He is recognized as a poet, an author, a dramatist, a philosopher, a humanist, a world leader, a pope, and now a saint. How fortunate for us that we are his contemporaries.
It is an understatement that Pope John Paul II was a prolific and powerful writer. One has only to recall his papal encyclicals and apostolic letters such as Veritatis Splendor, Ut Unum Sint, Fides et Ratio, and Mulieribus Dignitatem to recall their cogency and relevance for us and our times. The inexhaustible treasures with which he has blessed the Church, and indeed the world, extend beyond his writings and include his sermons, in particular the mid-day addresses he was accustomed to deliver to his ‘Wednesday audiences’.
Over a five year period (1979 to 1984) and early in his pontificate Pope John Paul delivered 129 Wednesday addresses related to the general theme of ‘Theology of the Body”. Relying on extensive analyses of biblical texts the pope explores the mystery of marriage and human sexuality and unveils the ‘nuptial meaning of the body’. In a most profound way he explains how the masculine-feminine relationship is a reflection of the Trinitarian community of God. More important, as a result of the Incarnation, the male-female engagement is an invitation to participate more deeply in the life of the Trinitarian community. To be sure this two-sentence synopsis of the saint’s majestic and theologically dense opus is a risible attempt to convey its luminous message. Suffice it to say that the message is one world desperately needs to hear today.
But, parents, teachers, take heart. Just as we are fortunate to be contemporaries with John Paul we are blessed to have in our midst an organization which propagates his insights on human sexuality and re-presents them in terms accessible to you who are responsible for the education of young children and adolescents. TOBET (Theology of the Body Evangelization Team) was founded twenty years ago in Texas by a grassroots group of parents and educators who recognized as an evangelical ministry the promulgation of the theology of the body in a holistic and comprehensible.
As its website (www.tobet.org) explains “The need for this life-giving message is evident …. in a culture which distorts the proper view of sexuality and identity. This distorted view rests on what St. John Paul diagnosed as ‘detachment’ from the truth and meaning of the human body. Detachment is a mindset which devalues the human body and thus the dignity and identity of the human person”.
Working with schools and with parishes and under the leadership of co-founder Monica Ashour TOBET in the past two decades has extended its geographical reach across the country and has expanded its readership to include not just young children but high schoolers and young adults as well.
Bishop Edward Burns – of Dallas where TOBET is headquartered – has written that Monica and her team “understand that we no longer live in a Christendom-type worldview, and, therefore, TOBET’s pastoral approach is an invitation, not a condemnation, in understanding human nature as God designed it. Such sensitivity to the modern mindset, based on St. John Paul’s own personalism, opens up horizons for high school students (and their parents) to own their faith and desire to love Jesus and His Church”.
Readers should check out the creative age-sensitive literature TOBET has produced. Ours is a retrograde culture where sex is regarded either as a selfish gratification of a physical urge or as an analgesic distraction from an otherwise pointless existence. In an exceptionally edifying way TOBET dispels these puritanical and nihilistic misconceptions and reveals human sexuality as the gloriously fruitful gift intended by our Creator.