I dearly, deeply and truly love gay/lesbian persons

One is often fascinated at what arguments go on among people of different cultural/religious leanings concerning those who claim to be gay or lesbian. I truly love them: they deserve to be loved. In the first place, God loves them, like He loves you and me, unconditionally. Once upon a time a friend of mine told me he had lunch with a gay couple. What surprised me was hearing the story of one of these men. He told this friend that from his childhood he found he was more attracted to little male kids like himself than to girls his age. He said his parents knew this was the case with him. Oh! this young man growing up felt he was meant to be gay all his life? Wow!!! The question will be: "what did the adult parents do in the awareness of this reality? On the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, this year, we read from Matthew's gospel account of Jesus' parable about the wheat and the cockle. (cf. Matt. 13:24-43) The operative words in this parable are: "while everybody was asleep, the enemy came and sowed the cockle" While everybody was asleep? Indeed when we are "asleep", when we are not awake to our sole responsibilities, we are overtaken by events that shame our wakeful state. In the case under perusal, I imagine the parents of this man did something, maybe they did not do enough or did not know Whom to run to. These lovely and lovable men and women, if at the early stages of growth they discover, as many of them claim, that growing up, they were more prone to and/or attracted to same sex persons, their parents should have been awake to take some steps to rectify things in their regard. Obviously it is the enemy. Call him whatever you will; whoever or whatever is responsible for this anomaly in the lives of men and women, that person or thing is not a friend, but an enemy of God and humanity. In the Holy Writ, shortly after creation, God said to man and woman: "Go, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it" God's holy will is that we populate the earth and not decrease; the plan of this "enemy of God and humanity is the direct opposite of God's injunction. The enemy puts "rationalization" into the minds of people to justify their actions, even when they go against the objective and original plan of the Creator. People would expect to hear the parents scream for help from God, the Church and a circle of good friends and neighbours. St Monica, mother of St Augustine is an example of such genuine cry for help. My Igbo people in Africa have this proverb: "ka e wepu aka enwe n'ofe, mgbe o ghobeghi aka nmadu". This literally translates to: "remove the monkey's hand from the soup before it turns to be a human hand" - a stitch in time saves nine. Not too long ago I was ministering to a Behavioural Health patient in a facility who told me similar story of being just formed that way from childhood. The bottom line is that someone/persons were asleep and the enemy sowed the bad seed that could bring mankind to extinction. Let us love the gay/lesbian persons very dearly, deeply and truly, but begin to pray seriously for the end of this misnomer. May God save His Church and children from this scourge. God help us. Amen.