God created man in His own image...male and female he created them.  (Gen 1:27)

Last month, I met a man in the Ladies’ Room.  His efforts were notable, but one glance identified him as a man dressed as a woman.  I said “hello”.  His right hand quickly raised and lowered as he mouthed “hi” with no volume in his voice.  He was nervous.  Trying to escape his “old skin”, he didn’t express comfort in his “new skin” either. My heart melted with compassion for a man so confused about his manhood.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made.  (Genesis 3:1)

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”  The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me..." (Genesis 3:13)

I suspect it wasn’t overnight he began questioning his identity as the boy God knit in his mother’s womb.  He’s been cultured while going about growing up.  Chances are high he saw TV shows, commercials, movies, social media, Macy’s ads, went to school and shopped at Target in a secular society raised unfamiliar with the depth of God’s design for man and woman. Through all of this, he’d have a hard time missing the subtle, assuring prompts that professing himself to be female is “the way” to happiness.  The world beguiled him into a state of confusion and hatred of his own being.  The snake in the garden is very subtle. 

…God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (1 Tim 2:3-4)

“We accept you where you are” is a well-meaning message of welcome to those who feel unwelcomed.  Welcoming people is Christ-like.  Holding back the fullness of God’s Truth is not. This silence doesn’t help anyone discover who they are as one created in God’s image.  Increasingly, the welcoming hugs are followed by friendly voices encouraging those confused about their sexual identity to use a new name, don clothes and enter restrooms all meant for the opposite sex, seek chemical hormones and life-altering surgery.  Such changes serve to corrupt the dignity of the person God created. The message “We accept you where you are” becomes hypocrisy with the overriding pressure to change the very nature of one’s self. 

I don’t know the name of the man I met that day.  I do know God loves him unconditionally within his confusion.  God doesn’t pressure a hurting person to change into someone he or she isn’t capable of being.  He offers supernatural grace – His help – to discover and grow into the person He Himself created.  Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to cooperate in the desire to know and live in Christ as The Way, The Truth and The Life. (John 14:6) His Truth holds victory over the confusion so rampant in this earthly world. 

A man…fell among robbers who...beat him...leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite... saw him, passed by...”  But a Samaritan...had compassion...and bound up his wounds...brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him...” (Luke 10:30-35)

It would be easier to remain quiet about this man who now has a place in my heart.  My husband’s wisdom suggested silence might put me in the category of the two “holy men” who walked by the man left for dead.  I don’t want to pass by and forget him, but chances are slim our paths will cross again. So, I’ve spiritually adopted him.  I turned him over to our Lord with a commitment to pray for him every day. 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.  (1 Tim 2:1-2)

“There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer” (St. Faustina Kowalska, Diary 146).  

I may never know how God will grace him behind the scenes or if the man will accept that grace.  Even so, I trust my prayers are powerful before God who answers every prayer according to His Divine Wisdom. God knows what this young man needs physically, emotionally and spiritually. May he be led to God’s love and mercy and be free from the lie that God’s gift of life has a need to be redesigned by human hands.   

Christ offered Himself completely for the sake of all souls.  We reflect His image best when we follow His example to “offer it up” for the sake of souls. We do this by turning everything each day into prayer – our thoughts, words, deeds, aches, illnesses, sacrifices, fasting, inconveniences, suffering, joys, work, chores, and prayers.  Deliberately joining ourselves to Christ in this way, our offerings to the Father become denarii of grace from Heaven’s Innkeeper to take care of those left on the side of the road.   

Most of us have been beguiled by the world at one time or another.  It is God’s grace that has us cry out to Him from within our confusion to seek His Truth.  It’s sorrowful to see our children go off and fall deep into the culture without the compass of God’s Truth and Wisdom.  All is not lost.  Pray.  We are “bound to pray”.  If not in a position to speak the Truth, pray for the Truth to be known.  Then pray for the wisdom and courage to know when to speak Christ’s Truth with love rather than pass by in silence.