Latest / Claymore: Become Who You Are / #630 Sean asked, "Am I Gay?": Discovering Your True Identity in Christ

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#630 Sean asked, "Am I Gay?": Discovering Your True Identity in Christ · Claymore: Become Who You Are

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Become who you Are podcast, a production of the John Paul II Renewal Center.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Jack Riggs, your host.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So glad you're with me.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This is our Friday edition, where we support young people, especially young men of Claymore.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Claymore, miletus Christi, soldiers for Christ.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It's the battle plan, it's that big sword behind me, the big Claymore sword.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: It's fought on the battlefield of a man's heart, between love and lust, between self-taking and grasping and self-giving and human flourishing.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So we're here every Friday to support you, even though there's podcasts, I do during the week too.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I think you'll enjoy all of them.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Uh, don't forget to download the the claymore battle plan.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: For those of you who are new, just go to our website jp the number two.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Jp the number two renewedorg.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Go to resources at the top there.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Uh, you'll be able to scroll down to claymore and just click on that and then scroll down some more.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You'll read some of the resources that we have there, but also toward the bottom, you'll see the battle plan.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Just download that printed out shirt with somebody else.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Today I want to answer.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I wrote an article actually to answer this.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: So much confusion about sexuality today, right?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: So this article that I wrote is Am I Gay, discovering your True Identity in Christ.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I'll put the links to the show notes so you can read this article.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: It's on my sub stack.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: It's on X, if you want to go to X.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: It'll be published in the Catholic Exchange in a week or so, so I'll put all those links in as they come up.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So let me basically go over this with you and please again share this, because God is calling us into this beautiful story.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You know we didn't create the universe.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: You know we didn't write the big story and put meaning and purpose behind everything.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: We came into a story and as we're trying to figure that out, remember you know John Paul II said and he's just following Jesus Christ, hey, we came into the beginning.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Jesus points us back to the beginning.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: What was it like before sin?
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Then we entered this fallen world.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: You know we didn't come into a neutral zone and this is so important for us to remember.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: You know you came into a place where there are spiritual battles being fought for your own heart.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It's the coolest thing when you understand this.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: We're a body and a soul, but without grace, without this redemption that Jesus offers us, you know our default position is just sin and death.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, just look out there, you know.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I mean right, that's just a reality.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Now Jesus comes into the story body and the soul filled with grace, huh.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And then we have the potential for human flourishing, potential for human freedom, to free me from all these addictions and the porn and all this kind of stuff.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: But it has to be made efficacious.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You know, god creates us in a way that we have to walk with and we co-create ourselves.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: It's the most exciting thing.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So, as we take these steps to co-creating ourselves and we make it efficacious, that's in our actions.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That's why, first thing in the morning, what do we do?
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: We fall to our knees and we open up our hearts and say let it be done to me according to your word.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: We're kneeling with our blessed mother.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: That's what she heard at the annunciation and she said to the angel Gabriel, who says that she's going to be impregnated with God himself, with Jesus himself.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Let it be done according to your word.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: And that's what we say in the morning Open up our hearts.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: And then we remember our Blessed Mother at the wedding feast at Cana.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: She turned to the servants working there and she said do as he tells you, do as he tells you.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: So that's what we open up our heart and we listen for him to speak to us, right?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And then the next thing we do is temptation is not a sin.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: You know, jesus himself was tempted.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: We know that, when properly understood, temptation is that moment on the battlefield of the heart and temptation is an invitation to prayer.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: We're not afraid of temptations, we open up those temptations and we open them up in prayer.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: It's the coolest thing, because I just those temptations come in, we open them up in prayer.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: It's the coolest thing because I just those temptations come in.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I don't get frustrated, I don't get tired of it, I open it up and that power, that eros, that power that we spoke about, is actually opening up to the one who gave us that our passions and desires.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: We don't try to stuff them down, we don't indulge them, we open them up.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: And this is how God comes into our hearts.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: You know, we're inspired by our own hearts and, of course, our hearts come from the DNA of God himself, who also has a heart for us.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: And then we just get up off our knees and love the next person we see.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Well, you know there's a lot of confusion out there.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: So people have questions and today I'm going to answer one of those questions.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Am I gay, discovering your true identity in Christ?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: To answer one of those questions Am I gay, discovering your true identity in Christ?
