As you may have heard, Calix Thursday night 8pm Zoom meetings for the last year or so have been dedicated to looking at our recovery through a Theology of the Body lens.

What is Theology of the Body (TOB) and how is it related to our recovery?

“Theology of the Body” is the collected teaching of our beloved St. John Paul II. It is an extended Bible Study on what it means to be created as male and female human beings. It was delivered in his Wednesday Teaching Audiences from 1979 – 1984.

TOB can be summed up in five powerful and rather startling words that express the heart of the gospel message:  God wants to Marry us!  Yes, God is our Creator, Father, Shepherd, King, Friend, Counselor and Guide… all of these are true, but the boldest word picture throughout scripture points to God as our Spouse. Jesus is our Bridegroom and humanity is His bride, if, of course, we accept his marriage proposal. This is not a shotgun wedding.

TOB redeems human sexuality and raises it as the highest icon of God’s love for us. This Good News has been seen as the antidote for the sexual revolution. However, a proper understanding of ourselves as persons created by God – body and soul, male and female – is critical in all areas of life.  Recovery from all forms of addiction is certainly one of those areas. It is with this in mind that we in the Calix Society are focusing this meeting on becoming familiar with TOB by reading and discussing appropriate documents and books for that purpose. Many people have found it to be a true game changer in their recovery and spiritual growth in general. Such is our hope as well.

Jesus the Bridegroom

The book we are currently studying (as of May 2023) is called “Jesus the Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,” by Dr. Brant Pitre. While Theology of the Body may never be specifically mentioned in this book it dives deeply into the spousal analogy that scripture uses repeatedly to describe our relationship with God. Dr. Pitre helps us understand this truth from an ancient Jewish perspective with a detailed Biblical analysis coupled with examining other ancient Jewish Biblical commentary.

Please consider joining us any Thursday Night at 8pm EST. If you don’t have the book, don’t worry, we read it together on a shared screen and then discuss it, so no prep is really necessary on your part.

Here is the Amazon link to the book:

Blessings!

In Fellowship,

Fred H