A pious lady with a respectable gaggle of homeschooled children read my post, and went ballistic. She wrote more than one novel-sized Facebook post condemning me. When a third friend shared my post publicly to her own wall, this Catholic lady posted rant after angry rant on this total stranger’s wall. The other friend kept deleting her. She posted another novel-sized rant on her own wall, condemning me again and claiming I was the one deleting her comments. She even compared me to the Neighborhood Bully who thinks poor children shouldn’t receive school lunches.
She kept saying that I was “leading people to sin.” How was I leading people to sin? Because I wasn’t condemning them harshly enough, so they might think the Catholic church approved of them. They might somehow be the only people in the world who didn’t know that the Church forbids homosexual intercourse, and here I am treating them like children of God. They might somehow be the only people in the world who are brought to repentance by being treated like garbage instead of by being loved, and here I was loving them. Scandal.
To this very day, whenever I see the pious lady, she makes a huge show of turning away from me. When she drives down my block in her behemoth van with the pro-life bumper stickers, she turns her whole face to the side, never mind the many children playing on the curb who could be killed if she doesn’t look where she’s going. When I see her in the foyer at Mass, she turns her whole face away and walks sideways. Once, while putting on this performance, she crashed into a table and shook all the pamphlet displays.
That’s how foolish you look when you sin.
Yes, sin. Because obsessing over somebody else’s sins, is a sin.
Our focus should be on the Lord, on love for Him and obedience flowing from our love, just as Christ obeys the Father in love. Our focus should be on repentance of our own sins and loving others for sake of Christ. When we make anything else the center of our lives, we commit the sin of idolatry. When we imagine that our own sins are less offensive to the Lord than somebody else’s, we commit the sin of pride. When we talk with lurid fascination about the evils of another group, we commit the sin of gossip.
I have no way of knowing if my sins are more monstrous in the eyes of God than anyone else’s. Considering all the catechizing I’ve had, I imagine mine are more grievous than most people’s. I ought to know better.
Now here’s the Pope, telling everyone we should apologize to our homosexual brothers and sisters for any time we’ve marginalized or abused them. I wonder if the pious lady will turn her face away from the Pope, compare him to the neighborhood bully and walk into a table.
I do apologize to all of my brothers and sisters, gay or otherwise, for the countless times I have stood before you wearing the icon of Christ, the human face, and not behaved in a Christlike manner. I am the worst of sinners. I am not worthy to be an icon. Please don’t ever confuse Christ with His followers. In His mercy, He comes to the weakest and worst of sinners to shame the strong, and I am weaker than most. It would serve me right if everyone turned sideways and walked into a table. Because of the mercy Christ has shown to you, please have mercy on me. And leave the poor table alone.
(image via pixabay)
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