Love rocks! - Dinner and Discourse discusses John Paul II's Theology of the Body
Stephanie Stoeckl
Issue date: 9/30/08 Section: News
"Love rocks! Even (Especially) for Priests and Religious" was the title of Dinner and Discourse on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Sister Mary Michael Huseman, OSF, spoke on John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" as applied to those who live vows of chastity.
Huseman briefly summarized theology in general as the study of how God reveals Himself to man, pointing out that God makes Himself manifest through man. Therefore, the Theology of the Body is man's imaging of God by how we act in our bodies. As the Holy Trinity is the perfect example of loving communion and unity, so are we called to be. We do not picture God alone, but in union with others. Communion and unity are obvious in the ideal marriage, but in what way is this unity exemplified by those who have vowed to remain chaste? This question lay at the heart of Huseman's talk.
Mankind is called to fruitful unity, Huseman explained. Once again, the fruits of this unity are obvious in view of a married couple with children. Priests and religious, however, are called to spiritual fruitfulness with spiritual children. Huseman described this idea by relating her experience as she took her religious vows.
"I knelt down to take my final vows and guess what I saw?" Huseman said. "I saw all the people that I would touch with my life. I started to bawl my eyes out because I realized God was using me to touch all these people."
In addition to caring for spiritual children, the life of the religious is also a call to live an eschatological life. In Heaven, man will directly be united with God, with no intermediary between them. In this way, the complete consecration of priests' and religious' lives to God is a sign that points toward eternity.
Huseman emphasized the need for all the faithful (especially priests and religious) to direct their need for love, intimacy and attention to God in prayer. If we, even if we are not called to religion, do not seek fulfillment of these needs in prayer, we will seek it in all the wrong places, such as overeating, overworking or pornography.
Huseman emphasized the fact that attraction does not cease with vows.
"There are times when I am very attracted to people. The vocation to a vow of chastity is a special grace; not everyone is given it. That doesn't mean that there's a switch that turns you off."
To conclude the talk, Huseman shared an early part of her vocation story. She had grown up planning to marry and have a family. However, she described a moment in which God spoke to her heart, saying "this is not what I have in mind for you. I want you to marry me."
"Whatever your dreams or hopes or desires," Huseman said, "don't be surprised if God turns it upside down into something totally awesome."
Huseman briefly summarized theology in general as the study of how God reveals Himself to man, pointing out that God makes Himself manifest through man. Therefore, the Theology of the Body is man's imaging of God by how we act in our bodies. As the Holy Trinity is the perfect example of loving communion and unity, so are we called to be. We do not picture God alone, but in union with others. Communion and unity are obvious in the ideal marriage, but in what way is this unity exemplified by those who have vowed to remain chaste? This question lay at the heart of Huseman's talk.
Mankind is called to fruitful unity, Huseman explained. Once again, the fruits of this unity are obvious in view of a married couple with children. Priests and religious, however, are called to spiritual fruitfulness with spiritual children. Huseman described this idea by relating her experience as she took her religious vows.
"I knelt down to take my final vows and guess what I saw?" Huseman said. "I saw all the people that I would touch with my life. I started to bawl my eyes out because I realized God was using me to touch all these people."
In addition to caring for spiritual children, the life of the religious is also a call to live an eschatological life. In Heaven, man will directly be united with God, with no intermediary between them. In this way, the complete consecration of priests' and religious' lives to God is a sign that points toward eternity.
Huseman emphasized the need for all the faithful (especially priests and religious) to direct their need for love, intimacy and attention to God in prayer. If we, even if we are not called to religion, do not seek fulfillment of these needs in prayer, we will seek it in all the wrong places, such as overeating, overworking or pornography.
Huseman emphasized the fact that attraction does not cease with vows.
"There are times when I am very attracted to people. The vocation to a vow of chastity is a special grace; not everyone is given it. That doesn't mean that there's a switch that turns you off."
To conclude the talk, Huseman shared an early part of her vocation story. She had grown up planning to marry and have a family. However, she described a moment in which God spoke to her heart, saying "this is not what I have in mind for you. I want you to marry me."
"Whatever your dreams or hopes or desires," Huseman said, "don't be surprised if God turns it upside down into something totally awesome."
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