Rousing Her Radiance: Day 39
Author: Andrew Comiskey
November 18, 2023
Blazing
‘I am
not afraid. God is with me. He made me for this.’ - Joan of Arc
‘I
have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’ (Lk
12:49).
Jesus
freed me from sexual disintegration by my declaring the truth of sin. Jesus
frees others from sexual disintegration by my declaring the truth of healing.
(
Read here how I would have declared the truth of my healing at the Synod on
Synodality.)
My
story, our stories, are not shameful little secrets—inconvenient truths—we hide
as we cycle into wholeness. Our resurrections should be no more private than
Jesus’. They are incendiary, endowed with power to ignite the worldly church and
burn off her dross.
Our
witness of dying and rising extends the reign of God’s healing love. It routes
deception and creates sacred space for the transformation of sexually broken
lives. Desert Stream began 44-years ago when my wise pastors invited me to
share a ten-minute witness at church of how Jesus led me out of a sexual desert
and into love with an amazing woman. Love roared that morning and blazed a path
for many.
God
amplifies Dean Greer’s resurrection constantly. Jesus rescued him from an early
death by HIV and sexual chaos into a pretty good marriage. Dean releases this healing
everywhere he goes, especially his local church. His ‘out-and-loud’ witness (and
servant heart) exposes and burns off any temptation of the church to compromise
its stand on sexual sin. Dean loves most ministering to a ‘trans-identified’
man who comes to church and who is slowly coming to his senses through the love
of truthful congregants like Dean.
Who
says the Church just wounds people? We find our healing there! And we have a
say in it. ‘For Zion’s sake I will not keep quiet, for Jerusalem’s sake, I will
not be still—until her righteousness shines forth like the dawn, her salvation
like a blazing torch’ (Is. 62:1-2)!
Marco
and Ania love nothing more than inviting other young Catholic couples at their parish
to know them as ones coming out of life-defining sin and into life-defining
chastity. The group deepens its range of disclosure every time the two declare
something personal about Divine Mercy in their lives.
My
friend Daniel took on a group of trans-activists at the University of Kansas the
other night. He shared how Jesus’ Body set him free from female impersonation
and drag shows. The angry wounded mob jeered and nearly jumped on stage to stop
him. His robust masculinity prevailed; every person was given a fighting chance
to surrender their rainbow defenses to merciful Jesus. Daniel invited each one to
heal. Mercy won.
These
are the days of Acts. Our joyful utterances of transformation incur the rage of
the world. Our comrades in France have been battered by their press and
government for daring to offer seekers a chance to be reconciled to sexual dignity.
Unfounded accusations, slander, and grievous invasions of privacy have been so
relentless that some members have left the pilgrim path.
But
others stand strong. They give an answer for their hope before politicians,
juries, and magistrates. Every French witness of transformation––dying unto new
life––and the faithful ones who accompany them are true martyrs. Like St. Paul,
‘they are struck down but not destroyed, always bearing in their bodies the dying
of Jesus’ (2 Cor. 4:9-10) so that others might live.
Pray
for their fidelity to the fire. Pray for ours. France gives us a glimpse of a
remnant Church—ablaze with truth-in-love and exposing the idolatry that spreads
like a contagion in the world and worldly church. ‘We are not afraid. God is
with us, He made us for this.’
‘Woe
to the era in which the voices calling in the wilderness have fallen silent,
shouted down by the noise of the day or prohibited, or drowned in the
intoxication with progress, or restricted and quiet out of fear and cowardice.
May the John the Baptists ring out once more, pointing out the wilderness and
spiritually overcoming the devastation. They call us to the potential of
averting the spreading wilderness…by the greater strength of a converted
heart.’ - Father Alfred Delp
‘Blaze
through us, O God. Quicken us to tell the whole truth of our pretty good lives.
Route the deceiver through this good news; strengthen us to endure the rage incurred
by Your goodness in our lives. May we joyfully endure wounded angry ones with
the Love that sets us free.’
‘Father,
we thank You for Jesus who established the Church on a Rock against which hell
will not prevail (Matt 16:18). We pray for every Christian leader to build on
Her firm foundation of sexual clarity and integrity. Father, unmask the
deceiver and divider of Christians and unite us in one Spirit. As weak members
of Christ, we ask for truth to guide our pursuit of sexual wholeness, for grace
to sustain it, and for spiritual power to transform us. May we reflect the
chaste radiance of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18) as we “shine like stars in the universe,
holding out the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16) to a lost and hurting world.’
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