The Christmas Story

Merry Christmas! The Lord Jesus has come to be with us. He loves you so much.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from your EAS Youth Ministers. The Lord is with you!

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Scripture Reflection for Christmas Sunday

Merry Christmas and The Lord Be With You!

Christmas Day readings are:

Isaiah 52:7-10
Hebrews 1:1-6
JOHN 1:1-18

Since today’s gospel is pure poetry, take a few minutes to meditate on it. Read it through for a second time, slowly. Circle any words that stand out, then focus on how your heart feels as you think about each word.
John teaches that Jesus pre-existed as God long before He existed as a human being. Semites believe our words reveal who we are. So when John refers to Jesus being God’s word from “the beginning,” he’s assuring us that no one can, or has revealed God’s personality better than Jesus.

This means real Christians never begin their understanding of God with a dictionary or catechism definition. We begin and end our quest with an experience of the risen Jesus among us. To experience Jesus is to experience God.

Not only did we old-timers stand reverently and listen (in Latin) to this last Gospel, we were expected to genuflect along with the priest when he proclaimed the verse, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Some scholars translate the last phrase, “He pitched his tent among us.”) God’s word completely became one with us.

Along with zeroing in on the terrific things John says about Jesus, we must also hear the terrific things he says about us who follow Jesus. “Any who did accept him he empowered to become children of God....Of His fullness we have all had a share — love following upon love.” All who imitate Jesus become one with Jesus. We now relate to His Father as He does, and we share in the same love He came to share with others.

Centerpiece

The author of Hebrews couldn’t agree more (Hebrews 1:1-6). He refers to Jesus as “the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s being....” But he also makes Jesus’ arrival the centerpiece of salvation history.

“In times past, God spoke in fragmentary and varied ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in this, the final age, he has spoken to us through his Son, whom he has made heir of all things and through whom he first created the universe.”

Though Isaiah is thinking about the Israelites’ return from exile when he proclaims the words of today’s first reading (Isaiah 52:7-10), all people of faith, at any point in salvation history, can identify with his sentiments. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation....”

Perhaps we can best get into the spirit of our three readings by thanking God for the good news being proclaimed in our midst — not just the good news of Jesus’ birth, but also the good news of the risen Jesus continuing to reveal God’s self.

Since Jesus makes us God’s children, can we presume God’s also revealing God’s self through us? If that’s true, we have a responsibility as children to listen to that revelation.

THE DUDE ABIDES Jn 15:4
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger
Lay Mystic

As You Wish

My youth minister told me recently about a priest in Minnesota who gave incredible homilies and posted them online. It took me a few weeks to buy in, but I'm grateful I did. One homily in particular spoke to me -- and to my friends -- about the need for obedience. Obedience is a forgotten attribute. Today, who do you know that talks about being obedient? It's a lost art. Fr. Mike Schmitz helped me rediscover the need for obedience in the Catholic lifestyle. Not my will, but God's will. Like Westley in The Princess Bride, I am learning to say, "As you wish." Give it a listen.

All of Fr. Mike Schmitz's homilies are available online here. He works at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Fr. Mike, if you ever read this, thank you for your witness to God's love. It's making a difference.

The Single Life

Have you ever thought of single life as a vocation? The same way Holy Orders and Marriage are callings, the single life can allow individuals to do things and commit to God in ways other paths cannot. Recently, I posted an article from a faithful Catholic young man who also happens to have same-sex attraction. His writings have found their way around the Catholic blogosphere, and I saw this one on a Newman Center website while searching for something else. The single life -- give it some thought. Read it in its original form here.

After the desert: A faithful Catholic's reflection on same-sex attraction

By Steve Gershom

What would I know about vocation? I'm 28, a faithful Catholic and gay.

A little explanation of that last part: It would be more accurate to say that I have same-sex attraction than that I'm gay. My attraction to men is deep and, as far as I can tell, permanent, but I'm celibate. I sometimes use the word "gay" as a convenient shorthand, but it carries a lot of political and even theological baggage, and doesn't really apply to me, because of my celibacy and for other reasons that I'll try to make clear below.

The upshot is that I'm unmarried and likely to remain that way. I'm not discerning a vocation to the priesthood or the religious life, either. I've been there, done that, and I've let the Lord know he can do whatever he wants with me – up to and including sending me to Calcutta or the Bronx – but that if he wants me to be a priest or a monk, he'll have to do something drastic. I've spent a long time checking my internal compasses, and none of them point in that direction.

