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Redeemed and Called by Christ

June 19, 2023/in Introduction to Theology of the Body /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

For the last several months of our journey through TOB, we have explored the effects of our first parents’ fall from grace. We explored the nature of their sin and how it disrupted the harmony they previously experienced with God, within themselves, with each other, and with the rest of creation. As a result, concupiscence (i.e., disordered desire) and shame became hallmarks of our human experience. Having reviewed the various aspects and causes of shame as well as its positive, protective value in a fallen world, we delved into the problem of shamelessness and the most notorious example of shamelessness today — pornography. It is now time, with the help of Pope St. John Paul II, to shift our gaze from our origin and fall to our redemption and call to glory.

Indeed, if the story of the human person and human love ended with sin, it would be a very bleak tale. Thanks be to God that He did not abandon us to the power of sin and death but fashioned a remedy for us out of our own humanity. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, took on our human nature, becoming like us in all things but sin, suffered and died for our sake, and rose to eternal glory. As the fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught,

“He Who is ‘the image of the invisible God’ is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Gaudium et spes, 22).

Christ indeed has united Himself with us, taking on our human nature in its entirety and uniting it with His divinity forever. In doing so, He has revealed to us anew our worth in God’s eyes and raised our dignity to an unprecedented level. As the Council fathers said, this dignity even includes the human body. Indeed, Pope St. John Paul II quipped, “Through the fact that the Word of God became flesh, the body entered theology… I would say, through the main door” (TOB 23:4). The human body has become theological, the meeting place between God and humanity.

By taking on our human nature, suffering and dying for us, and rising to eternal glory, Jesus has also opened the path to sanctity for us. Throughout His earthly ministry, He called His disciples to holiness of life. His preaching and example established the New Law of the Gospel as the standard for all human conduct, especially for those who bear the name Christian. This New Law “fulfills, refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection” (CCC, 1967). By giving us this law and empowering us to fulfill it with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Jesus provided the path and the means for all of us to achieve holiness and enter into eternal life.

Pope St. John Paul II frequently recalled the teaching of the Second Vatican Council known as the “universal call to holiness.” He adamantly taught that holiness — indeed, sainthood — is possible for each and every one of us and is, in fact, an essential aspect of everyone’s vocation. None of us are exempt from this call, nor is it impossible for us to achieve it with the abundant help of God’s grace. In TOB, he particularly explored the implications of Christ’s redemption, the New Law of the Gospel, and the call to holiness for the relationship between the sexes and our experience of spousal love. I invite you to continue this journey through TOB with me as we explore in subsequent articles the late pope’s precious insights into our moral life in Christ and the redemption of our bodies.
[3] Cooper, A. (1998). Sexuality and the Internet: Surfing into the new millennium. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1(2), 187–193.
[4] Love et al. (2015). Neuroscience of Internet pornography addiction: A review and update. Behavioral Sciences, 5, 388-433.

Note: This article is part of a series of reflections on Pope St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body.”

Continue Reading: The Gift of the Moral Law

Written by, Dr. Andrew Sodergren, M.T.S., Psy.D.,
Director of Ruah Woods Psychological Services

(Article originally published in The Catholic Telegraph, September 2023 Issue, the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

The Gift of the Moral Law

June 19, 2023/in Introduction to Theology of the Body /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

In the second major part of TOB, Pope St. John Paul II guides us in exploring the implications of our redemption in Christ and the moral teaching of the New Testament for the relationship between the sexes and our call to spousal love. Before we can delve into this teaching, it is helpful to pause and ponder an essential but overlooked question: What is the purpose of the moral law?

In our modern age, law is typically seen in a distorted way as purely an instrument of control. In the best case scenario, some may see it as imposed for the sake of social order, but in the worst case, it is seen as merely a tool by those in power to maintain their position. In addition, we live in an increasingly relativistic age that rejects belief in moral absolutes, making each person the sole arbiter of right and wrong. Indeed, we regularly hear references to “your truth” and “my truth” as if truth could be different from one person to the next.

These views of the moral law pervade our culture and even infect the hearts and minds of many Catholics. If we make an honest examination, we may discover that we are embarrassed by Catholic moral teaching. We may outwardly profess to be good Catholics and faithful followers of Jesus, but when difficult moral issues come up, we distance ourselves from the teachings of the Church and hope that the topic of discussion will just go away. A complacent attitude of “well, the official teaching of the Church is _____, but only extremist / fanatical / rigid / ultra-traditional people live that way” creeps into our hearts and grows like a cancer, slowly cutting us off from the life of God within us.

