Is Physical Beauty a Distraction or a Gift?, Should I Refuse a Bridesmaid Dress That Violates My Modesty?, Is Trying to Conceive Killing Our Intimacy? | ACW338
Ask Christopher West
Theology of the Body Institute
4.9 • 549 Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- If spiritual beauty is deeper and more important, does aesthetic beauty still have value? And why do we emphasize it with fashion or makeup?
- After embracing modesty through TOB, I feel convicted not to wear a revealing bridesmaid dress for a Catholic wedding. How do I honor my conscience without offending my cousin?
- Sex feels clinical and disconnected while trying to conceive. Am I wrong to want emotional connection even when we’re being practical?
Resources:
TOBI Event Calendar
Love & Responsibility YouTube Series
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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 Theology of the Body Institute, this is the Ask Christopher West podcast. |
| 0:10.0 | Hi, podcast listeners. |
| 0:17.0 | Welcome everybody to another episode. We're happy to be with you today. And yes, we are. |
| 0:23.6 | I had a very great gift given to me recently. Yes, you did. I did. I did. Anybody who knows me well |
| 0:34.1 | knows that I just can't understand my life apart from the music of you too. |
| 0:43.3 | Bono, Larry, Adam, and the Edge, these four guys from Ireland who've been making music now for |
| 0:49.6 | almost 50 years. They first came together as a band in 1976. I discovered them in the early |
| 0:57.6 | 80s as a teenager and I feel like I've been on a journey. Well, I have been. I've been on |
| 1:03.2 | this, any U-2 fan will know this reference, it's a musical journey. I've been on this |
| 1:09.7 | musical journey with U-2 since the early 80s, and their |
| 1:15.2 | music has just meant so much to me. Of course, anybody can pick apart Bono's politics and his |
| 1:24.6 | theology, but this man's a believer. He believes in Jesus. I met Bono in 2005. We had a great exchange. I gave him a copy of Theology, The Body for Beginners. We had a lively conversation. Every other thing he said could have been taken out of one of my books. Of course, every other other thing he said was |
| 1:44.3 | wacky and weird and I don't agree with. Kind of comes with the territory of where he lives |
| 1:50.8 | and the world he's part of. But here he is, one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the world, |
| 1:55.8 | and he still confesses his faith in the incarnation of the second person, the Trinity, boldly. And my gift |
| 2:03.6 | was, recently, that there's a new movie called Stories of Surrender. Bono did this stage play |
| 2:13.5 | in which he enacted stories from his life and told stories about where the music comes from. |
| 2:20.7 | And it was filmed, and it was released on Apple TV a few weeks ago, last month, at the end of last month. |
| 2:28.3 | And I recently watched it, and oh, my gosh, was I moved? |
| 2:39.0 | He just tells stories about his childhood growing up. |
| 2:45.7 | His mother died when he was 14. His dad never mentioned his mother ever again, like never mentioned her name again. And the pain of that in his teenage years is where the music was born. |
| 2:55.6 | Wow. |
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