So what then? I know what not to do: Don't believe the gay activists, don't water down the faith, don't pretend homosexual actions aren't sinful. Don't have a boyfriend; don't get married. Don't, don't, don't. But nobody ever had a vocation that consisted in not doing something. Marriage, the priesthood, the religious life – these involve definite actions, definite commitments.

Parched, Despondent

I'd like to give a road map to people like me – I mean not only other men and women with SSA, but everyone called to the single life – but it's difficult to make a map when you're still on the ground. At least I'm not lost in the desert any more, parched and exhausted like I was through my teens and early 20s. I'm heading toward civilization now, or better yet toward Zion, but there's a lot of rugged landscape between here and there. The best I can do is to tell you where I've been and what I've learned.

It's good to start on the edge of the desert. I'll pick age 14, because that's when I first started thinking of myself as gay. At the time, I understood exactly two things by the word. The first was that I was totally, irrevocably different from other boys. The second was that being gay and Catholic meant a long, dreary life of self-repression. So I believed at the time.

That was the beginning of my vocation as a professional sufferer, a position I held until somewhere in my early 20s. The darkness gathered around me, and I let it in, and was even proud of it. My suffering meant I was deep, sensitive and tragic. I don't mean to downplay the experience; when I call it a desert, I'm being poetic but I'm not exaggerating. This was Death Valley in July, except when it was Antarctica. But in more literal terms, the darkness consisted of these things: intense self-consciousness; near-constant feelings of isolation; pervasive regret at what I considered a wasted past; an absolute inability to live in the present; and terror at the prospect of the long, lonely future.

The technical name for the condition is despondency. I call it despondency, rather than depression, because depression is a state of the mind, the emotions, and even the body; whereas despondency is a state of the will. It comprises a particular response to depression. Depression doesn't necessarily constitute a roadblock to one's vocation. Despondency does, because we are judged on the basis of what we do rather than what we feel.

What I was doing was precisely nothing, because that was all I believed I could do. That's what despondency is. I thought I was doing something, namely living through the suffering that I believed was my vocation, that I even believed God wanted for me. And maybe I was justified in believing these things, given the premises I had accepted. It's just that my premises were very, very wrong.

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Local miracle could mean Kateri Tekakwitha headed for canonization

This article comes from NPR. Read it in its original form here. What makes it an especially cool story is that it's local, right here in Seattle. I even know Fr. Paul Pluth pretty well from our time at St. Anne Church in Seattle. Read on.

In February 2006, 5-year-old Jake Finkbonner fell and hit his head while playing basketball at his school in Ferndale, Wash. Soon, he developed a fever and his head swelled. His mother, Elsa, rushed him to Seattle Children's Hospital, where the doctors realized Jake was battling a flesh-eating bacterium called Strep A.

"It traveled all around his face, his scalp, his neck, his chest," she recalls, "and why it didn't travel to his brain or his eyeballs or his heart? He was protected."

Jake was protected, she says, by Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian who lived 350 years ago. She had converted to Catholicism and was considered holy enough by the Vatican to be elevated to "blessed" — one step before sainthood — in 1980. The Finkbonners are Lummi Indian, and their family and friends prayed that Kateri would intercede with God for Jake.

But the doctors' efforts to get ahead of the infection were unsuccessful, and Jake was given his last rites. Then, suddenly, the infection stopped, stunning the doctors. The Rev. Paul Pluth, of the Archdiocese of Seattle, says that was the day an acquaintance placed a "relic" of Kateri — in this case, a small pendant — on Jake's pillow. Pluth believes the timing was not coincidental.

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Adoration & Bible Study Tonight

The Lord IS With You!

This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent and our readings are:

2 SM 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16
ROM 16:25-27
LK 1:26-38

God asks David "Should you be the one to build me a house? Come now, boy king. You're too big for your britches. You want to make a house? I will tell you about making a house." God, not David, is in charge.

Saint Paul summarizes and concludes his letter to the Romans. He emphasizes that God's plans were only incompletely revealed until now. Several phrases make this passage right for the climax of Advent. It's not about the birth of the infant Jesus, but about the unveiling of God's plan for human salvation.

Prophets revealed it first, but only to the Jews and only incompletely. Now it is revealed to all the Gentiles as they hear the gospel. For this is God to be glorified. This is joyful, but not sentimental. This is Christocentric, but not "Christmassy."

