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A Prayer of a Parent of a Gay Child
O Holy Spirit, you who lives within us, making us holy, awaken my mind to know your wisdom and truth, move my flesh to act as you would, fill my heart with comfort and courage to be a parent of love, not of judgment – to be a parent of reconciliation, a paraclete to my own child.Have mercy on me for often I don’t know what to say, don’t know what to do. I never want to hurt my child, never leading my child into the darkness of loneliness and sorrow or through the shadows of a disingenuous existence. When I am afraid, comfort me. When the world hangs heavily upon me, release me from its pressures. If I lose patience and focus, lead me quickly to silence.
Teach me to speak of love with my child, to proclaim the Gospel of the heart, to hold back my own frustrations and ignorance, and to assure my child that no matter of our days ahead, I will be there for my child in all ways, and always. For I, too, am a new martyr of the holy homosexual yoke, and to this divine witness I must be true, for the sake of my child and all children whose hearts cry aloud for one thing – the sacred right to-love-and-to-be-loved.
Lord, do not let me be an obstacle or disappointment to my child’s heart and life’s pleasures. Rather, direct me to move myself aside, to advocate each day for my child’s heart, encouraging my child to live without fear, without inhibition, without compromise, without discrimination, without the tears that I know my child sheds in great quantity when I am not looking, when I am not there to clear the way, when darkness fills my child’s inner room and solitude takes over.
God, forgive my own Church hierarchs – archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, theologians, and others – all who cast psychopathological aspersions of hate on my child’s life, blocking my child’s theosis rather than building up the unity of the Church. Infiltrate the hearts of my religious leaders and reveal to them, without holding back, the evils of their hands, the wrongs of their deeds. Lead them through metanoia, to repent of their wrongdoings, to confess publicly of their litany of offenses against the Holy Gospel and Tradition, to forgive themselves for the genocide they endorse, perpetuate, and execute. Though not an easy task, we will acquit them as you do with all our failings.
Grant my child a full heart and the ability to know sacred, romantic love with whomever my child desires. Help me learn by heart that spiritual-identity supersedes gender-identity. Assist me to change the world and make it a living liturgy of your ever-present human compassion and sacred embrace. Thank you for teaching me that the heart exceeds all things, for you are love – love given freely to all without preference or prerequisites.
Bless us, all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, with your mercy and grace so we may spend all our nights and days glorifying you, and the Father of all creation, and his Only-Begotten Son, now and forever.
Amen.
Images: Michael J. Bayly.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Voices of Parental Authority and Wisdom
• The Bishop’s “Guidelines”: A Parent’s Response
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents
• Vermont Mother Tells It Like It Is
• Grandma Knows Best
• A Must-See Film
Recommended Off-site Links:
Fortunate Families
Catholic Rainbow Parents
Holy Families Committee of the Catholic Action Network for Social Justice
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