There is an awful lot of nonsense talked about homosexuality. It is rarely discussed, or viewed sensibly, reasonably or even humanely. When the World discusses homosexuality it is always dehumanising. The World distorts sexuality and exaggerates it wildly, or even, Wildely. It becomes in the eyes of the World something which is so fundamental to the identity of the human person that it ends up robbing him of any other identity, robs him of his worth, his dignity. So when a man 'comes out' in the media, say, and tells the World that he is John Smith and that he is gay, the World rejoices in one of its own and then says, "That's great! From now on, you're Big Gay John Smith and that's how we know you! Everyone! He's gay! Gay as a window! Gay as a big gay rainbow over a sky blue blanket of gayness!" Okay, now I'm exaggerating.
Homosexuality is, in the eyes of the World, something over which a person has no control whatsoever. And this is true to a point in terms of human personality, but it cannot be true in terms of human behaviour. Most gay chaps I know who are Catholic say, "Yes, its a part of me. I'm attracted to men." The point is, sexuality is not the whole story for any homosexual person. So consumed is the homosexual with lust, the World holds, that he could never be chaste or love Christ's teaching, or, horror of horrors, be holy.
For the World, it is something which dominates him at every moment and in every encounter. The only liberation, as far as the World is concerned, is in indulging it and practising it and engaging with the culture of it. It becomes, fundamentally, a label, associated with which are practises which he might not even go in for, clubs he'd never think of going to and bushes at night he has no inclination to visit in the slightest. It connotes a type of person, a mode, a pattern of behaviour, an entire psychology, a narcissitic personality, a mould into which the World says the gay man should fit. That is why I do not, for the life of me, understand how any self-respecting homosexual could go to Gay Pride or be a part of the LGBT group. It robs the person of their identity as a person, their innate dignity and their individuality. If they go, they usually degrade themselves.
When the Church talks about homosexuality, She talks about it in terms of what it is. A condition. A state. A predisposition or an 'intrinsic moral disorder' which affects the individual. The World baulks in horror at the term and in turn condemns the Church for using the phrase, without seeing that the term has not even yet mentioned sin, either mortal or venial. The World esteems success and status so any sense of failure or weakness is a grave threat. For those who are less interested in honours in this World and more interested in Glory in the next, the phrase is just an accurate description of a human condition which resulted from the Fall and personal circumstances which arose from it.
Yet, it is precisely through weakness, or 'intrinsic moral disorders' that God's strength is made manifest. It is only the sick who need the Physician. The term 'instrinsic moral disorder' is a term which only offends the proud, those who cannot bare to be in need of God. God does not so much desire to take the homosexual person and 'take away' his homosexuality, so much as direct this man's heart, his love, away from himself, his focus away from himself and to God and his neighbour. At the heart of our Faith is Christ, whose love, as we know every time we go to Mass, is sacrificial. Our love, too, since love comes from God, is sacrificial in nature. We are not meant to be full of ourselves, we are meant to be full of God's love for men and women. We want to draw men close, not to ourselves, but to God! We want to love our brothers and sisters as God loves them and we want them to love God too for He is Good!
So, if you are a homosexual chap wondering about the Catholic Faith or if you are Catholic who is a homosexual chap and you've lapsed from the Most Holy Faith and you are reading this, then, to you, I say this...
Open your arms out wide and embrace the Man who opened His arms out wide and who embraces...you! God loves you. God died for you. God wants you in His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. God wants you and me to be His Saints! Jesus Christ is the Man that you and I truly desire!
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