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.
Many of us have never noticed that Paul of Tarsus employs Tom Sawyer methodology in his evangelization of his fellow Jews. Yet he’s perfectly clear about it in today’s Roman’s passage. “Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,” the Apostle confesses, “I glory in my ministry in order to make my... more
Today’s three readings are quite disturbing. They surface things many of us would rather keep under a theological lock and key. Perhaps some of the stuff we learned in catechism class “ain’t necessarily so.”
One of my favorite “stories” comes from a Protestant Scripture scholar. He and his family once toured a pre-Revolutionary war home in New England. As they were passing through the living room he spied a century’s old musket hanging above the fireplace. An avid gun collector, he spontaneously... more
Author and speaker John Shea frequently reminds his audiences that the historical Jesus’ ministry revolved around three questions. What do you want out of life? Where do you get it? How much does it cost?
One of Ed Hays’ best-known stories – in his classic book Twelve and a Half Keys – concerns a young man encountering the devil one night on a movie theater parking lot. At first he thinks Satan’s there to buy his soul. But the devil quickly assures him he has warehouses full of souls; he doesn’t... more
We often forget that the oracles of individual prophets which have been collected into the books bearing their names weren’t transcribed in the order in which the original prophets chronologically delivered them. The prophecies have been artificially – and carefully - arranged by the prophet’s... more
According to some traditions, during the official ceremony of General Cornwallis’ October 19, 1791 surrender to George Washington at Yorktown, ending the Revolutionary War, the British got the last laugh. Its band sarcastically played a well-known musical ditty entitled The World Turned Upside Down... more
As a kid, I often daydreamed about dying a heroic death. Especially with the rise of atheistic Communism in the late 40s and early 50s, I imagined being martyred for my faith. That kind of death best imitated the deaths of the saints I frequently heard about in my catechism classes and the pastor’s... more
Today’s first reading is from what I regard as the Bible’s most depressing chapter: Jeremiah 20.
The early biblical Christian community would have looked at today’s feast through different eyes than those looking at it today. We’ve been trained to see the “feeding” element of Christ’s Body and Blood; they saw the “presence” element.
All the theses we were expected to defend during our seminary dogmatic theology courses began with a “definition of terms.” We had to give the meaning or “essential nature” of every word or concept in the thesis. A good way to begin if one is an “either/or” Greek thinker. But if one thinks like our... more
If you’re participating in a Bible Trivia contest, how would you answer the question, “On what day did the Holy Spirit come down on Jesus’ disciples?”