Saint Luke wrote for an audience quite different from those of Mark and Matthew, different, too, from the Thessalonians and many other recipients of Paul's letters. Luke's readers lived a generation or more later than the apostles, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E., and outside the Holy Land. They had never been Jews. They were cosmopolitan, middle-class and Gentile, living in a skeptical society, yet attracted to a religion with long historic Jewish roots. But that new religion only came to its fulfillment by reaching out to all humankind. To tell that story, to ground his audience in their adopted religious heritage, and to keep them focused on the religion's mission, Luke needed to tell the story of Jesus anew in this gospel, and needed a second book, the Acts of the Apostles.

I know that doing good things for God is important, but at times it’s just as valid to sit back and reflect on what good things God has done for us, even before we started doing good things for God. Today’s three readings zero in on that theology.

Reflect on these three examples of what God’s work in the life of these ordinary people accomplished! Mary shows us HOW to be believers in God and allow him to work in our lives.

How is the Lord with you this season?
How is the Lord with your family?

Join us Thursday @ 7:00PM in Adoration of our risen Lord, then Bible Study following!

THE DUDE ABIDES Jn 15:4
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger
Lay Mystic

The Christmas "W"

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience.

I had cut back on non-essential obligations - extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment --songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W". The audience of first through sixth graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

The more days the merrier: Celebrating the 12 days of Christmas

This article is by Nick Wager of UScatholic.org. Read it in its original form here.

This year, hand on heart, I saw Christmas decorations for sale on October 1. When I was little, we didn't even start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

My family would spend most of Advent getting ready. We'd shop for a tree, pull decorations down out of the attic, stock up on wrapping paper, and make lists for Santa. Most years the grownups would gather for a Christmas Eve party, and we kids would struggle to stay awake late into the night.

At the end of the evening, we'd bundle up against the cold and drive over to the church for Midnight Mass. Early the next morning my brothers and I would clatter down the stairs to the living room to tear into our presents. And then Christmas was over. For the next week or so, we played with our new toys and waited for school to begin again.

In the church calendar, however, Christmas does not end on Christmas Day. It is only the beginning. In an earlier time Christmas lasted for 12 days-a tradition from which we get the famous Christmas song.

The customs of the larger society have clearly shifted, and there is no way we are ever going to restore the ancient balance of having our Christmas merry-making take place during the 12 days after December 25. Still, there are many ways we can mark the Christmas season (the one that starts with Christmas), and deepen our Catholic identity. Here are 12 suggestions.

1. Wait for it.

In our grandparents' day the Christmas tree wasn't decorated until Christmas Eve. For most of us, it might not be practical to wait until then, no matter what our grandparents might have done. Still there are some things we can do to keep the traditional Christmas cycle.

Go ahead and put up the tree whenever you like, but save placing the star on top until the night of December 24. Plan to leave the tree up until the Christmas season ends on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, usually the second Sunday in January.

Also consider waiting until December 24 to complete the crèche. Many Latino families put the crèche out early in Advent, but they leave the manger empty until after Midnight Mass. Whenever you put the crèche out, place the Magi statues a good distance from the manger. Each day of Christmas, until Epiphany, move the Wise Men a little closer to the crèche.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but I've heard more than a few families say they like going to the Christmas "Eve" 4 p.m. children's liturgy to "get it out of the way" before Christmas.

If you are raising children, keep in mind you are creating lifelong memories for them. I still remember the smell of incense and the sounds of carols at the Midnight Masses I went to as a child. If midnight really is too late for you, at least consider worshiping on Christmas Day itself instead of the afternoon before so the children learn to place Jesus at the center of the season.

2. Pay it forward.

December 26 is the feast of St. Stephen, the church's first martyr. He was also one of the first deacons, whose job it was to care for the poor.

A good way to celebrate St. Stephen's Day is to follow his example. Spend 20 minutes online, either alone or as a household, researching poverty issues in your area. Make a commitment to volunteer or donate more during the coming year to serve the poor as Stephen did. Perhaps spend an hour on this day going through your closets and drawers to find clothing you seldom wear, and donate it to a shelter.

3. Pick a card.

Another great way to keep the Christmas season alive is to gather up all the Christmas cards you've received and choose one at random each evening to read at dinnertime. If you live with family or a roommate, share some memories about the person who sent you the card. If you live alone, recall how you met the person and resolve to send an e-mail or make a phone call to reconnect in the coming week.

4. Make time for family.

The Sunday after Christmas-this year, December 27-is the feast of the Holy Family. Plan to spend the entire day with family-including extended family if possible. If you like to cook, plan for a festive brunch after Mass. Or make reservations and let your favorite restaurant do all the work. During the meal, share stories of your favorite times together.

