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Breath of the Spirit

Pastoral, Liturgical, Teaching, and Social Justice Moments brought to you by www.DignityUSA.org.

Breath of the Spirit is DignityUSA’s electronic spiritual and liturgical resource for our members and potential members. Nothing can replace your chapter or other faith community, but we hope you will find further support here for integrating your spirituality with your sexuality and all the strands of your life.

We welcome relevant homilies, inspirational writings, social justice opportunities, or theological articles from other sources also — particularly from wise women and men who can help us grow as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) and allied Catholic/Christians. You may volunteer to help with this program or send your comments by e-mailing info@DignityUSA.org ATTN: Breath of the Spirit.

NOVEMBER 30, 2008: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Readings: 
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7
I Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37

Both Paul and Mark work from a premise most Christians today don’t hold: that Jesus is returning in the Parousia during our lifetime. At the same time, both presume something all Christians through the centuries should believe, yet find difficult to accept: that God has gifted us with specific gifts and talents in order to build up the Body of Christ, no matter when Jesus returns.
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NOVEMBER 23, 2008: CHRIST THE KING

Readings: 
Ezekiel 34, 11-12, 15-17
I Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28
Matthew 15:31-46

I know too much history and Scripture not to have problems with today’s celebration of Christ the King. For instance, I realize that, on many levels, it was inserted into our liturgical year as a backhanded slap to the democratic principles most of us Americans hold dear, and the way it’s frequently commemorated and homilized on flies in the face of both the historical and biblical Jesus’ image of himself. Being faithful to the latter, it would make more sense to close the “church year” with a feast of Jesus the Servant.
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NOVEMBER 16, 2008: THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings: 
Proverbs 31:1-13, 19-20, 30-31
I Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30

Our faith revolves around emphasis. Since at this point in history we all basically live in the same world, we all experience a lot of the same “stuff.” It’s up to us to choose what we zero in on and what we ignore. Faith helps us make those choices. Yet, even within faith we have choices. Carroll Stuhimueller often stressed that church reformers never bring new ideas into the community. They simply latch on to something on the outskirts of our daily faith and pull it to the center, while at the same time pushing what had been at the center to the outskirts.
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NOVEMBER 9, 2008: DEDICATION OF ST JOHN LATERAN

Readings: 
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
I Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22

I have it from "good sources" that there are several people who will be in purgatory until the Parousia. At the top of the list is the first person to have called a building a church.

Today is one of those occasions when the readings we employ in the liturgy tell us not to celebrate the feast the liturgy commemorates. Read more »

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NOVEMBER 9, 2008: DEDICATION OF ST JOHN LATERAN

Readings: 
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
I Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22

I have it from "good sources" that there are several people who will be in purgatory until the Parousia. At the top of the list is the first person to have called a building a church.

Today is one of those occasions when the readings we employ in the liturgy tell us not to celebrate the feast the liturgy commemorates.
Read more »

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NOVEMBER 2, 2008: THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings: 
Malachi 1:14:2:2, 8-10
I Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13
Matthew 23:1-12

No one reflects better on the Christian call to be another Christ than Paul of Tarsus. He not only carries on Jesus' ministry, but he also spends a lot of time surfacing the implications of the risen Jesus among us. The last verse from today's I Thessalonian's pericope is classic. "We give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe."
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