Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God always gave special place to the poor and the marginalized. He saw them in their full humanity, as persons. In this way, he was faithful to the radical tradition of Israelite prophets like Amos who dared to compare the injustice of cheating of the poor to a cosmic cataclysm (Amos 8). Jesus came “to bring glad tidings to the poor… liberty to captives… recovery of sight to the blind” (Lk 4:18-19). He identified himself with “the least of these,” the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45). Christ who gives himself in the Eucharist as food for the world can only be properly received in the sacraments when we who take Communion are giving of ourselves to those in poverty, loneliness, discrimination, rejection and fear (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1397).
As our understanding of justice evolves with social change, we now understand that LGBT people are often among those who are oppressed and even threatened physically. Jesus, loving us fully as persons, is our refuge and strength, and his Church is called to be our home.
Fr. James Martin, SJ has been advocating a deeper Catholic understanding of LGBT people. A new biography seeks to show him as a person to his critics.
New book seeks to show Father James Martin ‘as a person’ to his critics