When we look at the moral law in this distorted way, we can only see it as an arbitrary burden imposed on us for nefarious purposes (e.g., to control us, to make us miserable, etc.). Even more, our distorted, relativistic thinking often conceals and enables attachment to sin. These two forces work together to lead us to despise the moral law because it calls us to reform our lives. As Pope St. John Paul II said in his great encyclical on the moral life, Veritatis splendor, “Those who live ‘by the flesh’ experience God’s law as a burden, and indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom” (no. 18). As a result, we begin to see the moral law as a threat to our freedom from which we must protect ourselves. We regard it with a sense of suspicion, resentment, and even outright hostility.

All our hearts are in need of purification from attachment to sin and the distorted, relativistic thinking of our culture. To this end, I invite us all to meditate on Psalm 119 in which the inspired psalmist beautifully pours out his deep love, thankfulness, and even yearning for God’s law. He speaks of it as sweeter than honey, finer than gold, greater than riches, the source of his comfort, the song of his house, and the delight of his heart. If we see it rightly, with pure eyes, this would be the natural response of our hearts toward all of Catholic moral teaching.

In reality, the moral law is not an imposition or a burden. Nor is it a restriction of our freedom. Rather, the moral law is one of our loving Father’s greatest gifts to us. It is meant to ensure and enhance our freedom by protecting us from ways of living that harm us. Sin is the true threat to our freedom for “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). As St. Paul reminds us, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1).

Our Father loves us so much that, through Christ and His Church, He has given us the fullness of the moral law so, as we pray in the Serenity Prayer, we “may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.” As we meditate on Jesus’ moral teachings in future articles, let us ever remember His tender words about the true purpose of the moral law:

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn 15:10-11).

Continue Reading: The Law of the Heart

Dr. Sodergren’s Introduction to Theology of the Body: A Collection of Articles from the Catholic Telegraph

Written by, Dr. Andrew Sodergren, M.T.S., Psy.D.,
Director of Ruah Woods Psychological Services

(Article originally published in The Catholic Telegraph, October 2023 Issue, the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

The Law of the Heart

June 19, 2023/in Introduction to Theology of the Body /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

By taking on our human nature in the Incarnation, Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, united himself intimately with us. He did this in order to save us from sin, to reveal the Father and His love, to give us an example of holiness to follow, and ultimately, to enable us to share in the divine life of the Blessed Trinity (see CCC, 457-460). In his Theology of the Body, Pope St. John Paul II was especially interested in the implications of our redemption in Christ, the New Law of the Gospel, and our call to holiness for how we regard our bodies, our sexuality, and how we relate with one another. To help us enter into his reflections, we first pondered the universal call to holiness and the purpose of the moral law. We saw that with the grace that Christ won for us — and continually supplies through His bride, the Church — sanctity is not only possible for each and every one of us but is the standard of life for every Christian.

In the previous article, we reflected on the purpose of the moral law. At various times, we can all experience suspicion, resentment, or even embarrassment of Catholic moral teaching. However, if we have the eyes to see it, the moral law is actually an amazing gift of love given to us by our generous, loving Father. He desires us to enjoy our freedom and creativity in this life and has given us the moral law — expressed in its fullest form in Catholic moral teaching — so that we do not fall into the slavery of sin. He desires to help safeguard and enhance our freedom so that we can shape our lives in ways that are truly befitting of our dignity as sons and daughters of God and will lead us to eternal communion with Him. In this way, the moral law is actually centered on our happiness — both in this life and in eternity.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus brought the Old Law to fulfillment through his example and teaching. In doing so, He gave us the New Law of the Gospel, which “is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed.” It is “expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount” (CCC, 1965). There, the Lord repeatedly uses the form “you have heard that it was said… but I say to you…” (see Matt 5). To make his purpose absolutely clear, he prefaces these sayings with the statement, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt 5:17).

