Lent - Day 14

       Here's a question I hope you'll embrace. For me this is more than a theoretical exercise. Before being laicized ( for being an 'active' homosexual ), I was a Roman Catholic cleric. I fessed up and owned it, in pure honesty, who God mad me to be. There should have been and there was not anything to hide.  But here is the question. Had I known the extent of decay and moral abandonment, would I still have allowed myself to be ordained, serving honestly and fully? The entire Roman church of course is not rotten. The lay people and a majority of the clergy are decent, loving and faithful servants of God. It is sad that the entire Church though gets the taint of the hierarchy which reeks of the miasma of abuse, cover ups and utter hypocrisy. Would I walk willingly into the face of abuse and public scorn, labelled as one of 'them'? At least being gay is an honorable and God given gift. The actions of the Church proper have strayed from the path, lost apparently forever without hope of the Spirit that is sadly ignored but pounding on the door for attention.

        Today we have Joseph who by appearance is marrying a cheater. That is what Mary seems to be but Joseph is a faithful and loving man. Joseph responds to God's call even in the face of possible derision. Mary is often credited for saying 'yes' to God, for allowing herself to be into a position for which she could have been stoned to death. Joseph, while not subject to stoning could easily have played the fool and portrayed as the fool. And yet, Joseph said yes.

        The real question then today is to what extent are we willing to play the fool for God? When we are asked to honour ourselves at risk, to honor our faith at risk or any array of actions that are not quite 'convenient', what do we do?   

       For saying yes to God, faithful service and our conversion in Lent, we pray.

Matthew 1:18-25

 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.