Be Filled

This is the final episode of Season 2! This episode we discuss Audience 23 in the text of Saint Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. We also talk about how God has worked in our lives and how the podcast experience has been so far. We share briefly what you can expect for Season 3 and then share resources for more study. 

Reflection Questions:

1. What are you hearing in the culture that shocks you? When you heard that Jesus is not “surprised” by what we encounter, how did you feel? 
2. Where do you go for answers to the concerns you have about our world? Where is your hope found? 
3. How are you able to share this message with those you encounter? Pray for those who are struggling to find their true identity. 
4. What have you found most helpful in this study of Theology of the Body so far? 
5. What are your hopes for the next season? What questions do you need to pray with and seek out answers? 

Resources: 

Theology of the Body Institute has many resources to learn more!  The Institute also offers “TOB Patron” for individuals and “TOB Parish” for Churches. Both of these resources have multiple programs for adults, teens, and middle school students. They also have virtual retreats, talks, and e-books. 

“Dignitas Infinita”  is a new document on the Church’s teaching regarding the dignity of the human person and how it is applied to multiple modern day issues. 

Forever: A Catholic Devotional For Your Marriage by Jackie Angel and Bobby Angel

Catholic Women’s Conference Registration 

Called To Be More: Theology of the Body for High School 

Scripture Study: Daily Readings and Bible In a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz 

This episode we continue our study on Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching of the Theology of the Body. We are discussing General Audience 20-22 on “Knowledge” and Procreation.  We discuss what it means that man and woman “knew” each other through the “one flesh” union. We also discuss what Motherhood and Fatherhood reveal to man and woman about their masculinity and femininity. 

Scripture:  

“Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD. (Genesis 4:1) 

Quotes to Ponder:

“A word on this “unrepeatability” of the person: a husband and wife who truly “know” each other have arrived at the irreducible core of the person, and each loves this person-not merely spiritual or physical attributes of the person, but the person himself (herself). At this level, they continually recognize and affirm the unrepeatability of the other; he (she) is utterly unique and cannot be repeated or replaced.” (West, Theology of the Body Explained, p.154)

“...we should observe that in Genesis 4:1 the mystery of femininity manifests and reveals itself in it’s full depth through motherhood, as the text says, “who conceived and gave birth.” Woman’s motherhood reveals to the man the mystery of his masculinity, “that is, the generative and “paternal” meaning of his body.” (TOB 21:2) 

“Despite all the experiences of his own life, despite the sufferings, the disappointments in himself, his sinfulness, and, finally, despite the inevitable prospect of death, man always continues, however, to place “knowledge” at the “beginning” of “generation”; in this way he seems to participate in that first “vision” of God himself: God, the Creator, “saw everything…and indeed, it was good.” And always anew he confirms the truth of these words.” (TOB 22:7) 

Resources: 

Barbie Movie Opening Scene

Christopher West Commentary on the Barbie Movie

Bill Donaghy Commentary

This episode we continue our study on Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching of the Theology of the Body. We are discussing General Audience 16.3-19.6 on the Mystery of Original Innocence. With JPII, we are “zooming in” on the Communion of Persons between man and woman. We discover the source of this Original Innocence and it allows man and woman to become a “disinterested gift of self”. 

Quotes to Ponder: 

“This innocence belongs to the dimension of grace contained in the mystery of creation, that is, to that mysterious gift made to man’s innermost [being]—to the human heart—that allows both the man and the woman to exist from the “beginning” in the reciprocal relationship of the disinterested gift of self.”  (TOB 16:3) 

“The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it.” (TOB 19:4) 

Reflection Questions: 

1. When have you experienced someone making a gift of themself to you not expecting anything in return?  What response did you have? When have you been a free gift to someone else? How did it feel? 
2. “Grace is God’s self-gift to man.” (Christopher West) Are you open to receive the gift that God wants to give you? Is there any resistance to his grace in your heart? Pray with this and ask God to help you open your heart to Him. 
3. How can you become a gift to those in your life? Think about your family, your Church, your friends, and community. Could you do something today to be a gift? 
4. When someone sees you and tells you the goodness they see, how does that impact you? Has anyone ever seen gifts in you that you didn’t recognize? 
5. How do you see God’s love through your relationships? Can you see how God makes His love known in a concrete way through the love of man and woman?

