Does God Command Mutilation?, Struggling with feeling loved because of weight, & Why is Mary the Star of the Sea? | ACW379
Ask Christopher West
Theology of the Body Institute
4.9 • 549 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Questions answered this episode:
- In Matthew 5:30, Jesus says, 'And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you...' In the spirit of the theology of the body, the idea of cutting off one's own hand seems like a gross insult to God's image in which we are made. I can understand amputation for medical reasons, but I cannot help but think that sin is a matter of will, so no kind of concupiscence could merit amputation. But in believing that, I would seem to be going against Christ's guidance here. How are we to understand this commission to go so far as to irrevocably alter the body in service of mitigating concupiscence?
- I struggle to believe that I can be loved because of the way I look. Growing up, I'm told that no man will ever love me because I'm fat and that in order to be lovable I have to be skinny. I was diagnosed with PCOS, which explains the uncontrollable weight gain. I do my best to take care of myself but my body does not lose weight so easily. Recently, there has been a guy who has been flirting with me, but I have a hard time believing he's interested because how can someone love me looking the way I look? I don't know what to do or how to change my concept of myself.
- Why is Mary called Stella Maris?
Resources:
Discerning Marriage Podcast with Elizabeth Busby
Are you ready for marriage? Check out Next Step: A Course for Discerning Marriage
List of trusted counselors & psychologists
Ask Christopher West is a weekly podcast in which Theology of the Body Institute President Christopher West and his beloved wife Wendy share their humor and wisdom, answering questions about marriage, relationships, life, and the Catholic faith, all in light of John Paul II’s beautiful teachings on the Theology of the Body.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Theology of the Body Institute, this is the Ask Christopher West podcast. |
| 0:10.3 | When you think of Easter, what song comes to mind? |
| 0:28.0 | I think we've talked about Easter songs before. |
| 0:33.1 | Did we? |
| 0:34.7 | What? |
| 0:35.3 | That doesn't mean you can't answer the question again. |
| 0:37.3 | If I forgot, probably all our listeners forgot. Okay. Yeah. But that doesn't mean you can't answer the question again. |
| 0:39.9 | If I forgot, probably all our listeners forgot. |
| 0:45.6 | Yeah, I definitely feel like I've had that prompt before. |
| 0:46.8 | Are you kidding me? |
| 0:50.0 | See, I just thought I invented that. |
| 0:52.8 | Like right now I thought I invented it. |
| 0:58.8 | Like I was looking at the countdown for when the podcast started, and I thought, I got a question for Wendy. |
| 1:02.5 | And like it just welled up as if it were original. |
| 1:03.1 | Right. |
| 1:06.8 | Well, okay, so there's different songs because I sing at church, right? So there's a whole lot of singing at Easter time, and there's the Easter Vigil song that I, you know, is very special that I've gotten to sing for the past four years at Easter Vigil, The Exulted. |
| 1:20.9 | So I think of that for sure. |
| 1:22.8 | You know what? |
| 1:23.3 | Now I'm remembering that I think I prompted you with that same question probably last year. |
| 1:28.4 | You know what it is? |
| 1:29.5 | When I think of Easter, I always think of Jesus Christ is risen today. |
| 1:37.0 | And so it's Easter, and that's songs on my brain. |
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