I picked a good title didn't I?! I can hear the ticking of my blog counter going up. LOL.
When I was 12 years old, I babysat for the nice family across the street for 50 cents an hour. One day, I came across a stack of Playboy and Penthouse hiding in the back corner of the parents bedroom closet. I have no idea what would put me in their closet. Most likely, I was just nosey. I like other people's stuff because everyone always had better stuff then us! These were nothing like my dad's Chemistry magazines we had strung all over my house. I thumbed through every page, gasping at every picture. Needless to say, this marriage didn't last. Porn is a multi-billion dollar industry that is totally recession proof. Why? Because we are all so intrigued by sex. Yes, all of us. Including me. But what is the difference between the way I am intrigued by sex and the way a porn addict is? The difference is where we look for our ultimate satisfaction. My ultimate satisfaction is to be in full communion with God and to participate in one-flesh union as a foreshadowing of Christ's union with the church...at least, that is where I want my eyes, ears and heart to be. Is that where the man addicted to porn looks for his satisfaction? I think not. He looks at pictures and uses women (or his own wife!) as an object to fullfill his desire that we all have. A desire for love. But as the song goes, he's "lookin' for love in all the wrong places...looking for love in too many places." In the words of Dr. Phil, "How's that workin' for ya?"
I feel like one of those brand new born again Christians that has found the answer to life, love and happiness and is desperate to share with the world. Our hearts all yearn for the same thing! The Pope and Hugh Hefner both have this in common...the desire to love and to be loved. Which one has found this ultimate satisfaction? Which one found this love and stayed committed until death? For those of us married folk, our spouse can not be our ultimate satisfaction. It sure feels that way in the early years (maybe weeks for some) but soon we find out that marriage is not all that we thought it would be. Why is that? The answer is easy. Our relationship with our spouse can not be our ultimate fulfillment. If we believe that, we will be miserable, trapped and divorced. Marriage and its sexual embrace is just a little glimmer/a tiny foreshadowing of our ultimate satisfaction that awaits us in heaven.
I frequently talk to my kids about "Hollywood" and why so many rich and glamorous stars are on drugs, divorced and depressed. Maybe they just aren't finding enough sex. LOL. I don't think so. They are in a desperate search to find what we all want but they are accepting the counterfeits. Behind every counterfeit is a genuine human desire that is meant to be fulfilled through Christ and his Church. For example...getting drunk and having rampant sex you discover two sacraments: the Eucharist and marriage. Do you remember the apostles after Pentecost? They were all excited, jumping for joy and preaching in the language their listeners understood. They were accused of being drunk...and it wasn't even 9 o'clock in the morning! That kind of intoxication is what we are truly desiring!! Do you see why I am excited? When you find this, you look back on your life and have to ask, "What was I thinking?!!"
"We are made for communion with Christ, and our hearts are restless until we rest in this eternal embrace." - Christopher West
Theology of the Body for Beginners, Christopher West, Ascension Press, 2004
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