If you live alone or if you don't live in a traditional household, be creative about gathering today with those who are family to you. Invite some friends for dinner, or phone someone who you haven't talked to in a long time.

Continue reading here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

I'm a couple days late posting this, but it's still Our Lady of Guadalupe week, right? Find out more about this miraculous and beautiful mystery of our faith below.

Sin

A physical reminder of how the whole sin things works.

Emergency Numbers

Post these in a prominent place for when emergencies arrive:
When in sorrow…..call John 14
When people fail you…..call Psalm 27
If you want to be fruitful…..call John 15
When you have sinned…..call Psalm 51
When you worry…..call Matthew 6:19-34
When you are in danger…..call Psalm 91
When God seems far away…..call Pslam 139
When your faith needs stirring…..call Hebrews 11
When you are lonely and fearful…..call Psalm 23
When you grow bitter and critical…..call I Corinthians 13
For Paul’s secret to happiness…..call Colossians 3:12-17
For understanding of Christianity…..call II Corinthians 5:5-19
When you feel down and out.....call Romans 8:31
When you want peace and rest…..call Matthew 1:25-30
When the world seems bigger than God…..call Psalm 90
When you want Christian assurance…..call Romans 8:1-30
When you leave home for labor or travel…..call Psalm 121
When your prayers grow narrow or selfish…..call Psalm 67
For a great invention/opportunity…..call Isaiah 55
When you want courage for a task….call Joshua 1
When you need to get along with others…..call Romans 12
When you think of investments and returns…..call Mark 10
If you are depressed…..call Psalm 27
If your pocket book is empty…..call Psalm 37
If you are losing confidence in people…..call I Corinthians 13
If people seem unkind…..call John 15
If discouraged about your work…..call Psalm 126
If you find the world growing small and yourself great…..call Psalm 19
For dealing with fear…..call Psalm 34:7
For security…..Psalm 121:3
For assurance…..Mark 8:35

Mass and Bible Study Thursday

The Lord Be With You,

This Sunday is the 3rd Sunday of Advent – Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. Rose color

Our readings are:
Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

As most of you already know I am a huge music fan. I love music, all kinds. My iPod carries 6300 songs. From Bach to Beatles, Kanye West to Beethoven, Leadbelly to the Clash. Not just western music, but from all over the world and all genres. Some of the music I listen to inspire me, as if prophetic. After reading our scripture readings for this week I am reminded of a song written and recorded by one of the greatest harmonic duos of my generation – Simon & Garfunkel. If you ever get a chance to listen to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” you will be amazed. Anyway, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel wrote a song called, “The Sound Of Silence” and one of the lines says, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement(a run-down apartment building) halls".

In other words, “the message” from God will come from the ones we least expect. Nobody wants to listen to them. Why?

Because they take us back to the TRUTH, and TRUTH requires work and responsibility. We have dismissed and minimized their calling to fit our agenda.

Because no real prophet can profit from prophesying. In most cases everything we are exposed to today is FOR profit. The TRUTH rarely reaches us.

Because not only can’t real prophets make a living plying their trade, they always suffer for conveying God’s word. That doesn’t sound like fun.

Because if we carry out the prophetic vision we too will suffer. No one gets a free pass. That REEEAAALLY doesn’t sound like fun.

Because down deep we really know the TRUTH when we hear it and because we will suffer, we deny hearing it.

Because real prophets confuse us, taking us back to the beginning of our faith after so many others have “rationalized” how that doesn’t apply today makes us question it. We don’t know what or who to believe.

I have my own private list of prophets that I keep to myself. I seek their wisdom out. I don’t dare share who they are at the risk of being reprimanded.

Who is on your list?

Join us Thursday @ 7:00PM for Mass-The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gen 3:9-15, 20, Eph 1:3-6, 11-12, Luke 1:26-38) then Bible Study following!

THE DUDE ABIDES Jn 15:4
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger
Lay Mystic

Calling Santa

Two-year-old Sarah and her 13-year-old sister had been fighting a lot, so Sarah's parents, trying to take advantage of her newfound interest in Santa Claus, reminded the 2-year-old that Santa was watching and doesn't like it when children fight. This had little impact.

"I'll just have to tell Santa about your misbehavior," her mother said as she picked up the phone and dialed. Sarah's eyes grew big as her mother asked "Mrs. Claus" (really Sarah's aunt; Santa's real line was busy) if she could put Santa on the line. Sarah's mouth dropped open as Mom described to Santa (Sarah's uncle) how the 2-year-old was acting. When Mom said Santa wanted to talk to her, she reluctantly took the phone.

