Prayers of Lament and Hope for LGBTQ+ People

Today’s post is from guest contributor Sr. Jane Aseltyne, IHM. Sr. Jane, is in first vows with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan. She holds MA in Systematic Theology and Spirituality from the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago. Her master’s thesis entitled, “Beyond the Binary: Expanding Understandings of the Imago Dei,” seeks to develop a more inclusive understanding of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, particularly concerning gender and sexual orientation. 

Today’s liturgical readings for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time can be found here.

I recently heard a homily about our call to be a welcoming Church. The priest preached on the importance of welcoming the stranger, reaching out to those on the margins, and being willing to take risks to be the living witness of God’s love. But he never mentioned any particular marginalized groups such as the LGBTQIA+ community.

While his sentiments were beautiful, I couldn’t help but wonder, how does one preach such a homily and ignore the fact that many do not feel welcomed by the church? The LGBTQIA+ community continues to be marginalized. Many in our church lack understanding about sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity. Overall, our church continues to operate out of binary thinking, which does a disservice to all the people of God. We have not done a good job of listening to the experiences of LGBTQIA+ persons and what it means for them to live fully into their queer identities.

But today’s liturgical readings call us to hold together the tension of what is here and what is yet to come.

In the first reading from the book of Wisdom, the author says, “you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” Perhaps the sin we need to repent from is the sin exclusion of those who do not fit within the confines of heteronormativity or the gender binary. Our “good ground for hope” begins with God, and it is through our relationship with God that we are called to radical inclusion of the most marginalized.

In the psalm, we see the tension of praising God, yet also longing to be heard:

“You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,

abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.

Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer

and attend to the sound of my pleading.”

The psalm draws on the tradition of lament prevalent throughout the Old Testament. Laments are, at the same time, declarations of hope and trust in God and opportunities for communities to gather and pray for the one(s) suffering. The Psalms and prophetic texts are full of lamentation from God’s people (cf. Psalm 13; Micah 1:8; Jeremiah 31:15). Lamenting is part of our path to God, and in practicing lament, we express the fullness of our human emotions: distress and hope, longing and love, fear and joy.

When we gather at mass or in other communal prayer contexts, what would happen if we stepped out and offered petitions for our queer siblings? What if the priest who preached on being a welcoming church included petitions focused on the LGBTQIA+ community?

The public witness of the intercessory prayers would center the experience of the queer community and could be a way to bring people in. It would also uphold the longstanding tradition of holding together lament and hope. By way of example, I offer several petitions that may be a good starting place:

For our church, that we may practice what we preach and, with open arms, welcome those who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. May those in positions of power within the church remember that Jesus welcomed all to the table without discrimination, we pray…

For Pope Francis, that he shepherds the Synod on Synodality with an open heart and mind. May he center the experiences of LGBTQIA+ persons and hear the pleadings of those who long for full inclusion in the church, we pray…

For our world, that we may rejoice in the diversity that makes up the human race. That we may find ourselves curious instead of condemning those who are different from us, and that we rejoice in the many ways God’s love flows through each of us, we pray…

For the families and friends who have lost loved ones due to violence and discrimination towards queer persons. May God’s love and peace be a balm to their aching hearts, and may they feel their loved ones close in spirit, we pray…

For those who ever wondered if they were truly made in the image and likeness of God because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. May they know they are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s loving image, we pray…

For those in the LGBTQIA+ community who have felt ostracized because the Word of God has been turned into a weapon and a tool of oppression. May God break through the barriers that have led to harmful interpretations, we pray…

We ask that God hear the sound of our pleading and sustain us in our work in recognizing and affirming the LGBTQIA+ community. May we hold together the desperation we feel and the hope for which we long.

Amen.

—Sr. Jane Aseltyne, IHM, July 23, 2023