Last weekend Jon and I were listening to a great cd while driving to my parent's house. It was a talk given by Dr. Alice von Hildebrand. The talk was entitled "Women as the Guardians of Purity."
You can click on the title for the text. **(later note. This is not the exact text, but the bulk of the talk is here). You can order the cd (for $1) here. It was a very refreshing and enlightening talk.
I sometimes slump into the "I know it all" sort of mentality when it comes to things like what the Church teaches about human sexuality, because I've taught it to a few teenagers a few times. Then I listen to something like this by a real theologian and I realize how little I actually know. (Maybe the title of this post should be" ....how little I know." Heh.)
A few things that struck me about the talk were how she talked about the female organs being hidden and veiled. Now if you follow along with me, in the Theology of the Body we know that the female body is supposed to be an archetype for humanity and the Church. So our bodies are considered sacred and holy and show the world that we are supposed to be recipients of Christ and bear forth fruit to the world like Mary. This is pretty amazing.
So imagine my surprise when Alice Von Hildebrand makes this even more amazing by going further. She says that biologically the female organs are veiled. In medical terminology they are veiled by a membrane called a hymen. She says that medically there is no reason for the hymen. I haven't really checked up on it, but I'll take her word for it. So we all know when this is broken in the female body. Okay... yes. But think about this.
When Christ dies on the cross his last words are "consummatem est" or "it is consummated". He was referring to His marriage to the Church. Now what happens after this? The veil of the temple is torn in two. The (now I'm quoting Fr. Frank Schuster) profanis (common people) and the fanis (sacred) are now free to mingle because Christ has conquered death. He is now joined to his bride the Church. We are now free to live eternally with God if we so choose.
At this point, my brain pretty much explodes. Really exciting. How cool is that? The female body is such a well designed sign. God did a lot of planning! How cool is it when we can understand some of his mysterious and glorious ways!!
Well, I hope I made your brain explode for the day. Theology of the Body is really amazing.
Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus.
2 comments:
ooooo goosebumps! :) Thanks for sharing!
There was quite a bit more about the hidden and veiled aspects and sacredness in the talk, especially in relation to Mary, that is well worth listening to. Apparently I need to listen to it again, as I can't remember to expand my comment. :)
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