Within these sayings in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord shows us that the moral law is about more than just external actions. External actions and overt obedience are very important, but they mean little if they do not reflect the true attitudes of our heart. Our inner attitudes, intentions, and desires matter just as much if not more. For example, Jesus teaches us that it is not enough for us to refrain from killing others. Rather, we must root out disordered anger, resentment, and unforgiveness. Jesus calls us, his disciples, to a level of holiness that involves the whole person, even the depths of the heart. Thus, the New Law of the Gospel is truly a law of the heart. Through it, Jesus shows us that the Father loves us so much that He desires not mere slaves who robotically follow “the rules.” Rather, He longs for our hearts to be intimately united with Him so that we can be liberated from sinful attitudes and experience the “glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).

Jesus calls all of us to continual conversion of heart. He invites us to look within and to discern where we need healing and conversion. Pope St. John Paul II saw this task as central to the Christian life and especially crucial for us to arrive at a mature, integrated sexuality whereby we can relate with one another in a way befitting human persons made in God’s image. He recognized that looking within to pursue deeper holiness is daunting. This is why he sought, in his first public remarks as pope, to encourage us: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ… Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man.’ He alone knows it… He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.” With Pope St. John Paul II as guide, let us delve deeply into the human heart inviting the light of Christ to reveal all that needs to be purified.

Continue Reading: Adultery of the Heart — Part 1

Dr. Sodergren’s Introduction to Theology of the Body: A Collection of Articles from the Catholic Telegraph

Written by, Dr. Andrew Sodergren, M.T.S., Psy.D.,
Director of Ruah Woods Psychological Services

(Article originally published in The Catholic Telegraph, November 2023 Issue, the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

Adultery of the Heart — Part 1

June 19, 2023/in Introduction to Theology of the Body /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

Jesus came not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17). Through His teaching and example, the Lord has called us, His disciples, to a level of sanctity that goes beyond what the Old Law prescribed: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:20). External conformity to the demands of the moral law is not sufficient. Jesus desires not only our exterior obedience, but even more, our interior conversion of heart.

In his Theology of the Body, Pope St. John Paul II explored this call to conversion of heart in light of the New Law of the Gospel and the perennial attraction between the sexes. In particular, he took as his starting point Matthew 5:27-28 in which we read, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Adultery was a very important concept in the Old Testament. Not only was it explicitly forbidden in the Ten Commandments, adultery was also a frequent image used to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Old Covenant. In many of the prophetic books of the Old Testament (e.g., Hosea, Ezekiel 15, etc.), Israel is portrayed as an unfaithful bride who repeatedly turns aside from her husband (Yahweh), giving herself over to other spouses through adultery and even prostitution. These adulterous lovers are the various idols and pagan religious practices that crept into the life of the Israelites at different points in their history as well as their lack of consistency in following the obligations of the Mosaic Law.

Despite this prophetic tradition, the Israelites made certain accommodations when it came to how they understood marriage such as the possibility of divorce and limited acceptance of polygamy. Jesus challenged their “hardness of heart” (Matt 19:8), indicating that these concessions were not part of God’s original plan nor are they part of the Kingdom of God He came to establish. Jesus further renewed belief in the indissolubility and exclusivity of marriage and supernaturally fulfilled them through His spousal gift of self to the Church. Subsequently, the sixth commandment (“you shall not commit adultery,” Ex 20:14, Deut 5:18) came to be understood as protecting the sanctity of marriage by proscribing all sinful uses of the sexual faculty.

According to Pope St. John Paul II, “Adultery indicates the act by which a man and a woman who are not husband and wife form ‘one flesh’” (TOB 37:6). When we engage in sexual acts outside of a marriage covenant, we violate the purpose of our sexual faculty to form, through bodily self-giving, a visible sign of the communion of persons in marriage. Our sexual faculty is intimately connected with the spousal meaning of the body, which reveals that our bodies are apt to express a total gift of self, and the only appropriate “place” for this total gift of self is in a (permanent, exclusive) marriage between a man and a woman.

Our Lord not only affirms the immorality of using the sexual faculty outside of marriage, but as Pope St. John Paul II emphasized, shifts the “center of gravity” in his moral teaching to the level of our hearts. Exterior acts of adultery are clearly immoral according to both the Old Law and the New Law of the Gospel, but our call to holiness goes further. Jesus speaks in Matthew 5 of adultery of the heart. How are we to understand this adultery committed in the heart, and what does it have to do with lustful looking?

