We are all God's children and we must love one another

We are all God's children and must love one another

Genesis 18:20–32

As more people in our world choose to live without reference to God, it becomes harder for believers to proclaim eternal truths.  Yet, as Catholics, we cannot abandon our responsibility to speak God’s truth in our time.  If we are silent about right and wrong, who will speak for Him?

Nowhere is this challenge more evident than in questions surrounding human sexuality.  In England, the law permits so-called same-sex marriage, but the law of God remains unchanged.  Since that legislation, there have even been attempts to pressure Christians to compromise their beliefs.  But to remain faithful to Christ, we cannot place human opinion above divine truth.

God Himself created human sexuality.  He gave it as a gift for two sacred purposes: first, as the most intimate and powerful way for a husband and wife to express mutual love; and second, for the natural procreation of children, through whom new souls—made in God’s image—enter the world to know, love, and serve Him on the way to eternal life.

From this understanding, it follows that homosexual acts, like any sexual activity outside God’s plan for marriage, are contrary to His will.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2357) teaches: “Tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’  They are contrary to the natural law.  They close the sexual act to the gift of life… Under no circumstances can they be approved.”  This teaching is rooted in Scripture, where God’s will is revealed in many passages, including today’s reading about Sodom, and in St. Paul’s words (1 Cor 6:9–10): “People of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, sodomites… will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Some individuals with same-sex attractions have sought to downplay or remove certain passages of Scripture—such as the account of Sodom and Gomorrah or St. Paul’s warnings about the sin of sodomy—to avoid moral discomfort.  Yet every word of Scripture is the Word of God, unchanging and not subject to the shifting preferences of any age.  Efforts to erase or reinterpret these passages often reflect the unease of a conscience aware of sin.

However, we must also be clear: the Church distinguishes between homosexual tendencies and homosexual acts.  Many experience same-sex attraction without choosing it; for most, it is a real trial.  The Catechism (2358–2359) calls the faithful to treat such individuals “with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and avoid all unjust discrimination.  They, like every Christian, are called to holiness and to chastity, uniting their struggles with Christ’s Cross.

Life brings trials for everyone—whether through health struggles, addictions, loneliness, or failures.  Each of us can unite these crosses to Christ’s suffering for our salvation.  Those with homosexual inclinations are no different; they too are invited to find grace and purpose by following Christ faithfully.

Why speak about this?  Because in a culture that promotes every lifestyle as “normal,” some Catholics are becoming confused about what is morally right.  God’s teaching is clear: sexual intimacy belongs only within the marriage of one man and one woman.  To state this is not “homophobia,” but fidelity to the truth revealed by God, which we must lovingly proclaim even when unpopular.

We all have choices. God calls every unmarried person, heterosexual or homosexual, to chastity.  To sum up the whole matter simply I would put it like this.  “I am a hetrosexual but by the grace of God not practising.  A homosexual should say, I am a homosexual, but by the grace of God not practising.” 

Lord Jesus, You gave us Your commandments not as burdens, but as guides to true happiness.  Help us to live according to Your will, to treat others with compassion, and to carry our crosses faithfully, that we may inherit eternal life.  Amen.

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