Christopher West > Quotes

“To find that which is most sacred in this world, look to that which is most violently profaned.”
― Christopher West

“...the Pope vigorously upholds the real power of redemption to liberate the human heart from the domination of lust, calling men and women to a new "ethos.”
― Christopher West, Heaven's Song

“Every temptation comes down to this one fundamental temptation : It is the temptation to believe that the satisfaction of the deepest desires of our hearts is totally up to us.”
― Christopher West

“But the devil is a creature, not a creator. And this means the devil does not have his own clay. All he can do is take God’s clay (which is always very good) and twist it, distort it. That’s what evil is: the twisting or distortion of good. Redemption, therefore, involves the untwisting of what sin and evil have twisted so we can recover the true good.”
― Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God's Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

“How does marital love shed light on the nature of the celibate vocation? John Paul II writes that the fidelity and “total self-donation” lived by spouses provide a model for the fidelity and self-donation required of those who choose the celibate vocation. Both vocations in their own way express marital or spousal love, which entails “the complete gift of self” (see TOB 78:4). Furthermore, the fruit of children in married life helps celibate men and women realize that they are called to a fruitfulness as well—a fruitfulness of the spirit. In these ways we see how the “natural” reality of marriage points us to the “supernatural” reality of celibacy for the kingdom. In fact, full knowledge and appreciation of God’s plan for marriage and family life are indispensable for the celibate person. As the Pope expresses it, in order for the celibate person “to be fully aware of what he is choosing ... he must also be fully aware of what he is renouncing” (TOB 81:2). Celibacy, in turn, “has a particular importance and particular eloquence for those who live a conjugal life” (TOB 78:2). Celibacy, as a direct anticipation of the marriage to come, shows couples what their union is a sacrament of. In other words, celibacy helps married couples realize that their love also is oriented toward “the kingdom.” Furthermore, by abstaining from sexual union, celibates demonstrate the great value of sexual union. How so? A sacrifice only has value to the degree that the thing sacrificed has value. For example, we do not give up sin for Lent; we are supposed to give up sin all the time.”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners

“All the hungers we have for love, for union, for happiness are given by God to lead us to him. The difference between a saint and the greatest sinner is where they go to satisfy that hunger.”
― Christopher West

“human experiences, he says, “are always at the root of every human experience … Indeed, they are so interwoven with”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners: Rediscovering the Meaning of Life, Love, Sex and Gender

“Chastity requires “an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy” (CCC 2339).”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners

“Sexual pleasure is a great blessing and gift from God, of course. But it is meant to be the fruit of loving as he loves, not an end in itself. When pleasure becomes the main goal of sex, society becomes utilitarian. You're valued if you're useful. And, in this case, you're useful if you stimulate my lusts.”
― Christopher West, Theology Of The Body For Beginners

“We are living in dark times indeed, but let us never forget that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). We are people of hope, and the Bridegroom is preparing a great springtime for his bride (see Song 2:11–13). How do we pass over from this winter to the promised springtime? If we can recognize in the above the diagnosis of what ails the modern world, we can also recognize the cure. Here it is: We must recover a sense of primordial wonder at the divinely inspired beauty of the human body. We must come to recognize in the human body the revelation of the human person whose dignity demands that he or she never be used, exploited, manipulated, or discarded. We must rediscover the treasure of human sexuality and gender as a stupendous sign of the divine image in our humanity and as an invitation to use our freedom to live this divine image through the sincere gift of one’s life in marriage or in celibacy for the kingdom. And we can do all of the above precisely by pondering the profound understanding of masculinity and femininity found in the Bible, found in God’s Word made flesh in Jesus, the Christ.”
― Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God's Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

“«El sufrimiento puede doblegarnos y quebrarnos. Pero también puede quebrarnos para que nos abramos, para llegar a ser las personas que Dios quiere que seamos. Depende de lo que hagamos con el dolor. Si lo ofrecemos de vuelta a Dios, Él lo usará para hacer grandes cosas en y por medio de nosotros, porque el sufrimiento es fértil[158]».”
― Christopher West, Buena noticia sobre el sexo y el matrimonio: Profundas y revolucionarias ideas de san Juan Pablo II en su Teología del cuerpo

“Unwittingly, we often give evil far more weight than it deserves, as if the devil had created his own “evil world” to battle God’s “good world.” But the devil is a creature, not a creator. And this means the devil does not have his own clay. All he can do is take God’s clay (which is always very good) and twist it, distort it. That’s what evil is: the twisting or distortion of good. Redemption, therefore, involves the “untwisting” of what sin and evil have twisted so we can recover the true good.”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners: Rediscovering the Meaning of Life, Love, Sex and Gender

