BIG C CATHOLICS

Iconography, pictures of Divine Persons and saints, are signs, images, or likenesses that embody and make present what they portray. God, the author of creation, uses physical realities to make present spiritual realities beyond us. Sex is sacred because, as a life-giving exchange of persons, it images the exchange of persons in the Trinity. Husband and wife participate in the Divine Life of God by being a family. Human families are icons of the Divine Family. Like marriage, celibacy is a total gift of self that points to a spiritual reality. Jesus’ answer: "At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage… " (Matthew 22:30, also Mark 12:25, and Luke 20:35), in response to the Sadducees’ question about the seven times widowed woman, reveals our life in Heaven. Sex and matrimony are icons of Divine Love. In Heaven we will see God face to face. This intimate (re)union will be an unrivaled joy, surpassing even the ecstasy of sexual fulfillment. There will be no

Thought of the Day A man should give himself completely in a receiving way to his wife, and a woman should receive her husband completely in a giving way. -- John Paul II

Questions to help me defend life better. Am I fully convinced that every abortion, at every stage of pregnancy, is the destruction of an innocent human life, which has the same value as my life, my parents? lives, my children's lives? Do I foster and nourish this conviction by reflecting often on the tragic loss of life occurring daily around me? Do I ever allow myself the thought that someone else's abortion is "none of my business?" Do I sometimes think that I have "more important" things to do than to save innocent lives? Do I believe I am responsible for my preborn brothers and sisters and accountable to God for what I do to save them? Do I have the courage to remind myself of the horror of abortion by actually looking at the pictures of aborted babies? Do I pray daily and explicitly for an end to abortion? Do I pray for the babies, the mothers, the abortionists, the legislators, the media, the clergy, and the whole pro-life movement? Do I fast or make o

Matthew Coffin The Exchange of Persons in the Trinity The three-leaf clover used in religion classes to explain the mystery of three Divine Persons in one God does not begin to penetrate the incomparable majesty, boundless love, and total communion, which the Church in her Tradition and creeds ascribes to the Godhead. To the early Church Fathers the idea of perichoresis (the exchange of Persons in the Trinity), was indispensable to understanding God. This sublime, metaphysical concept is central to John Paul’s Theology of the Body. The inner life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Divine Love Itself, is dimly but unmistakably reflected in the beauty of the conjugal embrace, the nuptial meaning of our bodies, and the echo of original innocence that resides in the human heart. Before continuing, the term "person" should be defined. A person has an intellect, with which to know and a will, with which to choose. As a result, a person is always a "someone," never a

Men were made to love women just as women were made to love men. We were all made to love as God loves. To love the way God loves is to love completely, holding nothing back. Adam and Eve knew this immediately upon seeing each other for the first time. It is inscribed in our bodies; their very physicality speaks this truth. Sex is sacred. It must be protected and revered as a holy and mysterious union. Women express the unrepeatable feminine incarnations of the human person that they are when they love their husbands. In so doing they honor and love God. Men express the unrepeatable masculine incarnations of the human person that they are when they love their wives. In so doing they also love God. The celibate is called to love by offering up their masculinity or femininity to God and by serving others. Nuns live a beautiful vocation by being spouses to Christ. This is not a sexual union but a profound spiritual union. Likewise, priests and religious brothers offer up their mas

Carl Anderson NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, MARCH 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Having served for nearly a decade as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, I know that there are few subjects as controversial in American society as those issues touching race relations. Nonetheless, an article appearing this weekend in the New York Times -- titled "To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case" -- is worth considering. Without getting into the controversy concerning the well-documented eugenic philosophy of Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood), or the debate over whether or not African Americans are actually deliberately targeted by abortion providers today, several disturbing facts remain. For one, as the New York Times pointed out, black women account for almost 40% of the abortions in the United States, though they make up only 13% of the population. Regardless of the cause for that high rate, abortion is an especially large-scale tragedy for African Americans. T

There are two excellent video resources for those studying the theology of the body. One is a series of six talks on TOB by Father Samuel Medley S.O.L.T. available here . The other is a series of eight talks by Father Roger J. Landry available here .His website with additional resources is here . A website featuring the theology of the body online along with related essays and articles is available at Theological Clowning . There is a worthwhile summary of TOB here , by Christopher West available through the CERC.