In TOB, Pope St. John Paul II went on to engage in a penetrating analysis of the human heart to enlighten our understanding of these matters. In the next few installments in this series, we will mine his insights so that we can more accurately discern the movements of our hearts as we strive to follow Jesus faithfully.

Dr. Sodergren’s Introduction to Theology of the Body: A Collection of Articles from the Catholic Telegraph

Written by, Dr. Andrew Sodergren, M.T.S., Psy.D.,
Director of Ruah Woods Psychological Services

(Article originally published in The Catholic Telegraph, December 2023 Issue, the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

Dr. Andrew Sodergren Honored at 2023 CPA Conference

June 12, 2023/in News /by Dr. Emily Dowdell

Dr. Andrew Sodergren was honored at the Catholic Psychotherapy Association’s 2023 Annual Conference with the Mother of Good Counsel Clinical Excellence Award.

Prayer to Our Mother of Good Counsel

Composed by Sandra McKay, founding President of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. She drew upon writings attributed to Pope Saint Pius XII, who was devoted to Our Mother of Good Counsel.

Our dear and sweet Mother whose counsel is ever-wise and knowing, we consecrate ourselves to you, Our Mother of Good Counsel. Grant your intercession throughout the days of our world with people in need.

Place in our hearts and on our lips the words of healing that Your Son would have us know and say. Grant us the gifts of Healing and Wisdom that our work might always serve God and His desire for holy and healthy people, marriages, families, and communities.Oh Holy Mother Mary, we pray that you will intercede for us that we may teach and live the holiness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the Sacrament of Matrimony, or our vocation in this life, and that we may always have a full and complete respect for the dignity of each human being and that we may love and teach loveas we have been taught by Jesus Himself, you and all the saints. Amen.

Dr. Sodergren was featured as a plenary speaker at this year’s conference, In the Beginning…Treatment and Healing of Human Sexuality.

Dr. Sodergren’s presentation provided a sound theological and psychological understanding of the sexual difference (male and female) and a thorough review of the literature on psychotherapeutic approaches to working with gender dysphoria. The first part laid the foundation by reviewing Catholic teaching on sexual difference with special emphasis on the work of Pope St. John Paul II. Next, was an extensive review of the scientific literature on sex differences. Dr. Sodergren detailed a developmental approach to understanding male and female that incorporated key findings from biological, psychological, and neuroscientific studies. The second reviewed the extent of professional literature on psychotherapeutic responses to gender dysphoria. Clinical observations, theory, and case studies were reviewed spanning psychodynamic, behavioral, and integrative approaches. The testimony of and research on detransitioners was also be reviewed.

RWPS Expands Northward

July 5, 2021/in News /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

You spoke, and we listened. For 10 years, Ruah Woods Psychological Services has served the greater Cincinnati-area, providing high quality psychological services deeply informed by our Catholic faith. Almost from the start, calls have come in from individuals and families residing in the northern parts of our archdiocese such as Sidney, Dayton, Springfield, and so on, seeking our services or a referral to similar providers in those areas. After listening to their needs and experiencing firsthand the difficulty of finding Catholic faith-informed mental healthcare, RWPS discerned a call to expand its practice to two locations so as to serve not only the Cincinnati-area but also the greater Dayton-area and the northern parts of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Beginning in July 2021, RWPS is partnering with the Transfiguration Center for Spiritual Renewal to open a satellite office on their campus located just northwest of Dayton. According to director Ron Mills, “The mission of the Transfiguration Center is to help people encounter the living God through the beauty of nature, the peace of prayer and the richness of the Catholic spiritual tradition.”

As Mills explained, “Our staff and board recognize a need in the local community and society in general for sound mental health services with an appreciation for an individual’s sense of faith. We believe this can serve the development of the whole person from not only a spiritual aspect but also from a mental health perspective, which is necessary, complementary and extremely important.”

The initiative to partner with RWPS was especially spurred by Fr. Eric Bowman, pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in West Milton, who regularly encounters the need for faithfully Catholic mental health providers in his priestly ministry. “We were inspired to partner with Ruah Woods because of the great need in our surrounding area for a strong Catholic counseling service and the successful program at Ruah Woods,” he affirmed.

RWPS is excited to collaborate with the Transfiguration Center to meet these needs. Our newest provider, Alex Wallace, will be championing this project. He is a licensed clinical counselor and ardent Catholic. When asked what inspired him to join the RWPS team, Wallace shared, “I have long desired to be a resource for the Church and I greatly value what has been accomplished by Ruah Woods in that regard. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I discerned that it would be more effective to bring my talents, education, training, and passion alongside those who are already doing the work I feel called to do.”

