In this interview with Oprah, Dr. Angelou so eloquently reminds us to be a blessing, practice empathy, and cultivate lovingkindness towards others. The rainbow flags of Pride Month invite us all to look for opportunities to be a rainbow.
In their National Catholic Reporter article this week, Flora x. Tang recalls a memorable homily from a Pride month four years ago. “Four summers ago, a few months after I first came out as queer, I moved to Boston and took the bus to a parish in Back Bay to attend Mass on my first Sunday there. In lieu of preaching on the Gospel or the readings, the priest chose to preach on the day’s responsorial psalm: “I praise you, because I am wonderfully made” (Psalm 139).
I sat in the back and listened as he repeated the line over and over again in his homily, reminding the congregation that yes, we are wonderfully made, no matter our gender, race, age, or the gender we are romantically attracted to. He repeated that last line again. No matter your sexual orientation, or your gender identity, you are wonderfully made.
After Mass, only when I walked past the many shops adorned with rainbow flags did I realize that it was Pride Month — the month of June. While I didn’t end up attending any Pride marches or celebrations that year, I’ve since then always considered that psalm and its accompanying homily my very first Pride celebration.
Big businesses plaster their storefronts with rainbow products and signs, but the heart of Pride Month is not rainbow-washed profits that soar while global poverty increases in the midst of ever-rising inflation. The heart of Pride Month is celebrating the radical message that no matter where we are on our journey of queerness, gender nonconformity, or allyship, that we are wonderfully made. It is commemorating forms of love, kinship and community that have always defied normativity, and that persist and resist injustice. This Pride Month, may we ourselves see and pray to a God whose radical love also transcends the boundaries of convention to reach each and every one of us.”
Tang, Flora x. “Celebrate Pride Month with books that honor all as wonderfully made” The National Catholic Reporter, 18 June 2022, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/celebrate-pride-month-books-honor-all-wonderfully-made
Accessed 21 June 2022.