What is the key takeaway of JP II's "Theology of the Body"?
I didn't answer the questioner right away. How could I condense over a hundred audiences written by a theological genius into a single phrase? I could not, and admitted as much.
The conversation ended quite a while later, and my conversation partner at least seemed satisfied to some extent. The question got me thinking, though. I could never boil down what JP II is saying. Pshaw, I have trouble even remembering what we talk about from session to session. And that thought led to another question. Why do I continue reading and talking about "Theology of the Body" (TOB) if I never remember any details?
I'm a member of a Theology of the Body discussion group. The group has been meeting for three years now, and I'm blessed to have been a part of it for the last two. We meet once a week, start reading an audience aloud, and pause and discuss points of interest or confusion. It's great fun and has provided some quality fellowship time, but those perks can't conceal my inability to coherently articulate what we talk about in any depth.
So why do it? Why keep studying and talking and thinking about something if it's just too far beyond one's thinking abilities?
There are many reasons, but one in particular stands out to me. It is neither lofty nor noble, but I think it still relates to the truth, beauty, and goodness JP II talks about at times in TOB. It happened when I recently reread a favorite book from a beloved childhood series, "Redwall," by Brian Jacques.
Every book in the Redwall series contains riddles that the characters must solve. Sometimes the riddles reveal the location of hidden objects, while others pertain to key events in the story. The author obviously enjoys crafting elaborate riddles and walking his characters through a bewildering maze of methodical madness. I, on the other hand, am no good at solving riddles. They are frustrating. They take too long. They distract from the action that's coming up in just a few pages. And when I reread the books, I almost never remember how it was solved from the first time I read it. The characters inevitably come against the same frustration I feel.
And I, like the characters, sometimes feel frustration while reading TOB. JP II is just so brilliant. I don't know half the things he talks about, and when reading, I'm glad if I can come up with just a guess at what he's just said in a particular section.
But, like the Redwall puzzle-solvers, I know the joy of having made a breakthrough. Someone brings up a connection; another is struck with an idea; a third analyzes the grammar and gives a different perspective; a fourth looks up a confusing term in the back of the book; somehow, some way, the pieces start to fall into place.
We smile. We dig deeper into the text. We thank one another for helpful contributions. And, at the end of the meeting, we leave feeling that we have accomplished something - that we have struggled with something difficult, and made at least a little progress on the way to understanding Truth.
A random thought - but I hope you enjoyed reading it.
