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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.

FEBRUARY 28, 2010: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Readings: 
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28b-36

My high school mythology course left a lot to be desired. Our teacher began the first class by announcing that we were studying myths only because next year we’d be reading the classic English poets like Shakespeare, Milton, Shelly and Keats. If we didn’t know who Zeus, Venus, Mars and Aphrodite were, we’d never understand their poetry. “Of course,” he assured us, “myths aren’t true. They were created by people who, unlike ourselves, didn’t know the truth.”

FEBRUARY 21, 2010: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Readings: 
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13

Today’s combination of readings is fascinating. They take us into the heart of biblical faith. We’re provided the key to that heart in our first reading.

FEBRUARY 14, 2010: SIXTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings: 
Isaiah 17:5-8
I Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26

Today’s Lucan pericope sounds familiar; but it’s not as familiar as we might like it to be. We’re more accustomed to hearing the eight beatitudes in Matthew 5 than the four in Luke 6. Since Luke and Matthew seem never to have read one another’s gospel, and Mark, whom they did read and copy, says nothing about beatitudes, scholars believe both Luke and Mathew used a common source for their passages. We usually refer to that document as the “Q” - short for the German word “queue:” the source.

FEBRUARY 7, 2010: FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings: 
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
I Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

Few biblical passages are more important than “call narratives.” From Yahweh’s call to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 12 to Jesus’ gospel calls of his disciples. When the original readers of Scripture heard the word “call” in any writing, their ears perked up and they listened intently. Long before Jesus’ followers separated themselves into clergy and laity, all who followed Yahweh and/or Jesus were convinced they, like their biblical counterparts, had also been called.

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