Pope Francis has inaugurated the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family. The three-week gathering of bishops from around will focus on married couples, parents and family.
Interestingly enough, today's readings were on the creation of Eve, institution of marriage and the opposition of divorce.
So, why did God create Eve?
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him." Genesis 2
It's not good for anyone to be alone. That's just an intrinsic part of the human experience. We are all looking for a connection, for friendship and, most importantly, love.
People believe that life is fulfilling when they find someone, marry them and build a family.
I am one of those people, and so are many of the LGBT community. We also want to find someone, marry them and build a family. Why? Because we too do not want to be alone.
Unfortunately, not everyone understands or respects that. But the fact is this...
Reality has changed.
Catholicism has remained, but the world around it has changed in the last 2,000+ years. The reality is that the family has changed.
There are couples who have divorced and remarried and are raising happy, healthy children.
There are couples who choose common law marriage who are raising happy, healthy children.
There are homosexual couples who are raising happy, healthy children.
That is reality.
Pope Francis has begun changing the tone of the Church regarding homosexuality.
Why? Because maybe he thinks the teaching and expectation that gay Catholics must live a life of loneliness is inhuman. Maybe because he realizes there is some value and good in a loving, committed relationship open to raising children.
According to the Religion News Service, His Holiness addressed today's reading.
These words show that nothing makes man's heart as happy as another heart like his own, a heart which loves him and takes away his sense of being alone.
Fact: There is nothing that can make any of our hearts as happy as finding another one that loves us back. This concept doesn't change or lesson for a homosexual couple. Even the LGBT community is longing to take away the sense of being alone by finding a heart like theirs in the world.
I often find myself asking:
Why is this hard to understand?
Why do we struggle as a community to know, understand and accept this?
Why can't heterosexual Catholics see that homosexuals want the same things in life as them?
Why can't we acknowledge that God created all of us and that homosexuality isn't just an act of free will to sin?
There will soon be scientific proof that people are born gay. Meaning that God created gay people for a reason. Gay people are also made in the image and likeness of God.
If we are going to continue opening the Church's doors, spreading the word of God and changing the world, we must do it all together. In order to do it together, we must come to love, respect and accept each other for who we are.
The Synod has three weeks to discuss family. I hope and pray that they will truly discuss what this all means in the modern world.
My name is Aaron Jay Ledesma.
I'm from Houston, Texas.
I'm Catholic.
I'm gay.
I'm me.
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