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So, as a Catholic speaker, I'm privileged to meet young adults grappling with profound questions about identity, love, their place in the church.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: One encounter remains etched in my heart.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: After a talk I gave, a young man named Sean approached me, his eyes reflecting both courage and uncertainty.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: He was a young guy.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Can I ask you something personally?
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: He said I met a guy at school.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: He said and we've become very good friends, very close, and we talk every day, hang out constantly.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: He's kind, smart, funny, athletic.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: He's just an incredible guy.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I can't stop thinking about him and I'm starting to wonder am I gay?
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I'm scared and am I still welcome in the church?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I just came back into the church but I got all these thoughts.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I looked at Sean, you know, and his, his, sean's vulnerability, as he looked at me.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It was a gift, a window into his heart, seeking what?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Seeking the truth.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Sean, I replied thank you for trusting me.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: From what you shared, it's not clear if this is same sex attraction or simply admiration for a friend who inspires you, I get it.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Let me share something with you.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Ever since I can remember, I was attracted to some men the way you just described your friend.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: What's not to be attracted to?
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I also have friends who are smart, kind, funny and, I add, brave, courageous and self-giving, and I'm attracted to them because they raised the bar and they challenged me to be a better man in so many ways.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: But let's address your bigger question.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: You absolutely belong in the church.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: You are a beloved child of God and nothing can change that.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Rooted in God's love, your identity as God's child is the cornerstone of who you are.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: We have to stop and realize that this is what we're doing right.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: We are a child of God first.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: That's our identity.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: We're not our attractions.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: We're not.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You know, all these things are gonna be bombarding you all day.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: It's just time.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: It's so good just to take a deep breath and root it in God's love.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Your identity is God's child.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: It's the cornerstone, again, of who you are.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: No matter your thoughts, your struggles, your attractions, your past.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: You're created for intimate union with Jesus Christ.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: He invites you to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and then he says all these things will be given to you.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: This is from Matthew 6, 33.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: So run to Jesus with your questions, your doubts that's what we do in the morning and your fears.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: He knows your heart.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He created it and then, through prayer, scripture, the sacraments, he's going to guide you to the truth of who he is and who you are.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Sean's question right reflects the struggle so many young Catholics face, navigating attractions in a culture that offers confusing answers.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: To clarify, I turn to John Paul II's theology of the body, a treasure, of course, of our teaching that unveils God's plan for human love and identity.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: In a poignant talk on November 11th that John Paul gave 1981, he delivered this talk.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: This is exactly five months after surviving an assassination attempt five months earlier, on the feast of our lady of Fatima, our blessed mother, when she appeared in Fatima.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: That was her feast day.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: That's when he got shot.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: It's amazing.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: And John Paul II reflected on Jesus's dialogue with the Sadducees, those there was a small Jewish sect at that time in Jesus' time who denied the resurrection.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: They only believe in the first five books of the Bible the Torah it's called, and it didn't talk about resurrection.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So they denied that resurrection.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: So they're coming to Jesus Kind of want to trick them again.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: This is from Matthew 22, verses 23 through 33.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I'll try to remember to put those in the show notes or I'll put them across the screen later on when I edit it.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: But anyways, this passage part of what John Paul titled Christ's appeal to the resurrection.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: So remember how I started.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: You know, jesus starts with theology of the body in the beginning, before sin.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: This is how we're created, this is the beauty of our human sexuality.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Created male and female in the divine image.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: He created them, male and female.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: He created them to bring God's Trinitarian love into the world.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Right, I won't spend time to do that.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: But then we know, you know, we came in through history.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: We're living in the time of the fall.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: So many people have normalized the fall and sin, and so this is the third part now, right, so we got in the beginning, before sin, the fall, and now John Paul's pointing to the resurrection, christ's appeal to the resurrection.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: This is where we're going.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: So when I'm listening to Sean and I'm answering Sean, I turn to John Paul because we have to pause for a minute.