{"id":10200,"date":"2012-01-25T23:18:15","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T05:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=10200"},"modified":"2012-01-25T23:18:19","modified_gmt":"2012-01-26T05:18:19","slug":"figuring-god-into-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/01\/figuring-god-into-weight-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Figuring God into Weight Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Obesity is a pandemic in the US. I know from firsthand experience. But, not until recently had I thought God could help me with this problem. After all, my lack of exercise and love for chocolate are all my doing. God is strictly for prayer. Right? Wrong.<\/p>\n

Too long have I compartmentalized societal expectations from divine ones. As long as I go to mass on Sundays and go to confession regularly, what does God care if I have a few M&Ms? Reality knocked me over the head in the form of a vocations prayer for a future spouse<\/a>. \u201c\u2026So that with united efforts and with pure and unselfish love<\/span> we both may strive to perfect ourselves in soul and body<\/span>.\u201d (Emphasis is my own.)<\/p>\n

The revelations I had were that: 1. It\u2019s a continuous joint effort; 2. It\u2019s within God\u2019s means to assist us; 3. Being the best wife and mother I could someday be is not solely based on the purity of my soul, but conscientiously improving my body as well.<\/p>\n

The fact that this revelation came right around the time of New Year\u2019s didn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

I have since related one\u2019s journey to good health to that of a mystic\u2019s. Mysticism is when one\u2019s love for God is so intense, so beyond that of human reasoning, that their desire unites their own soul to that of the Trinity. It is love and contemplation on an exponential scale. If we could find that passion within ourselves to love God, but use fitness, exercise, and healthy food choices as they way of expressing that love, all our goals would be accomplished. However, living the life of a mystic takes courage.<\/p>\n

Since our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, we must be aware of how we take care of it. Riddling ourselves with obesity and other co-morbidities such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea affect (the sanctity of) our temples. When we seek food to \u201cfeel good\u201d, we commit a sin against God by rejecting divine grace and opting for self-satisfaction instead. We must be courageous to say no to the vices that enslave us.<\/p>\n

I used to think that being obese was just the way that I was, and that there wasn\u2019t anything I could do about it. Now I see the sin in each bad food choice I\u2019ve made, the sloth in each missed opportunity to catch a workout, and the holiness in my goal. I feel trapped in my own body and consequently trapped in the consequences of my sin. But by the grace of God, seeing it for what it is has given me the strength to commit to making a change. Because I want to love God so purely and unselfishly that I ceaselessly strive to perfect my soul and body for Him (and for my future spouse).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Obesity is a pandemic in the US. I know from firsthand experience. But, not until recently had I thought God could help me with this problem. After all, my lack of exercise and love for chocolate are all my doing. God is strictly for prayer. Right? Wrong. Too long have I compartmentalized societal expectations from… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,90,91],"tags":[545,546,348,544],"class_list":{"0":"post-10200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-faith-blog","8":"category-young-adult","9":"tag-diet","10":"tag-exercise","11":"tag-vocation","12":"tag-weight-loss","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40799,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/pope-francis-homily-to-seminarians-novices-and-young-people-discerning-their-vocations\/","url_meta":{"origin":10200,"position":0},"title":"Pope Francis Homily to Seminarians, Novices and Young People Discerning their Vocations","author":"Henry Cuellar","date":"July 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cYou know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.\u201d -St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church On Sunday July 7th, Pope Francis celebrated the Holy Sacrifice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis and Holy Spirit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Pope-Francis-and-HS-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":196661,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/garden-mercy-meditation-misericordiae-vultus-pope-francis\/","url_meta":{"origin":10200,"position":1},"title":"Garden of mercy: a meditation on Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy by Pope Francis)","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"January 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In \u00a0Misericordiae Vultus, (\"The Face of Mercy,\") the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy\u00a0from Pope Francis, he has given us new seeds, a bright and verdant diagram, a vision of joy, a plan of hope for the renewal of the \"oasis of mercy\" that is the Church,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"11014687_10205420240358310_67969404638646009_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/11014687_10205420240358310_67969404638646009_n-e1452541649280-550x326.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/11014687_10205420240358310_67969404638646009_n-e1452541649280-550x326.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/11014687_10205420240358310_67969404638646009_n-e1452541649280-550x326.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16794,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/vocational-training-wheels\/","url_meta":{"origin":10200,"position":2},"title":"Vocational Training Wheels","author":"Laura Gonzalez","date":"May 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Cousins make really good mirrors. 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