Some change - yet the the wound remains..
More importantly, Fr. Livingston shines light on the fact that some people just might not be able to 'pray the gay away' - that they find themselves burdened with a very real cross, a wound in the flesh, as it were. Father explains:
But what about the nerve root question that Bates addresses? What do you do when the "gay" just will not go away and your religious standards and traditions just seem to accuse, to point out what you can never do or be? Are the choices limited to either living in shame or just pitching the moral code out the window?
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Many of us can relate in our own way. You were unfaithful and your spouse will not allow you to forget; you have a prison record that shows up every time you try to get a job; you have a weakness for alcohol or spending or food and your life is unmanageable.
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Add your own weakness to the list. Regardless of how it got there, you want to move beyond it, but you can't. Who among us is righteous and qualified to cast the first stone?
St. Paul confided in a letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 12:7-10) that he had a "thorn in his flesh" that wouldn't go away. What God said to him was not "you're going to hell" or "you are disordered."
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He said, "My grace is sufficient for you." In the midst of his weakness, Paul found both steady direction and contentment in his friendship with Christ.
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My point is this: Whoever you are and whatever insurmountable problem you have, don't jettison your moral compass. Find friends who will support you in truth and virtue.
Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, "Does anyone here condemn you? Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more" (John 8:10-11). Minnesota citizens, you can support traditional marriage and be a friend to persons with same-sex attractions. It's not an "either/or" issue. - StarTribune
Fr. James Livingston is a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis. I reprinted this from an earlier post titled: Faith In Action.
Terry, Were you trying to be wickedly amusing by placing this post right next to a great singer, who also happened to like women? It certainly made me chuckle. I agree with you that Dusty's version is the best. She had such a distinctive voice.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that Dusty liked women. See how disinterested my friendships can be? ;) I love her.
ReplyDeleteBehavior mod is very difficult. We need to learn to be disciplined in our thoughts, "Don't let birds nest in your hair." One of the first things discussed in "Imitation of Christ" by Kempis is how important it is to allow the thought which will lead you to that same old sin to just go away. I say the "Our Father" very slowly in order to redirect and inspire contemplative thoughts.
ReplyDeleteEven if the thought gets implanted just remember that "tying oneself to the mast" is extremely uncomfortable and probably painful but it is nonlethal in most cases.
As St. Benedict said, "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ."
Failure leads to bigger more callous failure and rips us away from that love which should be pinnacle as our beatific gaze searches vainly inward, and until we roll into confession it just gets worse and worse. Until we again have confidence in our state of grace and have the will to protect it via the sacraments. Police your thoughts people we have taken the divergent path too many times. Trust in Jesus he is not holding out on us.