Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Concupiwho?
Call to holiness
,
Concupiscence
,
Conversion
,
CTejeda
,
Define Your Terms
,
Forgiveness
,
Parenting
,
St. John Paul II
,
Theology of the Body
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:
For the past two
years I’ve been participating in a men’s ministry entitled That Man is You!
The presenter of each week’s content is
a man by the name of Steve
Bollman. He doesn’t pull any punches
in the sense that he readily shares some of the lesser known aspects of
Catholic theology and spirituality. At
times this means that he loses guys in attendance at the parish hall at 6:15 am
watching the DVD, but it also has the effect of raising important questions for
guys during the post-DVD small group table conversations.
One term that
has come up repeatedly over the sessions is “concupiscence” (kon-kyoo-pi-suh ns).
It is a difficult word to pronounce without some practice, and even with
practice!
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church defines it as “human appetites or desires which remain
disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even
after Baptism, and which produce an inclination to sin.” The U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults
mentions it as our “inclination to sin which shows itself in what is sometimes
referred to as a darkening of the mind and a weakening of the will, that is,
the inability to know clearly the right or wrong of an action and/or the lack
of strength to resist temptation and always to do the right thing no matter how
hard this is.”
What was new to
me though was what I recently learned by looking in the index of the
2006 edition of the Pauline Books and Media publication of Michael Waldstein’s
translation, introduction and index of Man
and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. Saint John Paul the Great used the word
“concupiscence” 340 times over the course of the four years that he was sharing
his Wednesday catechesis with the world!
That works out to make it the ninth most used word in the whole body of
work.
Here’s how it
breaks down:
“Body” – 1319 times
“Meaning/Significance/Importance” – 625 times
“Marriage” – 502 times
“Love” – 465 times
“Heart” – 408 times
“Person” – 382 times
“Mystery” – 373 times
“Truth” – 342 times
“Concupiscence” – 340 times
“Body” – 1319 times
“Meaning/Significance/Importance” – 625 times
“Marriage” – 502 times
“Love” – 465 times
“Heart” – 408 times
“Person” – 382 times
“Mystery” – 373 times
“Truth” – 342 times
“Concupiscence” – 340 times
To give you an
idea of some other important words:
“Flesh” – 330 times
“Church” – 326 times
“Dimension” – 297 times
“Creation” – 281 times
“Theology of the Body” – 100 times
“Flesh” – 330 times
“Church” – 326 times
“Dimension” – 297 times
“Creation” – 281 times
“Theology of the Body” – 100 times
So, what really
struck me was that every other frequently used word in the TOB is a positive
term. Concupiscence sticks out like a
sore thumb, and must have a lot to do with our coming to understand the
“adequate anthropology” that St. JPII wanted to impart to us.
 |
| "Scream and shout" by Mindaugas Danys is licensed under C.C. by 2,0 |
Concupiscence
(and therefore in a reverse engineering kind of way all of TOB and the Gospel
of Jesus Christ) is a universal reality experienced by everyone (Original Sin
anyone?). Spend 20 minutes around any
toddler from any region of the globe and it’s guaranteed that they will all do
the same selfish behaviors that stem from overwhelming inclinations to
dominate, ignore, horde, hit, bite, scream, etc.
Right in line
with this phenomenon is the reality that I experienced as a young boy and
immature man. When no one educated me in
the way of love, understood as “making a sincere gift of myself” (Gaudium et spes 24:3), I used the
powerful gift of my masculinity to turn inward on myself and away from God and
neighbor. Not until I was five years
into living life as a weekly Mass attending, baptized and confirmed Catholic
making use of regular sacramental reconciliation was I
spiritually/socially/physically in a consistently good place with God, others
and myself.
Whenever I share this detail
of my past with other men, I hear, read or see them confirm my reflection. No one had to teach us to lust, dominate,
use, manipulate or waste time, money and energy on ourselves! Rather, all that darkness simply came
flowing out from within us because apart from the divine physician we are truly
ill. We need to be healed from the
inside out (Mk 7:20), we need to be taken back to the beginning of God’s design
for us (Mt 19:8). This is why TOB is so important, beautiful
and life changing if you allow it to be the vehicle for encountering Jesus
Christ risen from the dead today!
If you are intrigued
by this theme, take a look at this article
by Dr. Rick Fitzgibbon (specifically the second to last paragraph from the
bottom of the first page).
