The Other Brother

 AMDG Brothers and Sisters, I, a pilgrim standing still as my God comes to me, to you, who walk beside me. The Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace of our Lord God, through Christ his son, to each of you. And MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I am going to share with you something that I struggle with, that I suspect a lot of you struggle with in one way or another as well. But I’ll speak for myself. The conventional church names me a sinner. Not in the general way of all mankind. Not for my pride or selfishness or gluttony. But because of the medical, legal, and social choices I made to live as a man despite the female characteristics I was born with; that is, to live fully alive. In some sense, I experience this judgement as a hidden figure, pieced together through the scars and stories and activism that swirl up around it. I also experience it more acutely, as in the following three examples. I have heard two recordings in the last few months from Fr. Mike Schmitz in which he firmly asserted that gen

AMDG I, a disciple far from home, gazing upon white skies and strong trees shedding their golden mantles, to you, my brothers and sisters across the country. Peace to you and your kin. The Jesuits aim to desire neither riches nor poverty, health nor sickness, but only that which glorifies God and accomplishes God’s will. I think I could suitably add: Jesus, help me to desire neither greatness nor smallness . And in fact, thinking of St. Ignatius laboring over paperwork while his best friend sailed for the foreign missions, I wonder if he didn’t pray the same thing. Smallness This October, I was captivated with what was happening in Rome: a synodal gathering of Bishops, strengthened by the inclusion of women, lay people, and some other clerics. It was a global convention of the church to discuss how to go about being church. This is part 2 of 3 in a multi-year process and one cannot escape the understanding that it is an historic moment in church history. One senses the Spirit a