Rousing Her Radiance: Day 11

Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 21, 2023

Peace Interrupted

‘They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious, “Peace, peace” they say, when there is no peace.’ - Jer. 6:14

This Synod on Synodality (‘finding our way together’) is stressing me out. Sure, I surrender constantly to Jesus this October-long gathering of over 400 delegates, but I still bear it: praying under my breath in the day and dreaming uneasily at night of vivid, church-related warfare.

Hard to say why exactly. Maybe it just comes down to Francis, who although commendable in his championing of the marginalized, wholly misreads LGBTQ+ unreality. (Hear me: I am all for repenting of bigotry, especially misogyny.) Read more about this in my blog "A Letter to Pope Francis: A Father Clarifies".

But Francis fails to grasp the wound at the core of our sexual identity crisis. Instead, he appropriates mercy to a ‘people group’ rather than to persons who are wounded. That confirms disorder; it does not cure it.

Once the Church cedes Her anthropology (as humans made in His image with a binary sexual nature) to that disordered minority, She opens the door to relentless demands of LGBTQ+ representation at every level of Church life. I agree with Archbishop Chaput who advises ‘[t]his synod should be about what a human person really is. Do humans have a created nature? Are our bodies merely the disposable instruments of our appetites and will?’

Sure, Francis and friends can still ‘honor’ sacramental marriage but in opening a door to ‘blessing’ gay unions so that an ‘oppressed’ people group will feel welcomed, the pope wholly misleads all people, especially the sexually confused who need the Love that converts, not placates.

High-five to synodal delegate Bishop Robert Barron: ‘The inclusivity of the Lord was consistently and unambiguously accompanied by his summons to conversion. The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel of Mark is not “Welcome!” but “Repent!”’

I’ve no peace about Francis leading us all into such a divisive muddle. Yeah, I’ve an investment here. My wound is sexual and it is serious. Without the clear witness of Jesus and Church cleansing and helping to integrate vulnerable souls like me, we wander in a wilderness. It is a road to nowhere.

What a shame for the Church to conceal Her age-old path to real conversion, to real chastity. And in this most confusing hour! ‘You treat my wound as if it is not serious!’ I won’t cry peace when I’ve none.

‘Jesus, employ our unrest to pray according to Your will. May this synod goad us to watch on the walls and cry out day and night for You to rouse Your Bride. Reveal boldly, in love, how You restore our original dignity.’

‘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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