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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.

MAY 31, 2009: PENTECOST

Readings: 
Acts 2:1-11 1
Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15

During a seminary Scripture course in Acts, I was amazed to discover that the feast of Pentecost existed long before Christianity came on the scene. Until then, I presumed Pentecost was a Christian feast, limited to the phenomenon of the Holy Spirit’s arrival. To this day, Jews observe the feast of “Weeks,” celebrated seven weeks (or 50 days) after Passover. Just as Passover commemorates their liberation from Egyptian slavery, Pentecost is the reminder of the covenant they made with Yahweh on Mt. Sinai, the agreement which transformed them into Yahweh’s people.

MAY 24, 2009: ASCENSION OF JESUS

Readings: 
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Mark 16:15-20

(For those who celebrate the Ascension on the Seventh Sunday of Easter)

Jesus’ first followers quickly experienced something they could never have imagined when they opted to make his faith their faith. Though they still did many of the things they did before they started listening to this Capernaum carpenter’s preaching, they discovered he was constantly taking them beyond the things which normally occupied their everyday lives. Eventually, as we’ll see, their experience of going beyond led some of them to actually leave their native Galilee and travel to places they’d never imagined visiting before they encountered Jesus of Nazareth. 

MAY 17, 2009: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Readings: 
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17

As I mentioned last week, we must be careful not to employ Luke’s Acts of the Apostles as an accurate historical record of the earliest Christian church. Luke’s a theologian, not an historian. His goal is not so much to tell us what happened as it is to give us the implications of what happened.

MAY 10, 2009: FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Readings: 
Acts 9:26-31
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8

One should be careful not to put a lot of trust in the historicity of the Acts of the Apostles. We’ve frequently seen how Luke is much more a theologian than a historian. For historical accuracy we turn to Paul’s letters, especially in those areas where the Apostle contradicts Acts.

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