Here’s a VERY powerful video
story/testimony/confession by a father about how only his second daughter’s
life was able to invade his selfish-concupiscence-bubble and bring him abundant
life (Jn 10:10). Enjoy and share
widely!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Marriage's Scripture Jackpot
Call to holiness
,
CTejeda
,
Divorce
,
Family
,
Forgiveness
,
Marriage
,
Prayer
,
Scripture
No comments
:
About five
years ago I was at my niece’s birthday party and I had a wonderful, although
brief, conversation with one of the fathers of my niece’s friends. He was not a Catholic, but I was fairly
sure he was Christian. He asked
what I did, so I shared that I was a graduate student studying Catholic
theology, specifically marriage and the family. He seemed genuinely interested and asked a specific question
that I do not recall in detail, but sparked a genuine conversation, short as it
was.
You see,
his question prompted me to succinctly share for undoubtedly the first time in
my life that, “as Catholics we believe that if we lose our capacity to
understand the richness of marriage we’ll lose our capacity to receive the love
that God demonstrates for his children all throughout Sacred Scripture.” He exclaimed, “Wow, that’s
fascinating. I’ve never thought
about it like that before.” After that, his child needed him, so our conversation could not continue,
but the exchange has stuck with me because it was an illuminating
experience. It gave me a taste of
how sharing the mind of my Mother was indeed not an imposition of dogma on
someone, rather, it was an invitation into truth that had the potential to
magnify his or her joy in life.
I suspect
that if we had more time to converse he would have liked to have known a
scripture reference for my bold claim.
So, for all the anonymous-playground-birthday-party-acquaintance dads
out there, here you go: take a look at Matthew 18-19.
Matthew 18:1-4:
You must understand what it is that children reveal about the kingdom. You cannot learn from children if you
are not around them. Where is the
best place for children to come from and teach adults in close proximity? Marriage and family life!
 |
| Charamelody, "33:365 Devotion" is licensed under CC by NC 2.0 |
5-6: all
children come with a “built in” belief in God. Being the cause of another person’s loss of belief in God is
a serious matter, just as nurturing it is. Where can faith, hope and love best be nurtured? Marriage and family life!
7-9: [a
decidedly modern interpretation] pornography is easily available in our
contemporary culture, but if it is your stash/search history/DVD as a parent
that leads your child into the addiction you will be particularly accountable
for your actions. Where can a
generation of innocent hearts be cultivated so that they can readily see
God? Marriage and family life!
10-14: The
Father does not take any of his children for granted and he tires of neither
new life nor preserving/restoring “old”
life. Where do lives begin and
end? Marriage and family life!
15-20: By
definition, marriage binds two spouses together so that they can safely beget a
third in their children. Where is
the privileged dwelling place of the Word made flesh? Joseph’s and Mary’s marriage and family life!
21-22: God’s
upper limit on forgiveness is infinite.
Where ought to be the first classroom of this for the Christian
spouse/parent/child? Marriage and
family life!
23-35: If
you pray the Our Father and receive God’s forgiveness then you must pass it
along too. Where is this unending
proving ground going to be established in our lives? Marriage and family life!
Matthew 19:1-2:
because no one can do the above on their own God will provide the healing
through the waters of baptism and the other sacraments. Where do infants and converts come
from? Marriage and family life!
3-9:
divorce has no place in God’s plan for men and women. It is a consequence of sin and now that Christ has come and
given us access to the Father we now also have access to God’s original plan
for marriage to be indissoluble.
Where does one learn the lessons that circumcise the heart and turn it
from stone to flesh? Where does
one taste undying love or love unaffected by changing emotions? Marriage and family life!
10-12:
Yikes, indissoluble marriage is not even attractive to fallen man. So where does one learn God’s full plan
for humanity which includes the possibility of forgoing the good of marriage in
this life for a walk with the Lord that is more directly conformed to his
example of being poor, chaste [celibate] and obedient? Marriage and family life!
13-15:
Again, it is stressed, Jesus wants to encounter children. Where do we encounter children in the
most life changing way? Marriage
and family life!
16-22:
Earthly possessions and God are vying for the same real estate of our hearts. You cannot serve both simultaneously,
you have to choose one. What
context can most powerfully teach us that we will be OK even if we do not have
a Coach purse, Ray Ban glasses, 7 series BMW and Rolex watch? Marriage and family life!
23-30: Rely on God for your
salvation and the pathway to it.
We all come from families and hopefully married parents, why not hit the
pause button on life and see which route God is calling you back to himself if
you do not know already: marriage and family life or celibacy [which is a
fruitful sacrifice because it is giving up the profound good of marriage]?
I see a theme and I think you
might too. Scripture is a “jackpot” when it comes to understanding marriage
because our Mother, the church, always begins there as well. Therefore in
sharing what she knows to be true, we also share the truths of Scripture, even
if we don't quote it directly.
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