Diocese of Toledo, Ohio

Browsing From the Pastor

Relating God's Mercy to Our Sexual Orientation

   A neat feature about each of us is that we are sexual beings. Let’s look at the gift of our sexual attraction under the perspective of God’s plan to redeem all persons. Regardless of whether we are attracted sexually to persons of the opposite sex or to persons of our own sex, we are unconditionally loved and accepted by the Lord for all that we are. One of life’s greatest challenges is to accept the Lord’s unconditional acceptance of us for all that we are. This includes accepting one’s own sexual preference or orientation. All of us are in the same boat in the sense that we do not choose the persons to whom we are sexually attracted. Realizing as we develop that we are sexually attracted to persons of our own sex or to individuals of the opposite sex is something that we discover about ourselves and not something that we choose. It is absurd to say that persons choose to be sexually attracted to individuals of their own sex. There is a sense in which it can be said that a person’s sexual orientation “is what it is.” 

   The phenomenon of persons being sexually attracted to persons of their own sex is as old as the hills. When in the Scriptures homosexuality is condemned, it is the acts that are condemned and not the orientation itself. Scripture also condemns heterosexual actions that go against the purposes for which God has given us the ability to express ourselves sexually.

   What’s really amazing is that in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, there is not a single instance of a person being cured or healed of having the situation of same sex orientation. Not even our Lord Jesus, in all of the miracles that He performed, changed a person’s sexual orientation. Same sex attraction was as real in His day as it is today. If not even the Lord Jesus Himself chose to change a person’s sexual orientation while He was in our midst, what are the implications of this for the manner in which we relate to persons with same sex orientation today? Should we pressure persons who are sexually attracted to persons of their own sex to change their sexual orientation, especially as a condition for loving and accepting them?

   There’s a lot about same sex orientation that we do not yet fully understand. When we view the reality of same sex orientation within the setting of God’s plan to redeem all persons, we can see again that we are all in the same boat. Whether one is heterosexually or homosexually oriented, our on-going challenge is to relate to “the given” of our sexual orientation in a manner that helps ourselves and others to grow closer to the Lord.

   On a practical level, this might come to expression as follows. Regardless of one’s sexual preference, whenever we are turned on sexually by another person, we might ask the Lord for the strength and the wisdom to relate to this person in accord with His Commandments. We might pray a decade or two of the Rosary for the person who is turning us on sexually. If we put ourselves fully into this, the Lord would enable us to channel our sexual/relational energy in ways that help us to build up the person to whom we are sexually attracted as the Lord wants us to build up that individual.

 

   Thus, whether one is sexually attracted to persons of one’s own sex or toward individuals of the opposite sex, the way in which we relate to our sexual feelings can become an occasion for giving glory to God and for working to build up in His love persons toward whom we are sexually attracted.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor  

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archive


Access all blogs

Subscribe to all of our blogs