Florida Catholic | A Tale Of Two Spring Breaks

A tale of two spring breaks

Christopher West brings the message of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body to Son seekers during spring break.

CHRISSY CUTTITA | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 04.25.08

We are called to a mystical marriage with God. The heart and center of Christianity is Christ who is Word made flesh. We have to be aware of constant temptation to spiritualize Jesus and separate word from flesh.”
– Christopher West

PANAMA CITY | While spring breakers flocked to one side of this city’s bridge to party with thousands on its famed beaches, some people headed for the other side to be transformed with hundreds.

The smaller group of about 200 chose to learn about God’s plan for their bodies as expressed by speaker Christopher West at St. Dominic Parish April 5.

West used the visual image of the slow unfolding of a twisted piece of loose-leaf paper to portray the ways in which love can be perverted from the messages in Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Attendees traveled from Pensacola, Gainesville and as far away as Osark, Ala., for West’s personal guided tour of his workbook “Created and Redeemed.”

Paul and Maria Lang of St. Dominic Parish were so inspired by hearing West speak previously that they asked the parish to request that West be invited to speak in Panama City. With West’s popularity, the parish was placed on a waiting list. It took two years to finally secure West as a speaker. The alignment with spring break was coincidental.

“You get a greater, deeper understanding of how God loves us — made obvious in creation — if we have eyes to see,” said Paul Lang about West’s message. “How God created man and woman applies to every other lesson.”

West held up the blank piece of loose-leaf paper as an image of this love just before he crumbled, twisted and distorted it to show what happens when people apply truth the wrong way. He then asked what people do with a crumpled paper.

When it comes to Puritanism and sexual repression, West said people did the wrong thing by throwing away the paper. The late pope’s Theology of the Body unfolds the paper and slowly opens it back up to truth.

“This is a revolution,” said West, who discovered the pope’s message in 1993 and has been sharing it with the world since. “Opening our hearts to this message has the ability to transform us.”

He believes that reflection on the Scriptures will unfold the original plan God had for his people and will help people deal with the tragic mistake of the world when this truth got terribly twisted and distorted.

“We are called to a mystical marriage with God,” West said. “The heart and center of Christianity is Christ who is Word made flesh. We have to be aware of constant temptation to spiritualize Jesus and separate word from flesh.”

He believes that everyone has the natural God-created desire for union with God, which is why hunger for love is present in all modern culture. To express it, West brings laughter to the serious talk by singing verses of popular love songs, acting out famous movie lines and even quotes Playboy publisher Hugh Heffner. West encourages people to satisfy this hunger with truth and stop going to the trash bin to find the answer.

“The world is tragically misguided,” said West. “The First Commandment is God saying to us, ‘I am that satisfaction you desire, don’t look for it anywhere else.’”

West believes Mary is the perfect model of the church, as bride to the bridegroom Jesus. To demonstrate the beauty of how marriage reveals a greater fulfilling truth of Christ’s love for the church and God’s desire to marry us, he asked the Harmeds from St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in DeFuniak Springs to stand at the altar.

“It was emotional for me because he brought out the true meaning of giving life to God through the birth of a child,” said Catherine Harmed, who is seven months pregnant with the couple’s ninth child.

Corey Harmed, who first encountered the Theology of the Body a decade ago, describes West’s message as a time bomb ready to explode. Recently he and his son Zachary attended a course offered by the Theology of the Body Institute in Exton, Pa. At the St. Dominic’s seminar, Zachary Harmed stood up in front of the audience and testified that the experience with his dad completely changed his life.

Zachary Harmed told the audience, “At the institute I felt like I was being punched in the stomach for nine hours. Up until then I thought God only loved me out of obligation. (They were) the most incredible days of my life.”

He wasn’t the only young adult affected. Steve Vanderlaske from St. Rose of Lima in Milton brought friends with him so they could hear the message.

“The topic he talks about touches me deeply,” said Vanderlaske who has been sharing Theology of the Body materials with his neighboring young adult groups for about two years. “I see my friends struggle with this. I want to learn more to help myself and others.”

While others continue on a faith journey that already started, the Nolins from Ozark, Ala., just began their walk.

“For some reason I needed to be here,” said Chester Nolin who met West April 3 while the two were stranded at the Atlanta airport, bound for Panama City. “I was not fully aware of who he is and what he does. He said he was doing a lecture and wrote part of a book. I told him I read a few relationship books.”

West and his assistant befriended Nolin, offering him a ride to his home north of Dothan, Ala., when Nolin’s car key was lost. Nolin and his wife, Judy, returned to Panama City to pick up the stranded vehicle. Because they were in town, they thought they’d stop in to hear West speak April 4 and ended up staying for the entire seminar.

“It was hard to leave,” said Judy Nolin who was inspired by the talk and hopes to see West again. She’d also like to get others in Baptist churches the couple attends to hear the message.

According to West, when people witness God’s mystery in creation they are filled with awe. He believes that the goal of every Christian is to get drunk on God’s love and to eat and drink the fire the apostles did on Pentecost.

“If you feel awakened, I only ask that you listen,” he said. “The climax of this talk is that our bodies have a language. Our bodies are meant to proclaim the truth of who God is. One day, God willing, we will all be gathered in the marriage of the Lamb. Between here and there we all must pass by the way of the cross. Be not afraid. Enter deeply.”

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A tale of two spring breaks

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