Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

 Lectionary: 276

When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.

There are not many references to eunuchs in the Bible; the word appears only thirteen times, and five of those refer to Saint Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian official. 

Without using the word, Deuteronomy 23:2 specifically states that "No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may come into the assembly of the LORD." The ruling may have been appropriate for rural hill people in their small villages, but with international trade, advancing civilization, and a more stratified society. including aristocrats, commoners, and slaves, eunuchs appeared and found their purpose. The practice of castration of young males has been widespread throughout the world. 

Even in Christians nations, some talented boy singers have been castrated with the promise of a future as castrati. Operatic parts were written for them and their music was often glorious. If you've never heard Gluck's Orpheo ed Euridice, written specifically for Gaetano Guadagni, a castrato, you owe it to yourself to hear that marvelous opera. 

Despite the Mosaic law, the Book of Isaiah (56:3) opened the temple to devout gentile eunuchs who loved the LORD: 

Let not the foreigner say, when he would join himself to the LORD, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "See, I am a dry tree."

Written after the Babylonian exile by urban prophets, "Third Isaiah" recognized the possibility that anyone might recognize our God as Lord of the Universe and worthy of universal praise. 

Until recently, eunuchs and castrati seemed an ancient, peculiar, and rather barbaric thing of the past. The last of them, Alessandro Moreschi, died in 1922. However, the question of admission to the faith has reappeared under the heading of transsexuality. Although the Catholic Church vigorously opposes the practice of any attempt to alter sexual identity with pharmaceuticals and surgery, we are also hearing of many unfortunate persons who have chosen that unwise course, and now regret it. 

I met a septuagenarian in the VA who had the surgery perhaps forty years ago, and regretted it, although he still saw himself as gay. The old psychiatric patient had never decided what he is, and lived in perpetual confusion between the demands of his companion for a wife and the desire of his daughter for a father. I listened sympathetically to his unhappiness and reminded him of his original Catholic faith. He can still regret, repent, and return; the door is still open. 

We hate the sin; we love the sinner. God knows we have all, without distinction, sinned; and we know how deceitful any society can be. America's, perhaps, more than most. We thank God continually for the open doorway of Sacraments which restore us to grace.