I remember the first time I ate a tamale. A tamale is a Mexican dish of seasoned meat wrapped in cornmeal dough and steamed or baked in corn husks. The filing inside tastes wonderful. But you have to peel away the corn husk to get to it. I didn’t know that. So here I am munching on my first tamale chewing mightily on the corn husk. I almost choked on the darn thing. Now I know why my Mexican friends were laughing. I defended myself saying, “I’m Polish. I ate the tamale like I would eat a cabbage roll.” Once I got the hang of it, I couldn’t stop eating them. When I was attending Catholic catechism classes in my youth, the sisters taught us our bodies, “the flesh”, must be discarded like a tamale corn husk. The flesh corrupts our souls with sin. Did not Jesus say in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail.” Our body, which is the flesh, is nothing unless it is redeemed by Jesus on the Cross. God says through St. Paul, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19-20) This teaching is completely opposite from what I learned. Then starting in 1979 to 1984, Pope St. John Paul II gave 129 talks entitled “The Theology of the Body.” Pope John Paul II gave to the Church a revolutionary idea about the importance of our bodies. He wrote, “the body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine.” He is saying that God uses our flesh, our bodies to make Himself visible to the world. Hard to believe God would want to use my chubby old body to make His invisible presence visible to the world. Your body is so important to God that Jesus died to get it back from Satan by paying the price of His death. We must now ask the important question, “How do I glorify God in my body? How do I use my body to reveal God?” First, you have to choose who is going to live there. Will you open your soul to the Holy Spirit or let the devil in. How can you flee from the devil if he is living in your heart? The virtue most needed to kick out the devil is Temperance. Temperance is where you choose not to do something that would be sinful. Temperance requires a lot of practice. Satan makes sin so pleasurable. That’s why so many people do it. Sin either looks good, feels good or makes you fat. Temperance helps you overcome the sin of revenge by showing mercy, the sin of pride by practicing humility, the sin of anger by being patient, and the sin of overeating by moderation. (All I have to do is look in the mirror to see my need for moderation). Daily, you have to wage war against your sinful desires so there will be no place for the devil to sneak in. Second, your body is a temple where God dwells. A temple is a place where God is worshipped. Each believer is a like a mobile church. Everything you think, say and do should worship God by showing Him respect and gratitude. Everyday ask yourself these two questions, “What am I going to do or say today that will show God I love Him? What am I going to do or say today to make God’s invisible Love visible?” Then use your body to do it. How you use your hands can be a powerful way to make God’s love visible. A hug to someone who is sad, cooking food for someone who is hungry, washing the hair of a sick person, performing surgery to save a life, drying the tears of a crying child, or even just petting your dog or cat. All of these actions glorify God. Last Sunday, I celebrated Mass at Holy Trinity in West Union. I was not feeling good because the furnace in the Rectory went out. My bedroom was 45 degrees. I couldn’t sleep well at all. Even my four cats could not keep me warm. I didn’t complain because I thought about the suffering people of Ukraine who are freezing in much colder weather. My normal high energy got iced out. But God sent me encouragement from a little boy before I gave my sermon. Two-year-old Houston, son of Sarah and Nathan, was sitting in the back pew. This cute kid always smiles. He has a round, full face with a big smile that extends from ear to ear. All of a sudden, he stands up in the pew while everyone was sitting. He then did something that lifted my spirits. He started to vigorously wave his hand at me while flashing this big smile. I waved back. He waved some more. I gave little waves so as not to cause a distraction. He continued waving full force. His joy was contagious. I delivered a boffo sermon that day. This little boy made God’s Love very visible when I needed to see it the most. Blessings…Fr. Mike