At the height of the AIDS crises, I remember constantly hearing that the disease was killing the best and the brightest. While this was somewhat of an over-inflated slogan perpetuated by the homosexual leaning media, there were so many guys that I knew with extraordinary aptitudes for art, literature, music, dance, and design. They were truly gifted by God. I believe that this is why the devil often singles-out gay men for an enormously severe form of temptation and torture. For as gay men, we have often endured a suffering not unlike the Saints. From our earliest memories, we frequently harbor secretive pains of self-doubt and rejection. Later, we continually direct ourselves towards the highest possible focal point of all - encompassing beauty and love. Early on, the Blessed Saints recognize this as the image of God. Those who are corrupted and lose their way, find themselves in front of a very different deity. Their gifts are unwittingly squandered in his service, their life-force extracted in payment for a decaying feast of traitorous emptiness, then they are left to die alone and scared.