Based at the Transfiguration Center, Wallace will serve the mental health needs of the greater Dayton area full-time. “I am extremely excited about this opportunity to bring counseling services to the area so that I can help people on their journey while upholding what is true, good, and beautiful,” Wallace said.

According to Fr. Bowman, “The Transfiguration Center is a wonderful place for Catholic faith informed mental health services for several reasons. The first is location. The Transfiguration center is located just 35 minutes from downtown Dayton, 40 minutes from Springfield, 30 minutes from Sidney. The second reason is the grounds of our facility.” As Mills explained, the Center is situated “on 173 acres of beautiful Ohio countryside” replete with “beautiful gardens, a goldfish pond, a reflection pond, and miles of walking trails near the scenic Stillwater River.” “There is an immediate sense of peace… That has always been one of the things people frequently comment about, so it is a wonderful refuge for anyone seeking a calm and quiet atmosphere to unplug and get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life,” he added.

Everyone at RWPS is overjoyed to announce this collaboration and the opening of the Dayton-area satellite office led by Mr. Wallace. Now with two locations, RWPS is poised to serve the needs of the entire Archdiocese, from Cincinnati to Dayton and beyond. Please join with the staff and board of RWPS and of the Transfiguration Center in welcoming Mr. Wallace, spreading the word, and praying for all involved as we endeavor to empower men and women to more fully embrace and live out their vocation to love according to God’s plan.

For more information or to make an appointment at either of location, call 513-407-8878.

Meet Alex Wallace, M.A., LPCC

June 24, 2021/in News /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

Communion in Quarantine
by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

January 24, 2021/in Blog /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

Masks. Social distancing. Cancelling events. Virtual meetings. Dispensations from Mass. Quarantining. These are some of the isolating, unprecedented hallmarks of 2020. Those in authority justify these measures as short-term strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Whatever their short-term benefit, many people are understandably concerned about the long-term impact of these drastic actions on individuals, families, and society as a whole. Man — as we know from Theology of the Body — is not made for isolation but for communion. How then, are we to navigate a time when something so fundamental to our very being is challenged on every side?

Back to Basics

One of the key concepts that Pope St. John Paul II returned to again and again in his various writings, especially Theology of the Body, was communio personarum – communion of persons. While

this term can analogously be applied to marriage and family, the Church, communities and societies, the prototype of communio is the Blessed Trinity. In God, we see that the Source of our very being and the End to which we are called is nothing less than an eternal Communion of Persons. God is not a static, isolated being but for all eternity is a Personal Exchange of Love. In the Trinity, revealed to us by Christ, we see maximum distinction (each divine Person is fully distinct from the Others) and maximum unity (the Divine Being is in no way fractured or divided such that we can fully affirm One God). In the One Divine Being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit give and receive one another in an eternal exchange of love, which John Paul II termed communio.

In reflecting on the nature of man who is made in God’s image and likeness, John Paul II further saw communio as essential to understanding our identity and our calling. In the Second Vatican Council’s document Gaudium et spes, which JP2 helped to write, we read:

John Paul frequently referred to this passage, citing it in all his major documents as pope and in his Theology of the Body. The bottom line is this: man is made for communio. We cannot understand what it means to be human — nor what is healthy for humans – apart from this.

The Hell of Isolation

As we have seen, God is a Communion of Persons, and man, being made in His image, is called to reflect that Communio on Earth and participate intimately in it in Eternity. It follows, then, that Hell is utter isolation, being definitively cut off from the Divine Communio. Indeed, if we were made to participate in the Divine Exchange of Love, what could be more painful than to be utterly isolated, cut off from God and others forever?

Indeed, we see glimpses of this even in this life. Psychologists have known for decades that isolation is inherently threatening and damaging to human beings. It goes against our fundamentally social nature. This is especially true for children who come into the world with an innate drive to form lasting emotional bonds with their parents and others. Their healthy development hinges on growing up in an environment rich with socioemotional cues that they are known, loved, valued, and cared for. Much has been written in theology and psychology about the essential role of the parents’ smile in communicating a sense of delight that forms the basis of a child’s self-worth.

