PRESIDENCY OF THE OFS INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT
MONTHLY DOSSIER
No 43
THEOLOGY OF THE BODY -
By Blessed Pope John Paul II
Dossier prepared by the CIOFS Ongoing Formation Team
Ewald Kreuzer, OFS, Coordinator / Lucy Almiranez, OFS
Mike & Jenny Harrington, OFS
Session 7 - THE SACRAMENT - MARRIAGE TOB 87 - 102
THE DIMENSION OF COVENANT AND OF GRACE
Having looked at "Celibacy for the Kingdom", we now reflect on "Marriage" which remains the normal vocation. Blessed John Paul II helps us to discover the true meaning of Ephesians 5:22-33, marriage as a sacrament, the "Great mystery" and the meaning of "human life". He says - TOB 79.6: If someone chooses marriage, he must choose it exactly as it was instituted by the Creator "from the beginning"; he must seek in it those values that correspond to the plan of God; if on the other hand someone decides to follow continence for the kingdom of heaven, he must seek in it the values proper to such a vocation. In other words, he must act in conformity with his chosen vocation.
ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT
MONTHLY DOSSIER No 44
THEOLOGY OF THE BODY -
By Blessed Pope John Paul II
Mike and Jenny Harrington ofs
Session 8 THE DIMENSION OF SIGN (TOB 103 - 107)
In our last session we looked at the dimension of Covenant of Grace and the interpretationof Ephesians 5 on marriage as the "great mystery" of Christ's bridal union with his Church. the sacramentality of Christian marriage as a true sacrament of the new law. This sacrament not only pointing to but sharing in that love-giving, life-giving and grace-giving reality. Having looked at the divine dimension, let us now look at the human dimension.
PRESIDENCY OF THE OFS INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT
MONTHLY DOSSIER
No. 41
THEOLOGY OF THE BODY
by Blessed Pope John Paul II
Dossier prepared by the CIOFS Ongoing Formation Team
Ewald Kreuzer, OFS, Coordinator
Lucy Almiranez, OFS
Mike and Jenny Harrington, OFS
5 -The Resurrection of the Body – TOB 64 – 85 
We have looked at our origin before sin and our history affected by sin, but redeemed in Christ. Now to have a total vision of what it means to be human, John Paul gets us to look at our ultimate destiny, glorified humanity, our bodies will be raised in glory by God.
This image of the Transfiguration shows us Christ's human body radiant and suffused with his divine glory, his body is a sign and anticipation of what our glorified bodies will be like in heaven.
PRESIDENCY OF THE OFS INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT
MONTHLY DOSSIER
No 42
THEOLOGY OF THE BODY -
By Blessed Pope John Paul II
Dossier prepared by the CIOFS Ongoing Formation Team
Ewald Kreuzer, OFS, Coordinator
Lucy Almiranez, OFS
Mike and Jenny Harrington, OFS
Session 6 - Celibacy and Religious life TOB 73 - 86
Reflecting on our glorified humanity we learnt that in order to be human, we are called to communion - communion with God and one another, a call to eternal ecstasy.
Blessed John Paul now reflects on the charism of celibacy, where the celibate vocation can only be properly understood from the viewpoint of the heavenly marriage between God and his people.
PRESIDENCY OF THE OFS INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT
MONTHLY DOSSIER
No. 40
by Blessed Pope John Paul II
Dossier prepared by the CIOFS Ongoing Formation Team
Ewald Kreuzer, OFS, Coordinator
Lucy Almiranez, OFS
Mike and Jenny Harrington, OFS
The Redemption of the Body – TOB 86
The fulfilment of God's promise to fallen humanity has happened: in Jesus the curse of sin has
been broken. Death has been destroyed, Satan has been conquered, and man has at last been reconciled to God. Humanity has been redeemed.
Through the grace of redemption, poured out in an act of love in which Jesus died for us on the Cross, we have been empowered to a whole new way of living that goes back to God's original intention. He has called us (appealed to our hearts) to rediscover the nuptial meaning of the body, and fulfil the deepest purpose of our lives.
Part of the interior force that attracts us to all that is true, good and beautiful is Eros (erotic passion), an echo of God, in His supreme goodness, truth and beauty. It is good, it is part of the way we were created.