Resources: 

Commentary 

Rachelle’s Visual Aids 

WARNING: This episode includes references that are not suitable for children. Parental discretion advised. 

In this bonus episode, Rachelle interviews Abbey Foard who is an Associate Director of Desert Stream Ministries based in Kansas City. Abbey shares her journey from brokenness to integration and healing. She also shares about Desert Stream Ministries. Desert Stream Ministries mission: Based on Jesus' mercy and the dignity of men and women made in God's image, they equip Christians to gather in pursuit of radical wholeness. You can find more information about this ministry and how you can be involved here.  

Resources: 

Abbey Foard Email 

Desert Streaming Podcast

Living Waters Leadership Training 

Living Waters Workbook

DSM Care Opportunities 

If you have any questions or comments for us, we would love to hear from you. We can be reached by email at befilledpodcast@gmail.com. 

We are continuing our study of Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body. This episode we are beginning a new section of the text entitled “Man In The Dimension of Gift”. This is the first of two episodes in this section. Today we are discussing General Audiences 13.2-16.2 on The Spousal Meaning of the Body. 

Guiding Quote: 

“The dimension of gift is decisive for the essential truth and depth of the meaning of original solitude-unity-nakedness.” (TOB 13:2) 

Reflections Questions: 

1. What impacted you most in the podcast? 
2. Spend some time reflecting on your existence. Ask God to help you recognize the gift of life He has given you. How can you be a gift to your Creator today? 
3. Do you stop to notice the beauty of creation? Take some time this week to be outside and notice beauty. Put your “Gift Goggles” on! Praise God for all He has given you in creation. 
4. How can you teach your children, grandchildren, friends, and students to look for gifts everyday?  
5. How can you be a free gift today to those God has placed in your life at home, work, school, and in your community? 
6. Reflect on the miracle of you. You are not an accident. How does it make you feel when you consider that you are willed by God? 
7. Who in your life has made themselves available for you? How did this make you feel? Who in your life can you be completely available for? What might that look like? 

Resources: 

Double Rainbow Guy

A Meditation on Givenness by Pope John Paul II 

Wonderfully Made! Babies: A Catholic Perspective on How and Why God Makes Babies (for ages 9 and up) by Ellen Giangiordano

Commentary on Audiences 13.2-16:2

Next episode we will be discussing Audiences 16.3-19.6 on The Mystery of Original Innocence. If you have questions or comments, we would love to hear from you. We can reached by email at befilledpodcast@gmail.com.

We are continuing our study of Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body. This episode we are discussing General Audiences 11.1-13.1 on Original Nakedness. We discuss the meaning of “nakedness” and what it meant that the first man and woman did not experience shame. 

Scripture: 

“And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25) 

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.” (Genesis 3:7) 

Reflections Questions: 

1. What stood out most for you in this episode? 
2. Try to think back to when you first heard the story of creation. How did you respond to the fact that Adam and Eve were naked? What factors do you think have influenced your view of the body and of nakedness? 
3. Do you practice transparency/vulnerability in your relationships? How could being open with others help you to receive those God has placed in your life? 
4. Recall your first experience of shame. Based on your experience of shame, what do you imagine the first man and woman’s experience of not having shame would be like? Pray with this asking God to heal any wounds you may be carrying related to shame. 
5. Have you experienced brokenness in your relationships due to deep shame and insecurity? How did the understanding of the relationship between the first man and woman impact you? What longings are stirred in your heart? Pray with these longings and invite the Lord to be with you there. 
6. How is your vision of men and women? Is there anything that needs the healing touch of God?

Resources: 

Commentary on Audiences 11-13.1

For more information on the Ruah Woods Curriculum click here.

Next episode we will be discussing Audiences 13.2-16.2 on the “Spousal Meaning of the Body.” 

We want to thank Leslie at The Mirror, our diocesan newspaper, for publishing a beautiful article about the podcast! We are so grateful for your support. You can read the article here.

We are continuing our study of Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body. This episode we are discussing General Audiences 8-10 on Original Unity. We discover two meanings of Original Unity. We explore the meaning of Adam’s sleep, the meaning of “the rib”, communion of persons, Adam’s response to Eve when she is created, and what is happening on a spiritual deeper level when man and woman become one flesh. 