Santa, in a deepened voice, explained to her how there would be no presents Christmas morning to children who fought with their sisters. He would be watching, and he expected things to be better from now on.

Sarah solemnly nodded to each of Santa's remarks and silently hung the phone up when he was done. Mom asked, "What did Santa say to you, Dear?"

Sarah sadly said, "Santa said he won't be bringing toys to my sister this year."

Missing the Guest of Honor

By Dr. Michael A. Halleen

"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2)

There's a story that has become legend in a small Minnesota town. I can't vouch for its truth, only that people tell it as though it really happened. It seems that the retiring mayor was to be honored at a party as he left office. He had been responsible for a number of significant improvements to the town, so it seemed good to have the community pay tribute.

The party was held at the VFW hall, and all agreed it was a great celebration. The music was loud, the room crowded and noisy. The finger food was unusual in its quality and liquid refreshment flowed without restraint until late into the evening. Over coffee the next morning in the Main Street diner, someone wondered aloud if the mayor had enjoyed it, but no one knew. No one in the diner had talked to him or had even seen him there. Only later did they learn that the mayor had checked into a hospital the previous day and had missed the party in his honor. Apparently no one had noticed.

It sounds a lot like Christmas. People get together, the food is great, the music warms the heart — but has anyone seen the guest of honor? The season has become about us — our menus, our travel plans, our expenses. We've lost perspective. Our celebration will be more authentic if our hopes are not only for good sales figures but also for good will among mankind. Christ will be seen among us if our prayers are not only for peace in travel but also for peace on earth.

Our church set out its nativity scene the other day. Life-sized figures of all the familiar characters are in place, kneeling around the manger — all but one. Seems the baby Jesus is missing. We couldn't find him this year. Mary and Joseph and the Wise Men are gazing reverently at some wisps of straw.

Sign of the times. Hopefully the Christ child will be found by Christmas.

Sexual Healing

If you're a fan of slam poetry, watch this. If you're in need of hope for sexual redemption, watch this. If you've come today not knowing what to expect on this blog, watch this.

Catholic and Gay

Homosexuality is one of the hot-button issues for the Church (and particularly for young people) today. Below is a great blog post from a young man courageously living Church teaching regarding his same-sex attraction. See what you think. The man goes by an online pseudonym Steve Gershom. Read the article in its entirety here or visit Steve's blog here.

When Leila asked me to write about gay marriage, the first thing I found out was how little I know about it. If I wanted to say anything coherent, I'd have to have definite beliefs about some deeper, thornier subjects first: the relationship between civil and moral law, just for starters. Even if I were sure enough of myself to talk about those things, I doubt I could do it in a blog-sized article.

So I'll have to do it in a more personal way. That might be better anyhow.

I have heard a lot about how mean the Church is, and how bigoted, because she opposes gay marriage. How badly she misunderstands gay people, and how hostile she is towards us. My gut reaction to such things is: Are you freaking kidding me? Are we even talking about the same church?

When I go to Confession, I sometimes mention the fact that I'm gay, to give the priest some context. (And to spare him some confusion: Did you say 'locker room'? What were you doing in the women's...oh.) I've always gotten one of two responses: either compassion, encouragement, and admiration, because the celibate life is difficult and profoundly counter-cultural; or nothing at all, not even a ripple, as if I had confessed eating too much on Thanksgiving.

Of the two responses, my ego prefers the first -- who doesn't like thinking of themselves as some kind of hero? -- but the second might make more sense. Being gay doesn't mean I'm special or extraordinary. It just means that my life is not always easy. (Surprise!) And as my friend J. said when I told him recently about my homosexuality, "I guess if it wasn't that, it would have been something else." Meaning that nobody lives without a burden of one kind or another. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel said: "The man who has not suffered, what can he possibly know, anyway?"

Where are all these bigoted Catholics I keep hearing about? When I told my family a year ago, not one of them responded with anything but love and understanding. Nobody acted like I had a disease. Nobody started treating me differently or looking at me funny. The same is true of every one of the Catholic friends that I've told. They love me for who I am.

Actually, the only time I get shock or disgust or disbelief, the only time I've noticed people treating me differently after I tell them, is when I tell someone who supports the gay lifestyle. Celibacy?? You must be some kind of freak.

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Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Brilliant. Watch this.