This drive to form and maintain emotional bonds remains with us throughout our life and is a basic hallmark of human nature: we are made for connection! When we are cut off from others at any stage of life, our bodies and our minds are more prone to illness and early death. Indeed, social rejection has been found to stimulate the same pain pathways in the brain as physical injury as well as increase the risk for a host of mental and physical illnesses. Experimental studies have even shown that such rejection negatively impacts our cardiac and immune functioning.

Cultivating Communio

In order for us to survive these difficult times, we need to work together to build a culture of communio. How can we do this? First, we have to recognize that relationships are always risky. During this time of pandemic, people have a heightened awareness of the physical risks of being together. However, we have to realize that any time we reveal ourselves to another and make space for another in our hearts, we accept the possibility of hurt, rejection, betrayal, as well as the inevitability of loss. We can either allow fear of these experiences to drive us toward isolation, or we can draw strength from our Lord and follow the example of Him who made himself vulnerable out of love in order to give new life to us.

We must seize any opportunities we have for true connection. When in-person togetherness is blocked, we do well to avail ourselves of the various virtual tools at our disposal to communicate with others, especially those who are most isolated right now. However, virtual connection can never replace the value of incarnate presence. Just as Jesus gave us His True Body and Blood as His Real Presence among us, we too need to eagerly look for opportunities for incarnate presence with others.

When we are able to be with others but suffer the obstruction of facial coverings, we can concentrate on the other person’s eyes. The eyes have long been regarded as the window to the soul, and psychologists have shown how it is possible to decode the emotional state of another person with remarkable accuracy simply by observing the expression of the eyes. Look at the eyes of the people around you and try to guess what they are feeling. Allow yourself to feel with them, resonating with their emotional state. Take a risk and draw this aspect of the encounter into the open: for example, “As we talk about this and I look in your eyes, I sense how sad you are.” Or, “It feels good to see each other again, doesn’t it?”

Original Solitude — Divine Communio

Lastly, we must all seek to deepen our communio with God, the source of all love and connection. Solitude — not isolation — is an important and healthy component of a fully human life. We must intentionally choose regular periods of solitude to turn our hearts to God in prayer, worship, and sacrament. It is also a good practice to spend time interacting with the natural world, enjoying the gifts of Creation that are signs of God’s love for us. These moments of solitude serve to orient us toward God, the ultimate fulfillment our deepest longings for intimacy, and empower us to enter into communio with others, despite the risks. In the end, we must accept the call to divine and human communio anew every day and place our trust in Him who did not spare His only Son to draw us into communion with Himself.

Happy Birthday Papa
by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

May 19, 2020/in Blog /by Dr. Andrew Sodergren

This May 18^th is the 100^th anniversary of the birth of our beloved Pope St. John Paul II. Typically, only people who have had a truly historic impact have their birthdays celebrated long after they are deceased. John Paul II was one such historic person. I would like to reflect briefly on some of the long-lasting impact he has had and will continue to have on the Church as well as some of the impact he has had on me personally.

For many younger people today, it is difficult to truly appreciate the immensity of John Paul II’s impact on the Church. To put his pontificate in context, we have to recall the significance of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Ecumenical councils are rare and only called when the Church needs to face major challenges in its mission. Vatican II, as it is often named, was in many ways an attempt to bring the First Vatican Council to completion as it was cut short by the Franco-Prussian war. The scope of Vatican II was immense: nothing less than reexamining the relationship of the Church with the modern world. As a newly ordained auxiliary bishop and later Archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła participated in all four sessions of the Council. His stature and reputation as an outspoken, courageous young bishop of immense intellect grew to the point where he was appointed to the committee that drafted what became perhaps the Council’s defining document, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes).

Inspired by this experience, Archbishop Wojtyła became the only participating bishop to write an entire book summarizing the teaching of the Council and giving guidelines for its implementation (Sources of Renewal). Not long after, Pope Paul VI named him a Cardinal of the Church, perhaps as a way of thanking him for his contributions at the Council and for serving as a key theological advisor in preparing the encyclical letter Humanae vitae (1968), which dealt with thorny questions concerning marriage, sexuality, and birth control and reaffirmed the traditional Catholic teaching that sexuality is meant to unite a man and woman in marriage and must always be open to life.

