"The study of God?" was my hesitant answer.
Paul, the sixth-grader, hadn't been happy with some of the dictionary definitions he found for his homework which mentioned neither God nor study. I'm not sure what he wrote down for his homework answer, but his question got me thinking, especially because St. Columbkille Parish began offering an eight-week course on St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body.
If God reveals so much to us through His creation of the human body, what about the rest of creation? Aren't there lessons from God everywhere for us?
And even beyond the physical world -- the Earth, the sun and moon and stars, the flowers and plants and creatures -- what does God reveal to us in our experiences, the passing of time, in our relations with others?
At each moment, God is everywhere, waiting to communicate with us and teach us.
We need to be like the saints, who were perceptive enough to listen.
"Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart," St. Luke tells us.
Our Lord provided St. John Paul with enough insights on the human body to span five years of teaching during his Wednesday audiences. And that was just one aspect of the pope's teaching legacy. He taught on a wide range of topics, including what God reveals to us in Mary, the family and the lives of saints.
St. John Paul canonized more than 450 saints, each one a lesson in theology, reflecting something unique and beautiful about God.
Indeed, every person we encounter is theology lesson for us.
Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.
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