for us
OLOP|YA

Freedom To Love 2009 06 27

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Freedom To Love 2009 06 27