It is difficult today to imagine the shock that the Church and even the world experienced when Cardinal Wojtyła was elected to the papacy in October 1978 and took the name John Paul II. He was the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years, and he hailed from – at that time – a communist country (Poland). This alone would make his an historic pontificate, but it was only the beginning. Whereas his predecessor, John Paul I, reigned for merely a month, John Paul II reigned for over 26 years, making his the third longest pontificate in the history of the Church. He accepted his mission from Christ to serve as the Church’s principal interpreter and implementer of the Second Vatican Council as well as to lead the Church into the Third Millennium. He did so with courage and faithfulness.

There is hardly an aspect of the Church’s life that was not impacted in significant ways by the teaching and leadership of this saintly Pope. Under his guidance, the Church produced a new Code of Canon Law governing all major aspects of ecclesial life. Later came the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first universal catechism since the Council of Trent. It will remain for generations “a sure norm for teaching the faith.”[1] Among his many gifts to the Church include is 14 encyclical letters, 14 apostolic exhortations, and thousands of speeches, audiences, and other documents. His writings covered everything from the Persons of the Trinity; evangelization; the dignity of the human person; social issues such as the dignity of work, distribution of resources, and human rights; priests, bishops, consecrated religious, and the laity; marriage and family; the Eucharist; Mary; the rosary; sin, mercy, and reconciliation; fundamental principles for morality; and much more. Incredibly, he canonized 482 new saints and beatified 1338 new blesseds. He gave us the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary and instituted Divine Mercy Sunday. Liturgically, he oversaw the reform of the reform, so to speak, which culminated in the publication of the third edition of the Roman Missal, which we use today. Then, there is his pivotal role in the fall of Communism in Poland and across Eastern Europe. The list goes on.

Of course, we at Ruah Woods are especially indebted to him for his Theology of the Body, which he gave to the Church at his Wednesday general audiences in the early years of the pontificate as well as the founding of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family and the Pontifical Council for the Family.[2] These gifts were meant to help the Church proclaim the nature and dignity of the human person, love, marriage, and sexuality in these confusing, uncertain times.

For me, personally, I regard myself as a “JP2 Catholic.” I was actually born during the interregnum, i.e., the time between the death of John Paul I and the election of John Paul II. I had little awareness or appreciation of John Paul II until, as a college student, I began to learn more about him and his teachings. My wife and I were blessed to be taught by a priest who earned his doctorate at the John Paul II Institute as we were preparing for marriage. We read John Paul II’s documents on marriage and family at that time and were taught aspects of Theology of the Body in class with other young people. We fell in love with the Church’s vision for marriage and family as expressed through the Pope’s writings. For me, it became my principal inspiration for becoming a Catholic psychologist.

In graduate school, I immersed myself in studying John Paul II’s teaching. As an aspiring Catholic psychologist, I wanted to understand the human person as he did. I studied all of his encyclicals and many of his other papal documents, books, and pre-papal writings. I took graduate seminars on his thought, including Theology of the Body. The more I read of his teaching, the more I wanted to know, and the more I fell in love with this man. He became for me a spiritual and theological mentor. Even more, as I read his thought, I felt a closeness to him. He became a father-figure for me who was teaching me how to see the world, how to live, and how to be a Catholic man in the Third Millennium.

Even today, I regularly read and re-read his writings for my own personal and professional enrichment.[3] I pray to him daily, seeking his intercession to be the man, son, husband, father, and psychologist I am called to be. He is my teacher, my guide, my father, and my friend. For the last 10 years or so, I have been blessed to serve as an adjunct professor at the Washington, DC branch of the John Paul II Institute. When I go to Washington to teach, I always make a visit to the St. John Paul II National Shrine to visit the museum of his life and venerate his relic. Those visits move me to tears of gratitude. Truly, I would not be who I am today – perhaps not even Catholic – without the life, witness, and teaching of Pope St. John Paul II. With deep affection, happy birthday, Papa!

[1] John Paul II, apostolic constitution Fidei depositum.

[2] The Pope officially founded these two new entities on May 13, 1981, the same day he was shot by his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca. May 13, of course, is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima who had given the three children of Fatima a vision of a pope being gunned down decades earlier. John Paul II believed that he was saved by Mary’s hand.

[3] Currently, I am working my way through his general audiences from the years after Theology of the Body during which he gave a systematic catechesis on all the articles of the Creed.

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