<p><em>Breath of the Spirit is our 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.</em></p><p><strong>January 24th 2021: Third Sunday of Ordinary Time</strong></p><p><span>Jonah 3:1-5 10</span><br><span>1 Corinthians 7:29-31</span><br><span>Mark 1:14-20</span></p><p><strong>Reflection from&nbsp;<strong>Marianne Duddy-Burke</strong></strong></p><p>For a few weeks we have been focused on the early days of Jesus public life and ministry. The Feast of the Baptism of Jesus is a beautiful bridge from the Christmas season to the start of the Jesus Movement. Last week we heard about the Divine Call to several individuals representing all of us who are called to share in building the reign of justice. And this week we are invited to consider the challenges and impacts of responding to that Call.</p><p>Jonah is a very reluctant prophet resentful and resistant to Gods call at first as he had clear ideas about the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. He felt they were far from entitled to Divine Mercy and believed they deserved to suffer Gods wrath. It was a huge leap of faith to travel to this city and to proclaim the opportunity for redemption. He may have feared for his life and safety in entering a community that he saw as wrong-headed. Answering the Call meant setting aside his own prejudices and deeply held beliefs to respond to Gods directives. By doing so he became the channel through which many were converted including himself.</p><p>Paul speaks to the radical transformation of life and self that being a Christian demands. At the time this passage was written many believed the end times were very near and that Christs followers focus should be preparing for the Second Coming. Even two millennia later however the urgency of these words should compel us to consider how radical are the demands of discipleship. Being a follower of Christ calls us to counter-cultural living to challenge the goals of an individualistic society with our every word and action and to root our entire lives in justice.</p><p>Our passage from Marks Gospel is very clear about the cost of discipleship. It opens with these chilling words: After John had been arrested We know that this arrest ended in Johns beheading. Mark foreshadows the Crucifixion in the opening chapter of his Gospel even as he shows Jesus starting to gather the community that will support the Gospel's world-shaking message. Those who hear and accept the Call start on a path the involves personal risk a transformation of their lives and connection with those they would never have encountered had they not responded to the stirring of faith deep within.</p><p>This feels like a very timely message at this moment in the lives of our nation our church and the justice movements we embrace. As people who believe that the Body of Christ must fully include and affirm LGBTQI people we know something of the risk that Call involves. As the polarization within our country and the Catholic church come increasingly to the fore this weeks Scriptures seem to be asking us to recommit to radical engagement with those who may not support our conviction in both the civil and religious realms. Like Jonah we are called to do so in a way that invites transformation and welcomes them into Gods mercy. We cannot write them off rejoice in their downfall or fail to offer a message of hope. Engagements of this sort can carry risk even danger. Even so we are called beyond comfort and routine and will be led to where there is need.</p><p>This reflection will be published on Inauguration Day as Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris accept the call of the majority of the American people to lead and to serve. Each of them has spoken of their belief that they have been called to serve all the people whether supporters or not. This is no easy task and they too face risk opposition even danger. May we give them our prayerful support our engagement with the work they do to ensure that all people living in our country have access to food shelter health care education sustaining income and other basic human rights and our thoughtful respectful critiques when we believe there are better ways to accomplish these goals.</p><p>Our country our church and our world must be drastically transformed for Gods realm to truly be brought to fulfillment on the earth. May these Scriptures inspire us to deepen our commitment to the Call to birth this reality.</p><p>__</p>[caption align=left]<img src='https://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/marianne.png'>[/caption]<p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.008px;><strong><br>Marianne Duddy-Burke&nbsp;</strong>is&nbsp;the Executive Director of DignityUSA and has been involved with Dignity and leading LGBTQI justice for decades.</em></p><p><a href=https://www.dignityusa.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe>Get Breath of the Spirit scripture reflections in your inbox every week.</a></p>