Letter One: Bearing the Beams of Love
My Dear Family,
I would like, as your father in God, to sit around our family table and talk about some very difficult topics over the course of a series of letters. Many of us have grown up in families where sexuality, sexual morality, and related difficult issues were never discussed in a direct way, so we were left on our own to hear about it “on the streets,” so to speak. Unfortunately, something similar has happened as well in our church families. Sexuality and related issues, for various reasons, seem to be a taboo topic in our churches, so we are left to figure things out the best we can for ourselves in the context of our contemporary culture.
I will use this series of pastoral letters, supported by other means of communication and media, to talk directly with you, as a compassionate father, around our family table, about these difficult and sensitive topics.
The purpose of this series is simple. I want you to be able to think through the issues we are faced with today with the mind of Christ, to feel with the compassion of Christ, and to act with the obedience of Christ. At stake is our salvation itself; for what is done through our bodies directly affects our eternal destiny; our bodies are the very arena where the contests and dramas of our lives are played out.
Our family table will avoid ideologies right or left, conservative or liberal, just as Jesus avoided being labeled. Like Him, we will not be judgmental, and are not about heaping shame on one another. Rather, we want to think, feel, and act like Jesus so that we can be joyful and happy in our bodies now and prepare ourselves for our true home with God in the next life.
We will all need to have much courage to proceed because it will be demanding on all of us, no matter who we are, in different ways. It will take courage because of the risks of misunderstanding each other in this polarized climate of ours. As we shall see, we all need to change to think, feel, and act like Christ. Again, this will not be easy for any of us, myself included, for we must all learn how to “bear the beams of love,” as Christ bore the beam of the Cross.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. John Worgul
Takeaway
Families need to start discussing the difficult issues facing our culture, doing so by thinking with the mind of Christ, feeling with the heart of Christ, and acting with the obedience of Christ.
Discussion Questions
- What has brought you to the place of reading this letter and perhaps starting this program?
- Why is it so difficult for us to discuss topics around sexuality?
- What do you think it means to think, feel, and act like Christ?