Scripture: 

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,  “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:21-24)

Quotes: 

“...one must first recognize that this Genesis torpor (sleep), in which, by the work of Yahweh-God, the man is immersed in preparation for the new creative act…” (TOB 8:3) 

“...the torpor into which God lets the man fall underlines the exclusiveness of God’s action in the creation of the woman. Man had no conscious part in it.” (TOB Footnote 12, p. 158)

“...man falls into this “torpor” with the desire of finding a being similar to himself…the circle of the human person’s solitude is broken, because the first “man” reawakens from his sleep as “male and female.” (TOB 8:3) 

“...man becomes the image of God not only through his own humanity, but also through the communion of persons, which man and woman form from the very beginning….Man becomes an image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion.” (TOB 9:3) 

 “...femininity in some way finds itself before masculinity, while masculinity confirms itself through femininity.”(TOB 10:1)

“When they unite with each other (in the conjugal act) so closely so as to become “one flesh,” man and woman rediscover every time and in a special way the mystery of creation, thus returning to the union in humanity that allows them to recognize each other reciprocally and to call each other by name, as they did the first time.” (TOB 10:2) 

“The fact that they become “one flesh” is a powerful bond established by the Creator through which they discover their own humanity, both in its original unity and in the duality of a mysterious reciprocal attraction.” (TOB 10:2) 

Reflections Questions: 

1. Have you ever thought of sleep as a surrender? How do you typically end your day? Are you full of worry? 
2. What are you powerless over in your life right now? Are you willing to surrender it over to God’s care and wait for Him to work? 
3. Imagine yourself in the Garden with Adam and Eve. What do you think it was like for them when they saw each other for the first time? What do you think they discovered about themselves and each other in that moment? 
4. Have you ever thought of the relationship of man and woman as a “communion of persons” and that they mirror the Trinity?  What is your response to this idea? 
5. How do your relationships reflect the love of God? 
6. Are there places you have been wounded in relationships and need healing? Open these places up to the Lord. Do you have people in your life to pray with about these difficult areas?

Resources: 

Human Love in the Divine Plan Print

Commentary on Audiences 8-10 

Next episode we will be discussing Audiences 11.1-13.1 on Original Nakedness. 

In this episode, we continue our discussion on the text of Saint Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Today we are covering Audiences 5-7 on the meaning of “Original Solitude”. We explore what the first man discovered about what it means to be a person in the process of naming all the animals. We share our personal reflections on the passage and talk about how solitude is still important in our lives today. 

Quotes: 

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18-20)

“...the created man finds himself from the first moment of his existence before God in search of his own being, as it were; one could say, in search of his own definition; today one would say, in search of his own “identity”. (TOB 5:5) 

“..then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

“Man is “alone”: this is to say that through his own humanity, through what he is, he is at the same time set into a unique, exclusive, and unrepeatable relationship with God himself.” (TOB 6:2)

“We cannot understand who man is apart from his supreme call to a covenant of love with his Creator. Of course, this call to communion is not man’s due. It is a sheer, gratuitous gift, but a gift that reveals man’s greatness. “The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. Our call to receive this gift explains who man is and why he aspired to “something more”. (Christopher West) 

Reflection Questions: 

1. What impacted you most in this episode? 
2. Try to place yourself in the garden with Adam. What do you notice as God brings the animals to him? How do you imagine Adam responding to the animals? What kind of dialogue might there have been between Adam and his Creator during this process? 
3. Do you take time for solitude with the Lord? What might be getting in the way for you? 
4. As you consider how the human person is unique in all of creation, what is your response? 
5. You are unique and unrepeatable and your relationship with God is unique and unrepeatable. What is your response to this thought?
6. Jesus intentionally took time to pray away from others. Why do you think he did this? What do you think he gained from taking this time away? 
7. Take 5-10 minutes each day to be still and quiet. Begin with this prayer, “Ever present God, here with me now, help me to be here with you.” 
8. How can you choose to love God today with your freedom? 

Resources: 

Bill Donaghy’s Commentary on Audiences 5-7

Jungle Book Clip: You Wouldn’t Marry a Panther

The Mindful Catholic: Finding God One Moment at a Time 

The Integrated App

The Being Human Podcast