A Walking Miracle

Seeing human sexuality as our gift to God

01/20/2021

Matthew 10:28-33 Jesus said to the Twelve: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is our human body. And one of the greatest gifts we can give to God is what we do with our body, that is, how we use our body; hopefully using it to give glory to God. That is one of the surprising discoveries during junior high school. We wake up one morning and find we have an amazing body: it is strong, it is fast, it is smart, it is beautiful, it is capable of almost anything. I can usually tell when I am giving Communion at Mass to a 7th grader because I am usually looking down. But if I give Communion to a 9th grader, I am usually looking up! Your bodies burst forth in blossom, and is one of God’s greatest gifts to you.

Yesterday, I met with a young couple who wanted to get married. I tried to explain to them what a gift their bodies are, especially the woman’s body. I said to the young lady: “Your body is a walking miracle, because inside you is the cradle of life. Another human being will be born into this world through you.” She elbowed her fiancé and smiled really big. The conception of another person is not just something that a man and woman do alone, but you also need the participation of God. Why? Well, God provides the invisible human soul. A human being is both body and soul.

That is why we treat human sexuality with such great respect, and even with reverence and awe because we are drawing close to something holy. We encounter God in sex. When Moses approached the burning bush in Exodus 3, God commanded him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Whenever a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, consummate their marriage (when they have sex), they are walking on holy ground. And when we respect and revere our sexuality we make our bodies a gift we give to God. We use our bodies to glorify God.

Now, I want to touch on a topic that is very touchy – both literally and figuratively touchy – the topic is how we touch each other sexually. Specifically, I want to address love, care and respect for LGBTQ persons. Part of the surprising abilities and capabilities of your bodies that you find between 7th and 9th grades is your sexuality, and your sexual attraction to other persons. You discover the wild world of boyfriends and girlfriends! And you will notice that things get complicated very fast. That is why my niece, Sophia, who’s at the University of Georgia, decided not to have a boyfriend during college, so she can focus on her studies and not waste time on boys! She’s a very smart girl.

Sometimes, students experience same-sex attraction, or other sexual attractions, and that is all part of figuring out how God made you and how your body is one of God’s greatest gifts to you. And let me say categorically and very clearly that we are called to love everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. Each and every person who has walked the face of the earth, from Adam and Eve, to the last man and woman are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, the only right response to them is to love them, unconditionally love them.

But even though our bodies are one of God’s greatest gifts to us, what we do with that body is our great gift back to God. One of the sublime and even sacred activities of the human body is sexual intercourse between a husband and a wife. Why is that so special? Because they are walking on holy ground like Moses was, where God works in creating another human being in his image and likeness. It is only in this way that a woman’s body – like that couple I counseled yesterday – can be “a walking miracle,” and her womb can be “the cradle of life.” That is why we respect and love and do not discriminate against LGBTQ persons; and yet, we nevertheless believe those expressions of sexuality are not God’s plan or purpose for human happiness.

Today is the feast of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes. He had a remarkably resilient and strong body. In the 3rd century, Roman soldiers tried to kill him by tying him to a tree and shooting him full of arrows, but he was so strong he didn’t die! Later he was clubbed to death. It is said that St. Sebastian suffered "two martyrdoms": one being shot with arrows, and the second being clubbed to death. He is the patron saint of athletes who also want to have strong and even indestructible bodies. But the real reason he is a saint is because he saw his body as one of God’s greatest gifts to him, and he offered his body back to God as his gift to God.

Praised be Jesus Christ!