#Googled

I really have to hand it to Google today, guys.  When I first saw the link in my twitter stream this morning, it didn't quite occur to me how awesome the idea was. My first "map your valentine" for Taylor today was only our apartment address: "My home is where you are, my Love."  Simple, sweet.  I didn't think of any grandiose locations to send him on a heart-shaped map.

But then I got his valentine back and I swooned.  Really!  I almost gasped out loud at work (ok, fine, I did gasp out loud at work.. but no one was near my office) :)

Really, the location might not mean anything to anyone else, but to me, it brought back memories of fresh pasta, hot humid days, warm vibrant nights, ancient history living all around me, and lounging in bed for hours on end, with nothing to do but eat tasty food and read Tolkien aloud to each other.  He sent me the address to the apartment in Rome where we stayed for our honeymoon.

In Tangible

Fall has always been such a sense-filled time of year for me.  There's the change in the air, the crunch of the leaves, the holiday cooking smells that begin to waft from the kitchen, the lessening daylight and cozy indoor evenings, and the smell of burning leaves or wood fires in the chill air when you step outside.  The season of fall is all about preparing, storing up, buckling down, and bundling up. Preparing for the holidays, storing up the season's bounty, buckling down to the work of the new school year, bundling up against the looming winter chill.

Slicing a squash in half and scooping out the goopy seeds with a spoon, I was struck by the tangibility of the season.  I soaked the seeds in some water, methodically loosening the squash "gunk," straining, rinsing, and separating the seeds, and dried them off.  They stuck wickedly to the towel, so I ended up having to brush the sticky-seeds off with my hand, and then off my hand into the pan.  I stirred them around in some oil, salt, and pepper, tasting my fingers to make sure the spice was correct, and put them in the oven [275, till crispy].  I love the smell of roasting seeds.  Roasting anything, really--chicken, apples, tomatoes, beets.  All that flavor sealed in to burst at the right moment in my mouth. Perfection. So Fall.

Of course, other seasons are tangible, too. In fact, everything has that sense-full aspect to it.  Padding softly through falling snow, wrapping mitten'd hands around a mug of hot cider; or feeling the first warmish sunshine of early spring on your face, smelling the green things popping up through the ground; even something as unpleasant as sweat dripping down the middle of your back as you walk to work on a hot summer morning brings us sharply into the awareness of our physicality. Our own tangibility.

What a joy to be touch-able, to feel things and see them and smell them and hear them.  To come to know things through the real experience of them, making the idea of them palpable. Memories stirred up from childhood of mounds of crispy roasted pumpkin seeds, freshly salted, recalled themselves to my mind slicing open that squash, peering inside at the promise of spring.  Slowly and steadily, as I washed and seasoned and baked the seeds, the memory and anticipation of Delicious approached until the warm seeds where in my hand, popped into my mouth, and crunched down into reality in a burst of salty-roasted Goodness.  What a beautiful gift our senses are.

Body Thoughts

For Christmas last year, my brother and his wife gave us a copy of Holy Sex! by Gregory Popcak.  I am ashamed to admit that I started reading it right away and then just stopped--for no particular reason. Most people know that I'm a huge fan of John Paul II's theology of the body, so there is no reason why I shouldn't have devoured the book, like I have so many others on that topic.

However, in my defense, I recently picked it up again and am still enjoying it.  It got me thinking ("Uh oh," you say, "I'm in for a long read here." Well.. maybe).

The book of Genesis tells us that God created man [i.e., humankind] "in His image."  That is, God image-d part of Himself in the male-and-female-ness of humanity.  As Popcak says, it's stamped on our very bodies.  Furthermore, when he talks about "sexuality" he's talking about "how we communicate ourselves to others and use our bodies to work for the good of others" (p 68).  And so, the theology (the study of God) of the body has primarily to do with how we relate to God in and through and with our bodies.

We obviously relate directly to and with God (worship, prayer, etc) and we do this with our bodies by means of the sacraments.  But we also have a relationship with God through our fellow beings (it is not good for man to be alone).  How do we relate to other humans with our bodies?  The obvious answer (and the most profound example) is the "marital embrace."  But what I've been thinking about lately is all the infinite other ways we relate to people with our bodies.  Because of our unique sexuality (remember, that's our whole-body-ness) we are called to love like God loves, using our bodies.  And we're not only called to love our spouse as God does, but everyone.

Love between a husband and wife has to be free (no one's forcing the Love), total (no reservation or lies), faithful (no cheating!), and fruitful (open to children).  As I've been reading Popcak's book I've realized that we are called to that kind of Love in every aspect of our lives.  I know--you're probably thinking, "How can my 'love' for So-and-So be fruitful if we're not married, or even the same gender?"  I asked the same question :)  But we can all be "pro-creative;" that is, we can bring new life to the world in many different ways, not just biologically.  If your encounters with your fellow beings are positive and uplifting and sincerely Charitable (as in Love), you can communicate God's life-giving Love to them.

