Welcoming Those Whom God Calls

“You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean.” -Acts of the Apostles, 10:28

When he enters the home of the Roman centurion Cornelius, St. Peter has no clear idea what God is asking of him. Though aware of the dream he had, in which God seemed to remove the dietary restrictions associated with the Jewish Law, Peter wonders what Cornelius and his household have to do with this dream. Only gradually does the Spirit reveal to Peter—as leader of the Church—that God has changed the world and that Peter is now being called to witness God’s action by welcoming the Gentiles, as they are, into the fullness of communion in the Church. Not called to create their calling (indeed, before he can baptize Cornelius or his household, God sends the Holy Spirit upon them, making the baptism a response to rather than a source of God’s grace), Peter’s role is one of witness to the widening circle of love whose true origin is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—and whose sign is the power of the Holy Spirit. In this moment, the head of the apostles learns that God’s grace is greater than first Christians could hope or imagine, and that his faith must continue to develop as the breadth of God’s redemptive love continues to be revealed. What surprises Peter, what will become a starting point for Paul, and what continues to challenge the Church even today is the vastness of the mercy of God: a mercy that denies that anything truly human can be profane, a mercy that encompasses every human heart and every aspect of human nature.

The notion that all of nature is redeemed by the Incarnation of God in Christ is the source of the Church’s mission and the core of Christian Natural Law. If the Spirit of God has made all things holy—the whole natural order—than all people are called to salvation, by virtue of their nature. It is the work of the Church to proclaim to all people this inheritance in which we all share. We are chosen in love and called by love to tell others that they, too, are chosen and loved—not because they become like us but because they already are like God. Even though, through the gospel, we preach repentance, that repentance is not a renunciation of nature but the embracing and affirmation of each person’s truest self. Our nature is God’s grace in us, and sin is its denial. Or, as St. Ireneus put it, “The glory of God is the human person fully alive, and the life of the human person is the vision of God.”

During the month of June, as people across the world affirm the value and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer women and men, St. Ignatius Parish will be hosting various events to explore the graces and struggles of LGBTQ+ women and men in our community. Like Peter entering the house of Cornelius, this is a moment that might be considered unlawful and even scandalous to those who see members of this community as profane or unclean. Yet, if we have ears to hear and hearts to feel, we will recognize, like Peter, that the Spirit of God transcends our simple categories and old beliefs, going before us to fill the hearts of all women and men, and calling us to affirm what God’s love has already consecrated.
 
Years ago, I walked in several Pride parades in Seattle with parishioners from St. Joseph Parish. Parents and children, gay and straight, old and young, we walked because our faith community had been enriched by the LGBTQ+ people who were part of us. People cheered to see our Parish banner, and came forward, sometimes with tears in their eyes, to tell of their longing to feel welcomed again in the Church, in the Catholic faith of their childhood and of their heart. Some, eventually, became part of our faith community, bringing the Spirit with them and gathering around the altar not only with people who share their nature or character, but with people of all types and persuasions. All of us sinners, all of us saved by the same grace planted in our hearts and redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ.

This month, as we celebrate the LGBTQ+ Catholics among us at St. Ignatius, let us do so with the heart of St. Peter, and with his freedom. Let us not stand on ideology, but listen for the Spirit, supporting all those in our community who seek to live faithfully the way God has made them and in the Spirit that has called them. Let us rejoice that we are called together to the table of Christ and into the body of the Church. Let us affirm that the Catholic Church, founded by God’s grace, is not a place of hatred or rejection, but a communion of loved sinners called in humility to grow and learn through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us all enter the house of Cornelius, where the signs of the Spirit are manifest, and learn anew how wide is the world that Christ Jesus has redeemed.