I read the book Why I Don't Call Myself Gay by Daniel Mattson for my online book club... which I am light years behind on... and found it good, but not especially new for me. I really, really appreciated the first part of the book, which was his personal story. Such rawness, such honesty. It made me cringe! I would never publish those kinds of things about me, even though I have the same woundedness. But I really appreciated it, because that's the only way to healing I think.
It is a good book and well-written, but not dense like Cardinal Sarah's The Power of Silence, and so I skimmed a great part of it. But definitely an important voice to be heard not only in the field of same sex attractions, but also theology of the body and sexuality in general. It is not just a book for people who suffer from same sex attractions, but for all of us, whose sexuality is fallen, wounded, difficult and in need of redemption.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"There were seeds within me, no doubt, of attractions to men. I didn't choose to be attracted to men, nor does any man. But we do have choices. We choose what we do with them." pg 34
"Saint Paul, Chrysostom says, shows that the punishment was in pleasure itself." pg 50
Yet it seemed to me that God was showing me what he wants us to do with our pain and suffering: he wants us to use our suffering to enter into the suffering of others." pg 64
"G.K. Chesterton wrote once about his own conversion to Catholicism that the Church 'is much larger inside than it is outside'. Such has been the case with me. You don't know the Catholic Church is bigger than the universe, until you go through her doors, and there discover the peace that surpasses all understanding." pg 85
"Josef Pieper writes, 'Public discourse itself, separated from the standard of truth, creates on its part, the more it prevails, an atmosphere of epidemic proneness and vulnerability to the reign of the tyrant. Serving the tyranny, the corruption and abuse of language becomes better known as propaganda.'" pg 102
"One of my good friends from Courage who came out in high school made the astute observation that 'coming out' was really a 'going in' to a prison that trapped him - and others - into a false view of himself." pg 154
"The Church believes, in continuity with philosophers since the time of Aristotle, that what something is points to how that thing itself can find fulfillment." pg 219
"We're not made for a life of ease here on this earth, nor is this place our true home. People don't run marathons because they're easy - they run them because they're challenging. That's the fruit of magnanimity, and it's the reason I've chosen the path of chastity." pg 286
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PS I've added a page to this blog, other than the "writing" page with my articles, called "books". I put the links to all my favorite quotes from books and mini book reviews, organized by stars I give them on goodreads. I will keep it updated.
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