Undusted Texts

Back in 2011, I prepared a set of reflections for the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary for the use of a prayer group that had a particular focus on Pope St. John Paul II's  Theology of the Body .  They are included below, and an easier-to-read PDF version is available for download at my website .     Reflections on the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary Inspired by the Theology of the Body Prepared by Brandon P. Otto The First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism in the Jordan "Christ sanctified Baptism by being Himself baptized." 1 As we reflect on Christ's Baptism, let us also reflect on our own Baptism and the effect it had in us. Through original sin, we, as men, are "deprived of participation in the Gift, … alienated from the Love that was the source of the original gift, the source of the fullness of good intended for [us]." 2 By the power of Christ's Cross, present in Baptism, we can be free from this deprivation and ali...

"Greet one another with the kiss of love."--1 Pet 5:14. The "kiss of love" (ἐν φιλήματι ἀγάπης, with the kiss of love), is something that all Christians are called to give each other, according to St. Peter. While it is a common idea that we do not need to give each other a literal kiss if it is not a common practice in our culture, the idea of showing Christian love to each other in a physical expression still exists today, especially in the liturgical "kiss of peace" that has been brought back in the Roman Sacred Liturgy of the past century and which is often reserved to hierarchs in the Sacred Liturgies of the Eastern Churches. The "kiss of love," though, could, in a less literal way, be interpreted as applicable to specific groups of Christians as well, and that is what I wish to discuss here. Though I am by no means a student of ethnology, sociology, and "cultural anthropology," I would risk the possible scientific falsity...