“The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” (TOB 19:4).”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners

“We don’t only want to be loved at “our best”; we want—in fact, we need—to be loved at our worst. We need to be loved in our nakedness: warts, blemishes, and all.”
― Christopher West, Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing

“Lust Is Blind to the “Sister-Bride” Recognizing the “brother-sister theme” within the language of sexuality is critical in order to understand properly who woman truly is for man and who man truly is for woman. It demonstrates clearly that the true language of sexuality cannot be determined by biological urges alone. Left to itself in this fallen world, the mere sexual urge would not recognize the woman as “sister.” And for lack of such recognition, it could not recognize her properly as “bride.” She would be for him only an object of appropriation – that is, an object to be grasped, possessed, used. The lovers of the Song bear witness precisely to the fact that authentic eros is not aimed at appropriation and selfish satisfaction. Rather, true eros expresses itself “in the reciprocal ecstasy,” John Paul says, “of the good and the beautiful in love ... The terms ‘my sister, my bride’ seem to arise precisely from this deep level and only”
― Christopher West, Heaven's Song: Sexual Love As It Was Meant to Be: Based on the Hidden Talks of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body

“¿qué solemos responder frecuentemente cuando no nos gusta lo que enseña la Iglesia? Nos escondemos detrás de nuestra «conciencia» y nos imaginamos que Dios acepta lo que nosotros queremos. Pero ese es un dios de Dios, es un ídolo.”
― Christopher West, Buena noticia sobre el sexo y el matrimonio: Profundas y revolucionarias ideas de san Juan Pablo II en su Teología del cuerpo

“A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however, soaks in very fast. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.”
― Christopher West, Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing

“We must say this loudly, clearly, and repeatedly until it sinks in a heals our wounds: Christianity does not /demonize/ the body; Christianity /divinizes/ the body! For Christ has raised the human body into the highest heights of the divine life!”
― Christopher West, Theology Of The Body For Beginners

“In essence, Christ’s life proclaims: “You don’t believe God loves you? Let me show you how much God loves you. You don’t believe that God is ‘gift’? This is my body given for you (see Luke 22:19). You think God wants to keep you from life? I will offer myself so that my life’s blood can give you life to the full (see John 10:10). You thought God was a tyrant, a slave-driver? I will take the form of a slave (see Philippians 2:7); I will let you ‘lord it over’ me to demonstrate that God has no desire to ‘lord it over’ you (see Matthew 20:28). You thought God would whip your back if you gave him the chance? I will let you whip my back to demonstrate that God has no desire to whip yours. I have not come to condemn you but to save you (see John 3:17). I have not come to enslave you but to set you free (see Galatians 5:1). Stop persisting in your unbelief. Repent and believe in the good news” (see Mark 1:15).”
― Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners

“Traditionally, theologians have said we image God as individuals through our rational soul. That’s certainly true. However, the function of man and woman being made in the image of God is that of mirroring the one who is the model (God), and God is not an eternal “solitude.”
― Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God's Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

“When we fail to appreciate the profound unity of body and soul, we no longer see the human body in light of our creation in the image and likeness of God. Rather, we reduce it to a thing to be used, exploited, manipulated, and even discarded at will, forgetting that that body is not just a body but some-body. Within this milieu, as John Paul II observed, the human being “ceases to live as a person and a subject. Regardless of all intentions and declarations to the contrary, he becomes merely an object.”
― Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God's Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

“Grace flows through wounds.”
― Christopher West

“The Gospel doesn't give us more rules to follow. The Gospel is meant to change our hearts so that we no longer need the rules. To the degree that we experience this change of heart, we experience "freedom from the law" - not freedom to break the law; freedom to fulfill it.”
― Christopher West

“remember when my oldest son was five years old and asked me for a cookie. Before I could even get the cookie out of the box to present it to him as a gift, what did he do? He grasped at it. So, taking advantage of this teaching moment, I said to him, “Hold on, you’re denying the gift. Your Papa loves you. I want to give this cookie to you as a gift. If you believed in the gift, all you would need to do is hold your hands out in confidence and receive the cookie as a gift.” This is the problem with us all. We do not trust enough in our Father’s love, so we grasp at the “cookie.”
― Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God's Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

“Consider the difference for a woman when her optometrist looks into her eyes and when her husband or boyfriend does so. The scientist is looking at her cornea and records the scientific facts. The lover is looking at her soul and proclaims something more poetic and inspired (we hope). Does the scientist "disprove" the lover? No. These are simply two perspectives on the same reality. The author of Genesis was not a scientist but a lover, inspired by God to proclaim the spiritual mysteries at the origin of the world and of mankind.”
― Christopher West, Theology Of The Body For Beginners