“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church.” (Eph. 5:31-32)
As my beloved toddler scrambles to attempt and contribute to this short blog, I ponder the above passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. As much as a man can ponder with a 2-year old dancing in one’s lap, that is.
Jackie and I haven’t blogged much as of late because we’ve been working hard to meet our deadline (today) for our first draft of…something we’ve been writing. I don’t know if it’s bad luck to say any more, so that’s all you get for now. We’ll be doing more blogging soon, along with the goal of doing more short videos.
We have been knee-deep in our efforts to re-reading and studying St. John Paul II’s great teaching known commonly as his “Theology of the Body.” One of his most profound observations is the how the call to love is embedded within our very bodies. He called this the “spousal meaning of the body”:
The body “has the power to express the love by which the human person becomes a gift, thus fulfilling the deep meaning of his or her being and existence.”
Today is also the day we’re watching several celebrations for our friends: the marriage of friends in ministry Katie Prejean and Tommy McGrady, as well as the priestly ordination day of classmates of mine from the diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Fr. Thomas Kennell was my first (and only) roommate in the seminary; best roommate I ever had. These guys walked with my in my journey of vocation and what a gift it is to see them enter into the next stage of service. Rather than one earthly spouse, celibacy is a supernatural call of a total gift of oneself to God.
Whether the call to marriage or a vowed celibate vocation, God wants our greatness and to “gift” ourselves to the world. Don’t bury your talents or the gift of who you are. We need more voices blogging, speaking, and creating beautiful art to witness that the Truth, Good, and Beautiful is out there and worth pursuing.
Lord, please bless all those beginning their journey of marriage or a celibate vocation. Bless their efforts to love without counting the cost and my their efforts bear much good fruit in the world. If that includes creating more fussy dictator-toddlers, so be it Lord.
