“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well” (Matt 6:33).
After a presentation to teens at a local Church about the beauty of God’s plan for love and marriage I looked up and caught the eyes of a young man approaching the stage, “hello, I’m Sean, he said, “I hope it’s OK, can I ask you something?” “Sure Sean,” I replied, “what’s on your mind?”
Sean continued, “you said that our attractions don’t define us, and that love is more than a feeling and that sex is not just sex but has a profound meaning and purpose. I never heard that before and it got me thinking about something I’ve been confused about. You see I met this guy at school some months back and we became friends. Since then, we have been hanging out a lot. He is great looking, an athlete, smart, kind and really funny. I can’t get him out of my mind. I’ve started to think that I’m gay. Now I’m thinking ‘Maybe I’m not Gay’ after all. I’m also questioning whether I am still welcome in the Church when I am having these thoughts and temptations? What do you think?”
I replied. "From what you shared it's not clear to me whether you are describing same-sex attraction or simply a natural attraction and affection for your friend. Let me share something with you. Ever since I can remember I was attracted to some men. The way you just described your friend, what’s not to be attracted too? I have friends who are smart, kind, funny, and I add courageous...they seek what is True, Good and Beautiful... and they challenge me to be a better man. Today the culture has reduced love down to feelings and further that its normal for these feelings to be sexualized. As you learned today, thats an illusion, a lie. Thats the opposite of love, it is a self-seeking love, a love of things that uses people!
Yet the more the world deprives young people of what is true, good and beautiful, the more earnestly will they yearn for it. The vacuum of modern secularism is actually a fragrant invitation for young people to rediscover the sacred, and this rediscovery will lead them to self-discovery.
Young people yearn for meaning, beauty and freedom. In their bodies they feel love stirring and seek it. They want to use their freedom to love, yet they are led to a counterfeit, a lie. And it is sad how often their freedom leads them away from their authentic identity, away from the very meaning and purpose of their lives. Away from the authentic life they seek and so away from God, who is Love and the Source of Love.
They get themselves into no small amount of trouble (confusion) attempting to unravel these mysteries of life and love. As they stumble to find answers, they grow weary of a culture that clearly manipulates and exploits them as consumers of whatever they are selling. Manipulated by professional marketers who understand their passions and desires better than they do!
Then along comes John Paul II declaring...”do not be afraid”, Love does exist! Do not be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of your hearts. You’re right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life!
Lower the bar? Thats the world job, not ours. You can use your freedom to find the easy life, but you will find it to be an illusion...and insulated by your own value system of subjective values and opinions, you cannot find the beauty you seek.
Today’s culture has fallen for the oldest lie in human history...Satan says...you will not die! No you will be like gods, deciding what is good and what is evil!
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