Rousing Her Radiance: Day 21
Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 31, 2023
Deeper
Ache
‘Those
who are whole don’t need a doctor but those who are sick. I come not to call
the righteous but sinners to repentance.’- Lk. 5:31-32
Two
young men wanted me to bless their friendship as a covenant, a ‘special’ bond
in the ‘spirit of Jonathan and David’ (their words). They shared mutual
interests and arousal. When I asked if the latter was true, they admitted it but
claimed commitment to ‘biblical’ orthodoxy (no sex outside of marriage, etc.).
I
knew ‘purity’ would last as long as an Indian summer. Deeper still, I knew they
would lose Jesus in the disordered romance. ‘I cannot bless your covenant
because Jesus can’t. I encourage you to repent and discover your deeper ache
for Him. Only He can provide what you are seeking in the other.’ Their faces
fell. But guess what? They repented and I helped them set boundaries (felt like
death) till they were ready to just be normal friends who helped each other
know Jesus better.
Deeper
than disordered desire is a longing for communion with the Divine. We ache when
we let go of unchaste attachments and descend into the arms of Jesus, ever new
and ever rising to satisfy our deepest need.
Maybe
some churchmen don’t know this. Apparent at 2018’s Youth Synod was some
churchmen’s effort to change the catechism’s (CCC #2357) description of homosexuality
from ‘disordered’ to ’different.’ That means churchmen want to neutralize the sting
and shame of homosexuality by making it ok. ‘There’s not a problem here; you
are just “different.”’ Ugh. If I am just ‘different’, I don’t need Jesus. I
just need a Church blessing, unhinged from Her own truth. No thanks. Please
call me to the dying that leads to Life. Real Life.
Give
me back my disorder! To all synodal leaders today who are tempted to misdiagnosis
homosexuality in the name of ‘mercy’: don’t. Give us Jesus. Love only converts
us through dying—surrendering both sin and disorder to the Life who eagerly
awaits us.
The
moral disorder of same-sex attraction (inclines us to acts that can’t engender
life) just is. No babies. We want to help people aspire to the fullness of life
that only the Source of life can give. Our deep hearts know better. The ache in
each one of us invites us into Someone deeper.
‘We
are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s
love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus.’- St.
John Paul II
‘Thank
You Jesus for entrusting us with an ache for You. We can’t rest till You are
our desire. We surrender every disordered affection to You, knowing You don’t
shame or accuse us. You transform us. May the tender fire of Your love rest
upon every church leader. Help us stay true to the wisdom of our deepest ache.’
‘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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