IN CONCLUSION

    The theology of the body is a clarion call for the Church not to become more "spiritual," but to become more incarnational. It is a call to allow the Word of the Gospel to penetrate our flesh and bones. When this incarnation of the Gospel takes place in us, we see the Church's teaching on sexual morality not as an oppressive set of rules, but as the foundation of a liberating ethos, a call to experience the redemption of our bodies, a call to rediscover in what is erotic the original meaning of sexuality which is the very meaning of life. And this is the first step to take in renewing the world.

As John Paul asserts, man and woman's call to form a communion of persons "is the deepest substratum of human ethics and culture" (Oct 22, 1980). Thus, the dignity and balance of human life "depend at every moment of history and at every point of geographical longitude and latitude on 'who' she will be for him and he for her" (Oct 8, 1980). In short, a culture that does not respect the truth about sexuality is doomed to be a culture that does not respect the truth about life; it's doomed to be a culture of death.

This is why John Paul made the theology of the body the first catechetical project of his pontificate. At the heart of the new evangelization, at the heart of building a civilization of love and a culture of life, is marriage and the family. And at the heart of marriage and the family is the truth about the body and sexuality.

Let us live it and proclaim it. If we do, we will not fall short of renewing the face of the earth!