Christopher West is a world renowned teacher of John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” – a bold, biblical vision of love and sexuality. As Founder and President of The Cor Project (“cor” is Latin for heart), Christopher leads an international outreach devoted to disseminating this liberating teaching and empowering others to live and share it.

In 2004 Christopher co-founded the Theology of the Body Institute which spreads the life-giving message of Theology of the Body through graduate level courses, on-site speaker programs and clergy enrichment training. The Theology of the Body Institute seeks to penetrate and permeate the culture with a vision of true sexuality that appeals to the deepest yearnings of the human heart for love and union.

With permission, we share one of Christopher’s recent blog posts on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Amoris Laetitia.

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Last week, we discussed Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, a beautiful and thought-provoking meditation on the state of the family and marriage in the modern world. Chapter 8, “Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness,” has been the most discussed (and controversial) section of this exhortation. In it, the Pope discusses appropriate pastoral approaches to those who are divorced and remarried. It must be noted that this chapter does not change long-held Church teaching on the permanence of marriage but is meant to assist pastors and lay ministers in accompanying those in irregular marriages back into full communion with the Church.

Sadly, nowhere does this exhortation mention the faithful husbands and wives who are the innocent victims of divorce. Many spouses, although civilly divorced, honor their marriage vows until “death separates” (cf. Rom 7:2-3). These spouses are not interested in pursuing annulments; they pray that God in His mercy will heal their broken relationships.

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This past Friday, April 8, 2016, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ post-synod Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). This document is a beautiful and thought-provoking meditation on the state of the family and marriage in the modern world. It treats marriage as a joyful and beautiful gift.

The document is 256 pages long, the longest Apostolic Exhortation in the history of the Church. It provides much needed encouragement at a time when marriage is in crisis. As St. John Paul II prophetically said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.”[1]

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In this post, Dennis shares how mercy was key in healing his first marriage.

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16

Paul in his first letter to Timothy says that he was the worst of sinners. Rightly so because Paul was a devout Jew who was persecuting and murdering Christians for what he believed was blasphemy against God. Paul’s life was totally changed by his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-19). Jesus in his infinite mercy called Paul to be his chosen instrument to carry the Gospel message of His saving passion to the Gentiles. If Christ could show mercy to a murderer and use him to further His kingdom, should we not also share in Christ’s mission of divine mercy?

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