Educational Resource
Catechetical Sunday Resource: Theology of the Body, A Catechesis into the Fullness of Love (2010)
Catechetical Sunday, September 19, 2010
Theology of the Body: A Catechesis into the Fullness of Love by Father José Granados, a Member of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary Assistant Professor of Patrology and Systematic Theology, Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
“To defraud oneself of love is the most terrible, is an eternal loss, for which there is no compensation, either in time or in eternity” (Sören Kierkegaard, The Works of Love [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1995], 5‐6). With these words, the philosopher Sören Kierkegaard spoke of the worst deception that can happen in life: “to defraud oneself of love.”
This temptation is very strong today. In fact, we can ask two questions: Is it possible to believe in love? Can we discover in love a path that, if followed, leads to happiness? We are in the middle of a crisis that affects the credibility of love. To our culture, love certainly seems funny, interesting, necessary—but not worthy of trust. It does not seem to be solid enough that one can build one’s entire life on it.
These questions are very important for Christian catechesis, because its task is precisely to avoid this deception. It teaches how to “believe in love” (see 1 Jn 4:16), the love with which God loved us first, brought us into existence, and called us to build a fruitful life.