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: We have to say where is this whole story taking us?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: You know, once we understand that big picture, at least we can settle in and make a better decision.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: We can discern better.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: So this Christ appeals to the resurrection offers profound insights into our deepest desires.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: It's part of that triptych again.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: And finally, the resurrection right reveals our destiny.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: You know body and soul, devolved positions, sin and death.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: We were looking for life-giving relationship, body and the soul, plus grace or the Eucharist.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: It's an infinite union and communion, sean, that we're really looking for.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: So once again, here is Christ's appeal to the resurrection, telling us where we're going, where our heart's desires actually are, pointing us to, offering us profound insight into our deepest desires.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: The resurrection reveals our destiny in three dimensions.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Remember, we talk about three dimensions when we're tempted.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: If you live in a two-dimensional space without God in your life, you just live in a two-dimensional space here, right.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: And so what are our choices?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: We're either going to stuff those desires down oh, I don't want to think about those desires or we have these temptations and we're afraid of them.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: We're trying to be good, so we stuff them down.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: That's called the starvation diet.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: It doesn't work very well because if you starve for a while, you're going to get hungry and the culture pulls you in Two-dimension.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Huh, oh, I know what you're looking for.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: We got the porn, we got the materialistic world.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: You can go buy something online, do this, do that.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I know what you want and they get you into and we indulge, and these poor guys go from starving to indulging with the fast food, the toxic environment, back and forth in this cycle, and we say no, no, no.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: We live in three dimensions.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: We know that those great desires, our passions and desires have been put into our hearts by design to lead us to our destiny.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It's like this rocket and if we understand it, we allow our passions and desires as men to lead us to our destiny.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: This is what we're doing here.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: So the same day, the Sadducees came to Jesus, who say there's no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying Teacher Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Now there were seven brothers among us.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: The first married and died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother, so to the second, the third down to the seventh.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: After them, all the woman died In the resurrection.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Therefore, now they're asking Jesus this Okay, jesus, you know there's seven brothers that married this woman.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Nobody had any children.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Finally, the woman dies.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: So if you say there's a resurrection, in the resurrection, therefore, to which of the seven will she be?
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: The wife, for all had her right, they're all married to her.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: But jesus answered them ah, you're wrong, because you know neither scripture nor the power of god.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: You know not what you read in scripture, you don't understand it, nor the power of god.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: This is so important.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: When we're reading scripture right, we forget that not only is God speaking to us in scripture and that's what's so important with Claymore, miletus Christi Part of that is to read scripture right, 15, 30 minutes a day.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Again, download the battle plan, you'll see all this.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: But then we don't believe in the power of God.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus is saying and isn't this the culture today?
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: You know we're kneeling, but we don't believe in the power of God to change our heart and so we don't try.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: You know we don't try.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Gk Chesterton said that Christianity has not been tried and found wanting.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: It's been found difficult and left untried.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: In other words, we're stepping into the store.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: We don't want to do that battle.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: You know, we've become like these lump lumps again, going from starving.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: We give a little effort, we indulge, but we don't have the power.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: God has the power.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: So you are wrong, jesus says, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: For in the resurrection they neither marry or are given in marriage, but they're like angels in heaven.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Why are they like angels in heaven?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: We're, you know, we're going to have bodies in heaven.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: They're like angels in heaven because angels don't get married.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Angels don't.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Don't they don't?
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: That's why they're jealous of us, you know.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: That's why Satan and those angels, those fallen angels, are jealous of us.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Because we co-create with God.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: See, we bring this life-giving union with a man and a woman.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: It's open to life, and we can bring these eternal beings into the world.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Huh, so they're not.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Jesus says you're wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God, for in the resurrection they neither marry or are given in marriage.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: So what does that mean?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: You know we're not married anymore.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Is that the delete button on our marriages?
