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 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) 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.
I presume one of the most difficult things the historical Jesus encountered as an itinerant preacher was simply to get people to “try it:” to actually carry out the unique concepts he was sharing; to weave these new behavior patterns into their daily lives. Matthew has placed many (but not all) of... more
Throughout my early life, I was taught today’s gospel pericope narrates Jesus’ call to his first four priests. Nothing could be further from the theology Matthew’s trying to convey. When Matthew composed his gospel – in the mid to late 70s – the priesthood as we know it didn’t exist. All gospel “... more
I presume Scripture scholars didn’t choose our liturgical readings. If they did, there’s no way the most important verse of today’s first reading would have been left out.
The future rarely turns out the way we plan it. This is especially true with Jewish expectations of the Messiah. Years ago, the late Raymond Brown remarked in one of our diocesan clergy conferences that the Messiah 1st century CE Jews were expecting has yet to come. “Jesus of Nazareth was not that... more
We actually know very little about the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Except for Luke, the evangelists didn’t write much about her, and the earliest Christian author, Paul, only refers to her in passing, as he does in today’s Galatians passage: “. . . God sent his Son, born of a woman . . . .” Though... more
Have you ever noticed the contradictions in the two gospel narratives of Jesus’ birth? Perhaps one of the most significant disagreements revolves around where Joseph and Mary lived before their son’s birth.
Today’s first reading is probably the most misunderstood passage in the entire Bible. Beginning historically with Matthew’s quote of the verse in our gospel pericope, we’ve presumed Isaiah has Jesus of Nazareth in mind when he proclaims these words to Judah’s 8th century BCE King Ahaz: “The virgin... more
Years ago one of my high school religion classes gave me a unique Christmas gift: a banner depicting Santa Claus with a question under his picture, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another?” It’s the same question the disciples of John the Baptizer ask Jesus in today’s gospel... more
By far, the most important section of today’s Isaiah reading is the line, “. . . The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as water covers the sea.” But the key to appreciating its importance revolves around being aware of the ancient Hebrew meaning of the words “knowledge” or “know.”
Biblical followers of God live in the middle of the tension between what’s actually happening in their lives right now and what they expect to happen in the future.
As far as I can tell, all of us long for peace and tranquility, though few of us are willing to pay the price it costs to actually obtain it.I frequently repeat spiritual author Jack Shea’s insight that the historical Jesus’ ministry revolved around answering just three questions – What do you want... more
Rarely does the future unfold exactly as we plan. There are always unexpected twists and turns, forcing us to deal with situations we never anticipated. This certainly has been the experience of people of faith, especially those committed to becoming other Christs.