What Does God Think About Cosmetic Surgery?

[00:00:01]Welcome to the morning offering, your daily call to prayer. Pray with us every day right here on the podcast and in your inbox. Learn more at morningoffering.com.

[00:00:11]>> Hey y'all, welcome to your morning offering. My name is Father Brad Doyle and today is June 20th, Saturday of the 11th week in ordinary time.

[00:00:20]Let's pray.

[00:00:21]In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls the reparation of sins the reunion of all Christians and in particular the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.

[00:00:47]In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[00:00:51]Woo, it's getting hot here in St. Francisville. It's June 20th. It's June 20th.

[00:00:58]I bet it's hotter here than anywhere in the country.

[00:01:03]Tell me in the in the comments if it's if it's hot where you are cuz I bet it's not hotter than here. Look it up. How hot is it on June 20th in St. Francisville and if it's hotter where you're at I don't have anything to give you. All I have is the gospel. So um Woo.

[00:01:23]Don't worry.

[00:01:25]Don't worry.

[00:01:26]Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear.

[00:01:34]Is it not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

[00:01:40]And as I was reflecting, it made me think of what is the church's teaching on cosmetic surgery?

[00:01:48]Was that on your bingo card for today?

[00:01:50]No, because I think this this scripture, Matthew 6 it speaks to that.

[00:01:55]Right? This is about the body, it's about clothing, it's about you know, caring about how we look. And I think this is And look, I'll say right up, the church doesn't have an official teaching specifically about cosmetic surgery, right? There's plastic surgery, people might have an you know, get burned, they do plastic surgery, they get in a wreck, you do plastic surgery to help fix it. I get it. But then there's a different thing which is like aesthetic cosmetic surgery.

[00:02:22]And the church doesn't have a teaching on it. So, look, listen to me. I'm not saying it's necessarily sinful.

[00:02:28]But reading this, reading what Jesus says, isn't not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

[00:02:38]Don't care.

[00:02:40]It says don't care what you're going to eat or drink or about your body or what you will wear.

[00:02:44]>> [snorts] >> It's like if we care so much about that, and and it consumes our mind where we're spending all this money on these things cuz we think it's like And the irony is, we end up in this cycle where it ends up hurting us. I mean, all of us have experienced seeing someone and being like, "Oh, no, they >> [snorts] >> Mhm, they did too much." You know, and it's like this cycle.

[00:03:10]Well, this is what the catechism says.

[00:03:14]Listen to this.

[00:03:16]This is catechism 2289.

[00:03:19]If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value.

[00:03:26]Okay, so we respect our body, but it's not an absolute value.

[00:03:31]Meaning there's there's hierarchies to what we value. And obviously, our soul, our prayer life, these are more important than keeping like we got to have our things in order, our priorities.

[00:03:44]It rejects This is a strong language from the catechism.

[00:03:48]Morality rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake, to idolize physical perfection.

[00:04:02]That's an intense statement from the catechism, but it's but it's true.

[00:04:07]Right? If if we idolize how we look, then we're not truly going to be happy because in the end of the day, this body will have a resurrected body.

[00:04:17]This body's breaking down. Look at Look at me.

[00:04:21]I'm getting chunky.

[00:04:23]My my Achilles tendon's snapping in half.

[00:04:27]I had a back surgery.

[00:04:30]Everyone put your elements in the comment. No, don't do that. Don't do that. But I think we as Catholics, even though the church doesn't have like a strict official teaching on cosmetic surgery and like Botox and all that stuff, like yeah, there's a medicinal reason.

[00:04:44]Just pray. Like what is the intention?

[00:04:48]What is your intention?

[00:04:50]Are there vanity or self-esteem issues?

[00:04:52]Is there anything?

[00:04:54]Will it cost be uh financially burdensome on your family?

[00:05:00]Right?

[00:05:02]Will these procedures hold certain health issues? These are all important.

[00:05:07]Why are we doing this?

[00:05:09]And I think it's because there's a lack sometimes in our culture of true meaning, and so we place the ultimate meaning on how we look.

[00:05:19]And that's that's a deprivation. That's That's not worth it. So, look, don't worry. Matthew 6. Go read Matthew 6.

[00:05:25]This has been your reflection for today.

[00:05:27]If it was helpful for you, go to morningoffering.com and sign up. We'll be in your inbox every morning. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be [music] glad in it.

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[00:05:44]The Morning Offering is a production [music] of Good Catholic, the media division of The Catholic Company. For more faith-filled podcasts and videos, visit goodcatholic.com.