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: No, that's not the delete button.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: If you're married, that's the complete button, that whole image of a man and a woman open to life.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Huh, this is a tiny reflection of Trinitarian love in this world.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: But Jesus is saying you know, in the resurrection at the end of time, when you die, you go on.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Jesus is saying you know, in the resurrection at the end of time, when you die, you go on.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: You know your union and communion has always been our destiny, has always been to join in the union and communion of the Trinity and all the communion of angels and saints.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: You know, when you read Revelation, the last book of the Bible, it talks about the marriage of the Lamb.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: This is where this is going, and I've spoken about these things in other times, so I'm going to just go on from here.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: For in the resurrection they neither marry or are given a marriage, but they're like angels in heaven.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that?
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: What was said to you by God?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: He's not the God of the dead, but of the living.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's so powerful.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: So think about this.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: He, jesus, knows what they do know.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Those five books of the first five books of the Bible, the Torah that I mentioned earlier, that don't talk about the resurrection, but they do talk about.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is the mind of Jesus.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: It's so powerful, it's so beautiful, right, he said.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And as for the resurrection of the dead, now he's going to use something that they do know.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: What was said by God there in the first books I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: He's not the God of the dead, but of the living.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: And when the crowd heard it they were astonished at his teaching.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Jesus unveils two truths.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: First, earthly marriage.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Number one is the signpost of a greater reality the marriage of the Lamb.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: This is Revelation 19, 7, that I just quoted.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: The marriage of the Lamb this is Revelation 19, 7, that I just quoted where we're united with Christ in eternal communion.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: St John Paul describes this as the spousal meaning of the body, where our human relationships, rooted in love and self-gift, mirror God's desire to be one flesh with us.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: And where do we become one flesh with Jesus?
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: In the Eucharist.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: At the Mass, when all the smoke and fog clears everyone, take a deep breath and think about this.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: When all the smoke and fog clears our deepest yearning, burning desires to be in union and community and marriage, even these same-sex attractions, all these things that get confused in our life, all those passion, desires went untwisted, undistorted, are pointing right to the Eucharist at the Mass and Christ's desire, god's desire to become one flesh with us.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Our longing for connection isn't random.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It's a divine spark pointing to union and communion with God.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: When we misdirect this infinite desire toward finite things and all these attractions, people, pleasure, validation, we experience confusion and emptiness.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: The world shouts follow your feelings.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: But Jesus, who knows you, says aim your heart, your passions and desires at heaven.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Aim your passions and desires at God.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Who gave you your passions and desires at heaven?
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Aim your passions and desires at God.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Who gave you those passions and desires?
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Jesus, hanging on the cross, he also has passions and desires.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: He says right at the end, right before he died, he goes I thirst, I thirst for you.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Again, the world shouts follow your feelings.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: It's reduced love down to a feeling and then down to sex, and it doesn't matter who we have sex with, how.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: It's a meaning purpose.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Whatever Jesus says, just take a deep breath, aim at heaven, because at heaven your desires and stuff are going to be untwisted, undistorted.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Those are desires for union and communion with God himself.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: So Jesus didn't come to, didn't come to manage our sins.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Jesus came and he calls us to trust in what?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: In the power of God.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: You only know the power of God when you walk into the story.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I was having a conversation with another young guy and he says Jack, how do I know that Jesus is real?
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: He can change my heart.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I said you've got to walk into know that.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: You know Jesus is real, he can change my heart.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I said you got to walk into the story.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Dude, are you going to confession?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Are you going to mass?
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Are you reading scripture every day?
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Are you praying the rosary when you're driving in the car?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Are you getting down on your knees first thing in the morning?
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: When you do those things, you're going to look back at your just in a month or two months or three months and people are going to say what happened to Jack, what happened to Sean, what happened to Joe, what happened to Pete?
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: What happened to Mary?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: You know, something changed in your heart, right?
