Catholic talkin' sex

There, thought that header would get your attention.

Christopher West is on ABC’s “Nightline” tonight at 11:35. Do check him out; he has a gift for explaining Catholic/Christian understanding of human sexuality (ala Pope John Paul II’s excellent “Theology of the Body”. It’s all “surprising” and “unexpected” if you haven’t been paying attention but…yeah, that’s most of the world.

Christianity, and Christian understanding, has gotten a bad rap. Some of that is our own fault; when we are strident instead of loving, no matter how charitably we want to instruct, the lesson will be rejected. Some of it is media and societal fault. People have been hearing “whatever you want is the most important thing” for so long, they are conditioned only to hear “yes,” and thus are closed to a thoughtful “no.” Although the Dalai Lama is as celibate as the Pope, for some reason, only the Pope’s celibacy is seen as an oppressive “no.”

That, too, is partly a media construct, I am sure.

But, as Pope Benedict XVI tells us, “God wants us to rest in him”, and that means trusting him with our sexual matters, too. In that case some of what society hears as “no” is actually an invitation to draw nearer to God, who is the Eternal Yes.

People don’t understand that, and can’t until they are ready to. The rest of the time, we all hear what we want to hear.

As Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”