Pray for them to know God’s Love
To the editor:
I would like to thank The Catholic Messenger for the recent articles on the sensitive issue of helping those dealing with transgender issues. The articles stressed the importance of loving those struggling with these issues while staying faithful to the Church. It’s important to follow the example of Jesus, as he tells us in John 6:37, “Anyone who comes to me I will not reject.” The Lord receives us where we’re at, yet he always has a purpose for us: to draw us closer to him and to his plan for our lives.
Discovering God’s love and plan for each person is so important but our current culture ignores this. The youth are bombarded with messages of “live your own reality, do what you want, do what you feel,” without thought or prayer as to who God is and what his will is for them.
How can we help them discover God’s love and his plan for them? Our Lady, in her apparitions, tells us that we must pray for those who do not know God’s love and help them learn to pray with their hearts. While talking and listening to gender and sexual minorities can be a support to them, experiencing God’s love is what they need most. We need to pray for and with them, to help them realize God has a plan for their lives and he loves them immensely. An experience of the Holy Spirit will help them understand their identity is in Jesus. His love for them as he created them can be trusted more than feelings because it is truth.
Knowing and experiencing God’s love makes everything else less important. Feelings and desires no longer determine our identity or have control because we know the Lord is in control and has us safely in the palm of his hand.
Sandi Hansen
Davenport
‘The Lord loves us as we are’
To the Editor:
As I read the article from The Catholic Messenger’s “Ethics on the Transgender Question” (Nov. 2) I was disappointed by Father Tad Pacholczyk’s thinking and statements concerning the “Catholic take” on gender identity and gender dysphoria.
I felt past articles were sending an open and welcoming message in The Catholic Messenger to persons who identify as transgender. This article, I feel, has taken a step backwards.
As Pope Francis has said, “The Lord loves us as we are.”
Sandy Meade
DeWitt