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: So Jesus calls us to trust in the power of God.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: He didn't come to manage our sins.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: He didn't come for sin management, but to transform hearts with grace that transcends our fallen nature.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Each one of us is a sinner and all our desires, shaped by a broken world, need healing.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that same-sex attraction, like any disordered desire, isn't part of God's original design but is the result of humanity's fall.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: This is 2357, 2358.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: It's beautifully written.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: It's just a couple paragraphs on yet, with all this stuff.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Yet those who experience it must, you know, experience same-sex attraction, sean.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: It must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: You know most of the people.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: My brother who died and brought me back into the church, was abused as a young man and I told that story many times.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: But he had same-sex attractions and he said to us one time his brothers.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: He says you know, nobody would ask for these same-sex attractions.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't ask for these, right?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So there's reasons behind that and so we have to be respectful of that, we have to be compassionate, we have to be sensitive to that.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: But it's not about falling in and giving in to all your passions and desires, I mean.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Then the next guy asked me oh, jack, my compassion and desires is for my neighbor next door, or the woman down the street, or when I go out, every time I see a woman, that's my passion.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I mean one guy for this one.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: We have all these things.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Just take a deep breath and come back into the church, you know, encounter Christ, do all the things that we just talked about.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: They're all in the battle plan.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Just do those things.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: You know, take a couple of months and do those.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: John Paul II one of the statements from Claymore Miletus Christie.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: He says dear young people, pay attention, your life is not an endless series of open doors.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Listen to your heart.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: It's always about the human heart.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Do not stay on the surface, but go to the heart of things and, when the time is right, have the courage to decide and when you decide, stay on that path.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: You know, jesus said you know, once you put your head to the plow and you're moving forward, don't look back, look forward.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Huh, aim your heavenly desires, your infinite desires, at the one who gave them to you.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: So again, when somebody, if we're discipling someone, they have same-sex attractions we have to be compassionate, we have to respect that, we have to be sensitive to that.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: But, like everything else, we're leading them to Christ.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: That's what we're doing.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: In Christ they're going to find the infinite desires fulfilled.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: This is a battle.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: This is why we got a sword right.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: This isn't cookies and cream in college, my friends, this isn't a little safe zone.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: We go out into the world, but we don't do it by ourselves.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: We do it with our brothers that we're discipling in this Claymore Miletus Christi.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: But first of all, especially, we want to be filled with grace, the path to holiness through the narrow gate that Jesus talks about, and rooting our identity in Christ, who makes all things new, the bridegroom's self-giving love.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: St John Paul II ties this to Ephesians 5, chapter 5, verses 25 and 32, where Christ is the bridegroom who loves the church by giving himself fully.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: The spousal love reveals that all of us, male and female, are called to be the bride of Christ, united in him.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: So I'll put these again in the show notes.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Ephesians first of all, revelation 21.5, read that you know Christ, who makes all things new, calls you into a loving relationship with him.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: John Paul ties this in the beginning you know this beauty, passionate for a love for a man and a woman, and it points us right to Christ in the church.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Don't forget that it's Jesus who left his heavenly father and his earthly mother to become one flesh with you.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: So all these passions and desires are linked directly and pointing right to the Eucharist and Christ's desire to be one flesh with us.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: When you start to read scripture through this lens of this encounter, this union and communion that we're called into, it's so, so, so beautiful, right?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: So, again, christ is the bridegroom who loves the church by giving himself fully.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: The spousal love reveals that all of us, male and female, are called to be the bride of Christ.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Christ is the head, we're the body, and so he's the eternal bridegroom who comes to what Offer himself to his bride.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: So we're all the bride.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: You know, this is not a sexual encounter, right?
