Third Talk: The Resurrection of the Body & the Heavenly Marriage
First we talked about our origin, now we discuss our destiny.
In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Marriage on earth (the marriage of Adam and Eve) is only a sign to point us to the Marriage of the Lamb in heaven. The sacrament gives way to reality.
Marriage is a signpost to heaven. It would be foolish to pull over and cling to the road sign that says “Boston, 50 miles” and say “I’m there.” We venerate marriage and sexual union, but we don’t worship. Our culture worships sex, turns the icon into an idol, the signpost into the destination.
All our confusion is the human desire for heaven gone berserk.
Technorati Tags: Catholic | theology | sexuality | celibacy |
This was an amazing day, not only for the chance to meet Dom and Melanie (and Bella!) but to be present when the connexion was made between the priest crisis of Boston, and the chain of events that brought CW here. It was a revelation before our very eyes as he realised the sin that would bring the requisite mercy to this very place. An inspired moment.
That said, I think it was in this third talk that I found a point I needed to dispute. I think his etymology of “semen” was poorly done, and he should have reverted to the words “seed” and “word” where appropriate. To connect “semen” with “seminaries” the way he did was too indelicate, and missed the critical link with the seed of God.
Also, I really disliked the theological attempt (by Augustine, no less!) to say that what flowed from the side of Christ was not blood and water but, ahem…. [inappropriate]. I can’t go there because it doesn’t work analogically. If the Bride was borne of His side, as Eve was taken from the side of Adam, then a different analogy is in place. Did I misunderstand?
All in all, these points are minor quibbles concerning a marvelous and thorough presentation of an essential topic. We are on the cusp of something enormously prophetic here.
The Roman Empire knew a lot of stuff, but their biological knowledge of human reproduction was that of the Greeks. They thought that the female’s role in reproduction was totally passive—that her body was only a field in which the seed was planted.
We know now that women are not just providers of the wombs, but produce eggs; and that the egg is fully half of the physical ingredients to make a baby. St. Augustine didn’t know this.
Similar revisions were necessary in the theology of bees. Up until quite recently, everyone thought the queen bee was a “king”. Finding out the truth about drones, workers, and queens meant a big shift in paradigm.
PS—Christ giving birth to the Bride comes into play more in imagery of the Precious Blood being like breastmilk. But the really big birth imagery is the image of the Church as giving birth to new Christians, or the comparison of Mary and the Church as both bearing Christ, in a sense.
There are times I think the Church needs an index of sacred imagery, just like the folklore index for folktale motifs. It would sure be convenient for finding out what the most popular images were, and who used ‘em.