1. Freedom to Love
The Theology of the Body
Applied to Our Lives
OLOP|YA
Our Lady of Peace
Young Adult Group

2. 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
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3. Sex and the Meaning of Existence

4. Sex is linked to the Meaning of Existence
If you have a body, the TOTB applies to you.
Though it focuses on sexual love, the theology of
the body affords “the rediscovery of the meaning of
the whole of existence, the meaning of life” (TB,
168)
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5. Relating the Catholic View of Sex to the Culture
Our Culture has little to no understanding of the
value of sex
Catholic education has historically had a simple
message related to sex: “Don‟t do it.”
MTVs Debut
The TOTB:
1. Tells us the why behind the what
2. Gives us a new language to communicate the Glory of
God‟s plan for human sexuality
3. Is the message that you and I can use to transform
the culture
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6. How can the body have a theology?
“‟Let us make man in our
image‟…God created man in
his image; in the divine image
he created him; male and
female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:26-27).
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7. Our Culture
Why is fertility seen as a disease?
The Pill Commercial There She Goes
Why is lust masqueraded as love?
• “You and me Baby ain‟t nothing but mammals, so let‟s do
it like they do on the discovery channel.”
If you can’t say no to sex, your
yes means nothing.
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8. Understanding the Body as a “Theology”

9. A Profound Unity of Body and Spirit
“As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses
and perceives spiritual realities through physical
signs and symbols” (CCC, n. 1146)
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10. Theology = The Study of God
Christianity is the religion of the Word made
flesh.
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11. Understanding the Body as a “Theology”
Who you’re looking for

12. 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).
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13. The Ultimate Spiritual Mystery
“God has revealed his innermost secret:
God himself is an
eternal exchange of
love, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, and he has
destined us to share in
that eternal exchange
of Love”
(CCC, n. 221).
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14. True Love
Counterfeit Loves
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15. God’s Mystery and the Spousal Analogy

16. God’s Revelation
Genesis Hosea Ephesians Revelation
2:23 2:19 5:31-32 22:17
“The man “On that day, “…the two “The Spirit and
said: „This says the shall become the bride say,
one, at last, LORD, She one flesh.‟ „Come.‟ … Let
is bone of shall call me This is a real the one who
my bones "My mystery, and thirsts come
and flesh of husband," I mean in forward.”
my flesh.‟” reference to
Christ and
the Church”
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17. He Gave Us a Sign
God wanted this eternal plan of love and
communion to be so plain and obvious to us that he
stamped an image of it right in our very bodies.
“„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 real mystery, and I
mean in reference to Christ and the church”
• Ephesians 5:31-32
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18. What is Sex?
Sex is only sex to the degree that it allows us to
participate in the love of Heaven
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19. Freedom to Love

20. Sexual Desire
"God gave us sexual desire as fuel for a
rocket that is meant to launch us into the
stars, and beyond, to the Eternal Embrace."
Inverted Engines
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21. Legalism vs. Liberty
Legalism Liberty
"How far can "What is the
I go, before I truth about
break the sex that will
rules?" set me free to
love?"
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22. Freedom
1a. “Freedom is the power…to act or not to act,
to do this or that and so to perform
deliberate actions on one‟s
own responsibility.”
(CCC, n. 1731)
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23. Freedom. Truth.
Two sides: One Coin
Addicted to Love
C+F

24. Survival of the Fittest
If there is no objective truth, then all we have is
“Might Makes Right”, survival of the fittest.
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25. The Great Divorce: Freedom and Truth
Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him,
"If you remain in my word, you will truly be my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free." John 8:31-32
Freedom and Truth are two sides of the same coin.
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26. The Witness of a Life
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27. Free Choice
1b. “Human dignity
requires man to act
through conscious and
free choice, as motivated
and prompted personally
from within, and not
through blind internal
impulse or merely
external pressure.”
(GS, n. 17)
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28. True Freedom
"True freedom is liberation not from the external
constraint that calls me to good, but from the
internal constraint that hinders my choice of the
good."
Lenten Fast
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29. Live Bold. Die Free.
I Want You

30. Freedom from the Law
"Do not think that I have come
to abolish the law. I have not
come to abolish the law; I have
come to fulfill the law." –Matthew
5:17
"I would not have known what
sin was, if it weren't for the
law." -Rom 7:7
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31. For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free
"For freedom Christ has
set us free; stand fast
therefore, and do not
submit again to the yoke
of slavery.. For you were
called to freedom.. only do
not use your freedom as
an opportunity for the
flesh, but through love, be
servants of one another."
-Gal 5:1,13
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32. Freedom’s Full Potential
"For freedom Christ has set
us free. Do not, again, take
up a yolk of slavery."
Crucifixion is preferable to
slavery to lust.
Apples
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33. What is Love?
What is Love?

34. Attraction
"Emotions, feelings, and sensual attraction
constitute only the raw material of love. There exists
a tendency to regard them as their finished form. If
these components are not held together by the
correct gravitational pull, they may add up not to
love, but to its direct opposite."
I knew I was being
used
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35. The Personalistic Norm
Positive Content: Thou Shalt Love
Negative Content: Thou Shalt Not Use
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36. Authentic Love
“I long for you as a good
for me.”
-Lust
“I long for your good.”
-Authentic Love
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37. Love’s Counterfeit
Lust seeks the sensation of sexuality, apart from the
true gift of one's self to the other.
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38. The Super Power of Chastity
Never Gonna

39. Super Power Summary
Chastity Teaches Us How To:
• Integrate the will, emotions, and attractions.
• Long for the others‟ good, before our own.
• See the unrepeatability of the person.
• Redeem our sexual attraction. Instead of desiring to use
or acquire, we desire to genuflect.
• View each person as a mystery. Not a commodity or a
combination of attributes and qualities that exist to aid in
our “pleasure”, “satisfaction” or “good”.
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40. The Value of the Person
"The essence of chastity consists in quickness to
affirm the value of the human person in every
situation. And, in raising to the personal level all of
our reactions to that person's body and sexuality.
… rather it is a matter of sustained and long term
integration, so that our attraction to a person's
body and sex is grounded and integrated in the
value of the person.”
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41. Apprenticeship in Self-mastery
“Chastity includes an
apprenticeship in self-mastery
which is a training in human
freedom. The alternative is
clear: either man governs his
passions and finds peace, or he
lets himself be dominated by
them..
Self-mastery is a long and
exacting work. One can never
consider it acquired once and for
all. It presupposes renewed
effort at all stages of life.”
CCC 2342
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42. Actuals of Grace
“Lord, Jesus Christ, through your death
and resurrection you have redeemed
man and breathed new life into the
dust of his humanity. 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.”
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43. Love and the Unrepeatability of the
Person
Me for Me

44. Mature Love
Love reaches maturity when it turns from how the
other person makes me feel, to who the other
person is.
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45. Qualities are Transitional
Qualities and attributes of
a person, if your love
stops there, offer
absolutely no permanent
foundation. These things
are transitional, and they
are repeatable. But, they
are there to be cherished
and appreciated and
recognized.
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46. The Decision
We have before us a banquet and a dumpster.
• Choose the banquet.
• It is the only thing that will satisfy.
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47. Pope John Paul the Great
pray for us
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