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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.

JANUARY 3, 2010: EPIPHANY

Readings: 
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

It’s no accident the story of the magi is found only in Matthew’s gospel. His community alone would have appreciated the message he conveys by including this unique narrative in his work. Mark, Luke, and John write for Gentile Christians. Matthew writes for Jewish Christians.

Since Christianity began as a Jewish reform movement, Matthew’s church takes us back to the earliest forms of our faith. Its members gather in their local synagogue every Friday night, and are committed to carrying out the 613 Mosaic laws.

DECEMBER 27, 2009: THE HOLY FAMILY

Readings: 
I Samuel 1:2-22, 24-28
I John 3:1-2, 21-24
Luke 2:41-52

In a recent article in America magazine, Daniel Harrington reviewed John Meier’s fourth volume of his monumental study of the historical Jesus: Jesus, a Marginal Jew. At the end of his favorable comments, Harrington states that Meier’s research is so important that his four books should be on every thinking person’s bookshelf, “wedged between Raymond Brown’s Birth of the Messiah and his Death of the Messiah as classics in American Catholic biblical scholarship.”

DECEMBER 25, 2009: CHRISTMAS Eucharist During the Day

Readings: 
Isaiah 52:7-10
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18

Those of us who frequently participated in the Eucharist before the 1960s can probably recite much of today’s gospel pericope by heart. It once was the “last gospel” of every Eucharist. But since the number of those who participated in Eucharists before the 1960s is rapidly diminishing, the vast majority of today’s Catholics only hear this famous passage if they come to the Eucharist During the Day on Christmas.

DECEMBER 20, 2009: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Readings: 
Micah 5:1-4a
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45

Just as memorable movies employ theme music to highlight important people or events, our evangelists employ certain catch phrases of statements to pinpoint the themes of their gospels. Luke, for instance, wants his readers to be good disciples of Jesus. He believes there’s one basic way to accomplish this. For him, perfect followers of Jesus commit themselves to just two things: they first hear God’s word, then carry it out. In today’s pericope the evangelist puts his theme into Elizabeth’s mouth.

DECEMBER 13, 2009: THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Readings: 
Zephania 3:14-18a
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:10-18

To appreciate our regular Advent readings, it might help to have a split personality. When Paul, for instance, reminds the Philippian community, “The Lord is near!” he’s talking about something quite different from John the Baptizer’s statement, “ . . . One mightier than I is coming.” Though Jesus is the subject of both sentences, the two authors aren’t referring to the same arrival. Luke’s John is obviously talking about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; Paul is speaking of Jesus’ Second Coming in the Parousia. Neither is saying anything about Christmas.

DECEMBER 6, 2009: SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Readings: 
Baruch 5:1-9
Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11
Luke 3:1-6

Except for such unique writings as Paul’s letters, the vast majority of our Sacred Scriptures were composed years, even centuries after the events they narrate took place. The interval between the events and the biblical text provided their authors with something very valuable: the ability to interpret those happenings through the lens of later events, a lens which helped the writers look at them from a different perspective than the people who actually experienced them. We especially hear this historical development in today’s first and third readings.

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