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: This is a sacramental.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, in this pornographic sexual world, it's hard for us to understand that we're the bride.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: What does that mean?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I'm open to receive the gift, the self-giving love of the bridegroom.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: So this spousal love reveals that all of us, again, male and female, are called to be the bride of Christ, united with him.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: That's Galatians, chapter 3, verse 28.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: St John's gospel proclaims what God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: In the Eucharist we encounter Christ's self-giving love as he offers his body and blood for you.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: This is my body given for you.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: This is my body given for you.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: He would do it if you were the only person here.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: This is our deepest identity.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: We're made to love and be loved by God eternally.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Young adults, young men, today navigate a culture that's often equates identity with attractions and feelings right?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: So when we come into the world again, we're told that love is a feeling you know and we sexualize everything today.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: So we have to back up from that a little bit.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: You have to understand social media, pop culture.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: They all amplify this and in the school systems, suggesting that your desires define you.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: That's who you are.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Slap a label I'm LGBTQ, whatever it is a racist label.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I'm black, I'm white, I'm whatever.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: They're all created to divide us Because, at the end of the day, we can talk about those labels till we're blue in the face, but if we understand it, we just we skip all the labels.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: We skip all the you know attractions, the labels that somebody wants to put on us and say, nope, yeah, I have attractions.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I'm broken, I'm sinful, I do this, I do that, whatever.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: But I also have these passionate desires and these passionate desires are given to me by god in three dimensions.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I understand those passionate desires have been given to me by design to lead me to my destiny.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: So, no, I'm not a label.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, right, and you know.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Social media, pop culture, the schools.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: You're all lying to me that you know I have attractions and desires.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Those are real, like we just said, but those don't define me right.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: The church offers a liberating truth.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: We are not.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: You are not your attractions.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: You're a child of God, created for holiness.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Healing comes through grace, not sheer willpower.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Chastity, living love according to God's plan is a challenge for everyone, but it's possible through Christ who strengthens us.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: This is just scripture, huh, christ who strengthens us.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: To believe our weaknesses outweigh God's grace is to underestimate the power of the cross, living courageously in truth.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: To young Catholics like Sean I say don't let the world steal the treasure of God's truth.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Love rejoices in the truth.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: God's love rejoices in the truth.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Tell me the truth, do it in love and then love me in the truth.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: What is the truth of things?
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: What is the reality?
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: How am I created?
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: What are my passions and desires for?
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: The church isn't here to condemn, but to journey with you toward holiness.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: This is the whole Claymore system.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: We're here to journey with you toward holiness.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Here are practical steps to live out this truth.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Embrace the sacraments.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: If you're not attending Mass, receiving the Eucharist and going to confession first.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: You're missing.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: You're missing the big thing, this union and communion with Christ, where Christ meets you with transforming love.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Confession it's a safe space.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: You were looking for a safe space.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Go to confession.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: It's a safe space to bring your struggles and find mercy.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Remember, temptation is an invitation to prayer If you want to find peace and you know, to find peace and the world's peace is what?
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: A lack of conflict.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's no war today, so we have peace.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: This is not the peace that Christ is talking about.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Christ's peace is different when we sit in adoration, and this is what I was going to say spend time in adoration or spend time right where you're at with Scripture, like Matthew 633 or Psalm 139.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: You know, read it and then meditate on it and just sit there.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Now you're going to find the peace of Christ, which is deep, it goes all the way into the heart.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh, you're made for this peace, so that you can be the branch, can go back into the vine, so that you can be filled with God's grace and then go out and be that.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: But I can't be what I don't have.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I can't give Maybe it's a better way of saying it what I don't have.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I have to be filled from the eternal well, first from Jesus Christ, and then I go out and become that.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: That's how I know.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: That's how I know that I can bring love into the world, because I love people that I see out in the world, and I don't care if it's the cashier, maybe I live alone, I don't even have any friends.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Go out and just be kind to people you know.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Go to mass, go to church, go to adoration.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: You're going to meet people, say hi to them, develop friendships.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Tell Jesus everything you know, the doubts, the fears, your hopes.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: He listens.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Then seek holy community Again.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Surround yourself with friends who share your faith and challenge you to grow in virtue.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Join a parish group.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Bring them into this program.