Made for More: Theology of the Body reveals our purpose and destiny

Christopher West addresses about 400 people attending the multi-media event, "Made for More," at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Grapevine. (NTC/Scott Wagner)

GRAPEVINE — The clues are right in front of us, if only we could see.

Christopher West, co-founder and president of the Theology of the Body Institute in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, has spent nearly 30 years teaching Catholics around the world the truths of what the human body reveals about God.

On October 20, West spent about 150 minutes explaining to an audience of 400 at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Grapevine that the human body is the main sign to understand God’s love for us.

West has devoted his professional life to illuminating St. John Paul II’s series of lectures on the Theology of the Body, which the pope later expanded into apostolic exhortations, letters, and encyclicals.

West said, “Your body is not something. Your body is someone. You.

“What I want to do, and Pope John Paul II wants to do, and the whole Church — the whole Christian tradition, Jesus Himself — is invite us to another way of looking, a way that actually sees with awe and wonder the unity of body and soul,” he continued.

“A world that does not see is a world that does not love,” he said.

Made for more

During his multimedia presentation, entitled “Made for More,” West used art, animation, and live music from guitarist and singer Mike Mangione to explain to the audience the purpose and destiny of humankind.

To illustrate his points, he included examples from a bevy of sources, some expected and others unconventional. The Gospels, Catholic authors, and St. Teresa of Avila were prevalent, but Bruce Springsteen and even Lotso, the bear from “Toy Story 3”, helped West propel his narrative.

Desiree McKuzes, a 15-year parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi, said she “came in with no expectations, but it’s completely different from what I thought it might be. I like the way he connects everything, bridging the stories from the Bible with the reality of modern life. It’s very relatable to every age group.”

West and Mangione have presented “Made for More” at locations around the world for at least five years, including in August at World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Answers to big questions

When it comes to answering the big questions of life — where do we come from, and where are we going — we have a vision problem, according to West. He cited Jesus’ words in Matthew 13:13: “They look but do not see.”

With our corrupted vision, we have lost our sense of wonder; we no longer experience awe at the at the unity of body and soul represented by each person, who is indispensable, irreplaceable, and unrepeatable. Instead, we treat people as things, and we carry wounds from instances we were used and thrown away.

Too often, we fill our internal yearning for infinite truth, infinite beauty, and infinite goodness with lesser things, West explained. However, “if what the Catholic Church professes to believe is true, then right in this tabernacle is the sacrament of everything we yearn for,” Jesus Christ.

“If we’re seeing the world rightly, everything, and I mean absolutely everything in this world, will point you to this altar… it will lead you right to the Eucharist,” West said.

Through the gift of the Theology of the Body teaching, West asserted, we can “understand the Gospel anew” and see that we hunger for love, intimacy, and union with God. Scripture symbolizes this union as the eternal wedding feast.

“Jesus desires an intimate relationship with us. He knows us, sees us, and finds us wonderful,” said West.

A relevant message

Jackie Bedore, director of catechesis and evangelization at St. Francis of Assisi, said the parish partnered with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Keller to bring West to the Diocese of Fort Worth. She considers the speaker “one of the foremost experts on St. John Paul's Theology of the Body,” teaching the subject with “compassion and energy.”

Bedore, who has taken about a dozen courses at the Theology of the Body Institute, said the multimedia presentation uses dynamic artwork and inviting music to illustrate that “the only thing or person who can satisfy our longing desires is God — a life lived seeking and knowing God, and loving God. But oftentimes we find temporary answers that satisfy our hunger more quickly, but not substantially,” including consumerism, addictions, misuse of sexuality, and destructive relationships.

The planning committee reached out to Catholic campus ministries and high schools to invite them to “Made for More” because it’s relevant all ages, from high school students to grandparents, according to Bedore.

Father Sojan George, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, described the event as an “amazing night” and was encouraged by the number of “young people, who came in groups from different parishes. They need to hear it.”

The message was loud and clear. West said many of us just go through the motions at Mass. He explained, “I’m not trying to shame anybody; I’m trying to turn the lights on so we can see the glory of being human and the glory of Christ. The source and summit of our faith is the consummation of the marriage of Christ and His Church,” present on the altar at every Mass.