Blogger Priest

Question

I am a Catholic and I am seeking your help. My husband of thirty-one years has told me he is gay. He says he has felt this all his life. I am crushed. I feel my entire marriage has been a lie. He moved out of our house to live with a twenty-seven year old transgendered prostitute. Honestly, I am at a total loss. My heart is broken and I am deeply pained.  My thoughts about all this preoccupy my waking moments and I cannot eat and sleep.  My husband wants a divorce. I have decided to grant him the divorce because I cannot handle his cheating and deception.

Please help me through this time. I do not know where else to turn.  I have prayed to God for guidance.  But I still feel hurt and betrayed. Is there a prayer you would suggest? Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Response

Your life together was not a lie… not for you. Remember the good times. His defection from you is like a death. There is anger and grieving. But eventually you have to let go. Do not allow this to drag you down. Move on and make a new life for yourself.

You are not responsible for his deception and infidelity. Given that he married you and that for many years you were unaware of his sexual deviancy, there is no certainty that he is honest even now about his orientation. You have every right to be upset. Since he left you to pursue a life of depravity, no one would fault you for giving him the divorce he wants. (However, it should be documented that he abandoned you— he is at fault.) Further, make sure that you are financially or materially secure.

As for what prayers should be offered, the Rosary is always efficacious. Instead of any particular prayer, that for which you pray might be the more important. Try not to hate your errant husband but rather pray for him as a poor sick man who has lost his way. He may not come back to you (indeed you may not want him back in your life) but you can ask the Lord to save his soul. You should also pray for peace in yourself. There is so much we cannot change. Suffering touches us all. We should not despair. Our Lord was also betrayed and made his passion the means of saving us. Offer your heartache with that of Jesus on the Cross. It is in Jesus that the dark elements of life can be made redemptive.

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