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's a youth group, a young adult group, I should say, at the parish.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Use Claymore.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Miletus Christi is your blueprint.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Explore church teaching, listen to this podcast.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Become who we are.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Every Friday we're laying the groundwork here.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to go into some specific teachings, but at first the major thing is you encounter Jesus Christ and you encounter him personally, and then you encounter him in the people that you meet.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Read Theology of the Body, get a book like Theology of the Body for Beginners from Christopher West, and it unpacks all of this so beautifully.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Get that big book of everything Catholic called the Catechism.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Don't forget the Catechism starts with the heart, with the human heart, with desire.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: It's a fascinating book.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Read scripture every day.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Read the lives of the saints we're talking about some various saints on this show, you know.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Listen to those and then go get those books that we're recommending.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: It's really beautiful when you do that.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Understanding how these saints are living it out, understand God's plan, along with his grace, empowers you to live it.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Find guidance.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: A priest may be a spiritual director, a claim or a disciple, a trusted mentor that can offer personalized wisdom as you navigate questions about identity and attraction.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: The church needs your heart, your gifts and your courage to make love beautiful.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Human Christian rooted in Christ.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Saints like St Augustine, who wrestled with his desires, st Mary Magdalene, who found freedom in Christ, show us that transformation is possible.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: You're not alone on this journey.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: A call to bold faith.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Sean's question reflects a universal ache to be known, loved, welcomed.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: The church is your home and Christ is your bridegroom.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Be bold even when the world's voices drown out the truth, as St John Paul II told young people, do not be afraid of the love that places clear demands on you.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: These demands make your love true.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Take action this week.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Spend 15 minutes in adoration again.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Pray with matthew, 633, psalm 139, asking jesus.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Then, while you're sitting there in adoration, while you're sitting there in peace, even in your home, jesus, who am I to you, jesus, who am I to you, jesus, who am I to you?
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: And just sit in that peace.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: You got to listen, right, this is a conversation, so I can speak, I can ask, but now I got to sit in quiet.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: This is where that peace comes from, and God will show you ways.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: It's amazing how it works.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Journal your thoughts.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Again, journal is not a diary, just, you know, I have these stacks of notebooks since I was a kid, in high school.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: It was just like these thoughts would come, or you know, jesus, who am I to you?
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: And then I would write that down.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And then, a couple of weeks later, I'd find out that he answered that question.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Maybe not at that moment, but somehow he answered that question to somebody else.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I would have missed all this.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes these things are being.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: You know, miracles in your life are being done around you and you're part of it, but we miss it if we don't pay attention.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: So journal your thoughts, Then connect with a claim, or disciple a friend, a priest, to share your journey.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: You're stronger together, right?
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Jesus sent people out two by two.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: So here's a couple of reflection questions.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: How does being a beloved child of God shape your view of yourself?
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: How can the Eucharist help you align your desires with God's plan?
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Who can you lean on to live the church's teaching with courage and joy?
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: These will all be in the show notes.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: And then download the Claymore Battle Plan.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Download Claymore.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Miletus Christi, the blueprint.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Claymore is a movement for courageous individuals, especially young men, committed to retaining and reclaiming territory for Christ by fostering a culture of life, of liberty and authentic love.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: This starts in the battlefield of the heart right, and this is all in the Claymore battle plan.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: We get our own hearts back.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: We understand what marriage and the family, what life, all the way from these little babies in the womb, what that all means.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: And then we go out into the culture and we bring this life and love into the culture, creating a culture of life, of liberty, freedom, of authentic love.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Hey, god bless you.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: If you have any other questions, send it to me.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: I'll have everything in the show notes.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Again, I'll have the article.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: If you want to read this article, share it with friends and do me a favor, subscribe.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Go on YouTube and subscribe on X.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Everything's in the show notes.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Subscribe there.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: You can see the article there and other things posted.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to my sub stack and the beauty of that is you can go through all of the articles that I've written, say, in the last year or two or three, and you'll find different things that may interest you as questions come up, as things come up in the church or people ask you questions about stuff.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: So you can browse through those topics and then you'll be armed.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: When somebody answers or asks you a question, just say you know what, let me think about that, let me read up on that and I'll get back to you and you can read some of those articles.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Hey, god bless you.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: If you have any questions, my contact information will be in the show notes.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Talk to you again soon, everybody.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Bye-bye.