Reactions, Reactions, Reactions

Today in my newsfeed I see many many reactions to the Supreme Court's decision about same-sex marriage.

I see people who are immensely happy.

I see people who have taken offense.

I see people who are trying to defend traditional marriage

I see people who are concerned about how this new ruling effects religious institutions.

I see also, a lot of confusion about what the beliefs and feelings of the Catholic Church are. Mind you, once again, I am not a theologian, I am not a member of a religious order, I am not the end all be all of what the Church believes...goodness knows I am human and I make mistakes...so if you are a theologian, feel free to correct me...

We believe in love.

Catholics are romantics...I've seen this meme floating around a lot lately. I cannot recall all of the reasons off of the top of my head...but we are...we are romantic. We believe in love.

We love homosexuals and those struggling with same sex attraction. I've seen posts about this as well. We love them, just as we love any human being. Christ loves us how we are. He knows we are sinners (we are all sinners...the churches and chapels around the world are FILLED with sinners), and He loves us anyway. We as Christians are to follow Christ's example. Did Christ not love the lowly of the lowly? Did he not speak with tax collectors and adulterers? Are we not supposed to love all humans as our brothers and sisters just as Christ did?

We are.

I see posts trying, attempting, to explain this love. How can you claim to love homosexuals and stand against same sex marriage? How can that be? How can you claim to love us and not let us get married. I understand how this can be confusing, and I have yet to see a post that I feel fully explains this love.

The bottom line is that we love humans so much that we do not want anyone to be living in sin. We love everyone so much we want desperately for them to get to Heaven. This is part of our faith that is unfortunately not usually properly explained, or is miscommunicated. I will try my best.

We believe that God made man and woman different on purpose; for procreation and raising families. When the two are joined together they become one flesh (Mark 10:8 or Matthew 19:6). We believe that this is only one reason that marriage should be between one man and one woman (although I must admit it is the reason I am most familiar with). I know this raises questions about single parent homes and children with divorced parents...but those questions would be better explained if given their own post. Regardless, we believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and that is evidenced through the story of Adam and Eve, as well as the way our bodies work.

That being said, we do believe it is a sin to stray away from that path. This yes, does mean that acting on homosexual urges and desires is a sin. It also means that having sex before you receive the sacrament of marriage is a sin. We believe that masturbation is a sin. We believe that viewing or taking part in pornography is a sin. No one said it was easy to follow Christ, but that it is worth it. It is worth it to follow Christ because He leads us to Heaven. He leads us to an eternal paradise. He leads us to capital L Love.

This is not to say that I am perfect and that I don't ever struggle with sins of the flesh (our ever so polite way to say lust). This is not to say that anyone is perfect, or that perfect people are never tempted. Jesus and Mary were perfect: they had a perfect ordering or emotions. Yet, throughout the New Testament (the part of the Bible where it talks about Jesus) Jesus is tempted. The difference between our temptation and Christ's temptation is that, well, He's perfect and therefore was able to win the battle against His temptation. We are not perfect, and often lose our battle against temptation. We means all of humanity, not only homosexuals, not only Christians, but all of imperfect humanity. We are asked to strive for holiness, we are asked to try and avoid those things that lead us into sin.

So while yes, we believe that people who experience same sex attraction should not act on that attraction, we do not hate them. We don't hate them, we do not think they are sick, and we don't think that they cannot be welcomed to our Church. We think that people who struggle with same sex attraction belong in our Church. They belong with Christ who loves them.

It is only if we, as a people who believe in Christ and His love, show others love that they will feel that they truly belong.

I feel like I rambled quite a bit, and I know I did not do justice to this topic, but I hope this starts to explain the love that I have for all individuals.