I clearly haven't sorted this all out yet (nor have I finished the book).  But it's getting me excited.  I know the goodness of authentic married Love, and I'm positively giddy at the idea of being able to share that Love--the same Love, that is, not by the same means ;)--with others I encounter.  Isn't that exciting?

[it's true--this picture has little to do with the post--but it's hilarious, isn't it?]

Holy Sex!

My brother and his wife, for Christmas this year, sent us the book Holy  Sex! by Gregory Popcak.  I've only gotten a few chapters in, but I am enjoying it so far.  If you're Catholic (heck, even if you're not and you're interested in sexuality) and haven't heard of John Paull II's theology of the body, I highly recommend checking out this book or some of the others listed at the end of this post. It's truly a powerful message of hope and love and grace! Be not afraid! 

I'm posting today because Holy Sex! is the book of the month on the USCCB's website: 

Here is the review in total, just in case the link above doesn't work: 

Book of the Month --January 2009

Holy Sex: A Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-Blowing, Infallible Loving

By Gregory K. Popcak Crossroad Publishing Co., Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., 2008; $14.95.

(Reviewed by Mary Ann Paulukonis, an artist, writer and consultant for marriage and family ministry.)

If this book does not contain everything you want to know about sex, it tries to come close. Underlying all the information and advice is the principle that proper use of sexuality is holy and makes a person holy.

You read that right: Sex contributes to sanctity! This book might even persuade you that the converse is true -- to have good sex you must be striving equally as much for holiness.

Popcak is by his own definition a “talk radio psychotherapist” who writes about theology and sexuality in popular language. He makes Catholic teaching about sex and Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body easily comprehensible.

The author’s breezy tone and earthy sense of humor (a bit rough in a few places) encourage the reader to relax with the material. He maintains engagement by illustrating with anecdotes about couples he has counseled.

Using a framework of human sexual evolutionary stages, the first part of the book reviews Catholic teaching on sexuality and debunks inaccurate perceptions. Popcak calls the fifth stage “Holy Sex” or “Infallible Loving” and devotes the second part of the book to the “Five Great Powers of Holy Sex.”

These five powers are pathways to an intimacy that Popcak expands upon in separate chapters: (1) the power to make the common holy; (2) sacramental and redemptive power; (3) power to be a physical sign of God’s passion for us; (4) power to unite; and (5) power to create.

Any person who tries to read the book alone may soon try to draw his or her spouse into at least the quizzes and exercises, which are designed to provoke discussion. Popcak recommends that couples use the book together since “the sexual relationship is only as good as both partners think it is.”

Readers who skip over some parts of the book to get to the tips and techniques or the last part’s practical treatment of questions and problems still cannot avoid the message that eroticism is no substitute for a soulful love life.

-----

JPII's book: Man and Woman He Created Them

or Love and Responsibility

Christopher West's Good News About Sex and Marriage

and Theology of the Body Explained

or Theology of the Body for Beginners

Mary Shivanandan's Crossing the Threshold of Love

Rice Cereal

It's amazing how smells and certain foods can conjure up memories or emotions from the past. Some say that memories of scent are the strongest... I remember in college once, during "campaign week" (the campaign for student government, that is), I was walking to class in the cool of the early morning and smelled the spray paint on the bed sheet campaign-posters. The cold combined with the spray paint reminded me of:

Christmas!

Yes... that probably sounds a little weird. But one of the aspects of the holiday season when I was growing up was Momma's ceramic nativity sets which she always made for the parish holiday bazaar. We would help base-coat the pieces and then she would seal them (with a clear spray-paint-like sealer). Then she would antique them (somewhat like wood stain which is wiped off so the cracks and crevices of the figure are highlighted) and seal them again. The she would add the detail to the pieces and... seal them again. So the spray-paint smell was a big factor in our Christmas preparations.

This morning for breakfast we had a delightfully nostalgic dish--rice cereal. It's very simple:

1-2 cups leftover cooked rice
milk
cinnamon sugar to taste

But eating it this morning brought back a lot of fun memories for me from childhood. 'Course, T and I used brown rice instead of white rice (because T likes it better), and we used raw milk instead of pasteurized milk.. but it was still delicious :) It reminded me of late evening snacks before going to bed, which reminded me of Mexican hot chocolate after a late-night summer dip in the pool, which reminded me of so many more fun memories (like playing barbies all day and waking up in the morning to keep playing all day again).

How good it is to have senses! How good it is to enjoy and experience the world in such a concrete, tangible way; to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste God's goodness. Being Catholic, sensory experience has always been an important part of my life. I was taught to watch for important signs at Church. I learned to recognize that certain music meant certain things. I smelled the incense at Mass and knew this was something special. At the Kiss of Peace I always wanted to shake everyone's hand (what sociable little kid doesn't?). The simple taste of the Eucharist is a familiar comfort which so often reminds me of my very first Holy Communion.

My thought for the day, then, is this: God gave us bodies for a reason. Through them we are called to know, experience, and understand the world around us. Many people will tell you not to leave your brain at the door of a church (as in: use your powers of reason in faith too). I'd like to add to that: don't leave your body there either.