BREATHE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of Pentecost is, “Breathe!”

“Breathe!”

Breathe. Catch your breath. Pull yourself together.

Breath is one of three big images of the Holy Spirit in our scriptures – the other two being fire and the dove.

Today: my stress would be to reflect upon breathing.

Air – Spirit – Breath – Wind – the Invisible all around us. We don’t see air – but we see its effects. The shaking storm, the gentle breeze, the waving trees – the wind coming off the waters at the ocean.... Air – Spirit – Breath – Wind.... Without it – we wouldn’t be. Come Holy Spirit. Come all three Persons of God – into us. Come breathe New Life into all of us.

WHEN WE COME TO CHURCH

When we come to church, when we come to pray, one of the first steps is to be aware of our breath.

Spiritual masters, gurus, teachers, often suggest breathing exercises.

Christian Spiritual masters suggest when we come here to church – after we come in – after we symbolically wash ourselves in Holy Water – after we enter into this holy place – after we sit down – after we wave to those we know in our section of the church – many folks do find a regular place in church helpful – some don’t – sit down – catch your breath.

Sit down. Close your eyes. Feel your back against the bench and your butt on the seat. Feel your feet on the floor. Be grounded. Be aware of your body – be aware of your breathing. Relax.

Next take a second breath – a deep breath – Phew! I made it. Pull in and exhale some deep breaths. We know how to do this. It’s part of a physical exam when we go to a doctor.

Next with eyes still closed become aware of your breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Put your hand three inches from your mouth. Push air towards your hand. Feel the invisible bridge of air touching your hand.

I taught novices in our Redemptorist Community prayer and spirituality for 9 years - teaching 9 different groups – each for a year and a day – so I had to learn how to teach all this stuff – which I had learned here and there since I was in my early 20’s.

Spiritual teachers teach breathing as a beginning step in prayer. Catch your breath.

When you’ve had a long day – when you pray at night or at the beginning of a new day – I always taught – have a prayer chair – a quiet spot, a place where you won’t be bothered.
Take a moment. Scan your house or backyard of porch. Do you have a place with a good chair for prayer.

Get grounded. Become aware of your breath long before words and thoughts or this and that. Just be aware of your breathing.

GENESIS 2: 6 - 7

One of the most powerful scenes in the Bible takes place in Genesis. In a very primitive, very early – most basic creation account – God takes mud and water, spit and skill, and forms us out body. Then Genesis says, “God breathed into this creation, this clay creation,, this earthen vessel, and it became a living being."

The author of this creation account wasn't there, but his imaginative was there and he sculpted this creation account out of words and image. The author simply takes what human beings have done at the birth of a child since the beginning of time. Get that baby breathing. Get that baby breathing.

And somewhere along the line humans have given other human beings artificial respiration – when a person lost their breath or were dying – or they were drowning. It’s instinct. We know that a person who is not breathing is dead or close to death – and we know, “Get this person breathing again. Get this person breathing again.”

And we all know – just visit any nursing home – that when we get old and start to lose it – we lose our ability to breathe well. Hence the need for more breakthroughs in medicines and techniques to help older folks to breathe better. And we’re grateful for modern improvements in all this. Praise God.

I witnessed my dad’s last year of life – as his emphysema got worse. Back in 1970 when he died, he didn’t have a breathalyzer or oxygen. It was tough work – this breathing skill we started since we were babies.

Breathe.

Want to learn how to pray, breathe. Be aware of this great gift of life.

RU'AH
“Ru-ah” is the Hebrew word for Spirit. You can hear breath in the word itself.

“Ru-AH!”

When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek, the word “pneuma” was used to translate “ru-ah”. We use the root of this word when talking about tires – pneumatic tires – filled with air. Somewhere along the line we blew up a balloon, or basketball or football – or an inner tube. We filled it with air.

When the Greek scriptures were translated into Latin, the word “Spiritus” was used for “pneuma”.

When the scriptures were translated into English the words “spiritus” and “ghost” were used. We often think that word “ghost” means “ghost” - as in scary Halloween Ghosts. It’s more a word that describes a gust of wind. So the Holy Ghost is the Holy Gust of wind.

Whatever. If you want to learn how to pray, after catching your breath, after relaxing, you might want to pray inwardly the ancient prayer, “Come Holy Spirit.”

I like to suggest using a rosary when praying – not just for Hail Mary’s. If you want a nice morning or evening prayer, simply find a quiet place, get settled, close your eye and say 59 times – using your beads to say, “Come Holy Spirit.” You can do a whole rosary of “Come Holy Spirit's” in 5 or 10 minutes – if you can find 5 or 10 minutes of escape time.

Try this for this coming month of June – and see where that takes you. A variation on the prayer is to breathe and while breathing pray, “Come Holy Spirit.” – praying that the Holy Spirit come into our life in a new way.

But if it’s complicates prayer in doing two things at once, breathing and praying, go with just one.

COMMON AIR

Just as fishes die when they are removed from water, so too we would die, if we had no air, if oxygen disappeared.

Another thought is to realize that all of us in this church, in this upper room, are breathing common air. Ooops, should I breathe out that comment, because that could make those who worry about getting the Swine Flu because of the Sign of Peace or drinking from the one cup – become even more nervous?

I’m not sure how common air works, so I’ll have to do some more reflection upon that as a metaphor.

Every parish, every marriage, every relationship, every work site, needs fresh air.

When John XXIII called the Vatican Council he said we need to open up the windows of the church and let new life - fresh air - flow in. And that he did.

Come Holy Spirit.

SUCKS THE AIR OUT OF THE ROOM

We’ve all heard the phrase, “sucks the air out of the room.” It sort of has the same meaning as “the elephant in the room.”

Today’s first reading and today’s gospel takes place in the Upper Room – the scene for Pentecost.

The disciples were filled with fear – and fear and death can suck the air out of our lives.

The Pentecost Feast challenges us to face our fears – name the elephants – deal with what is draining us – what is sucking the air out of our upper room – our brain.

Come Holy Spirit. Help.

Notice in today’s gospel it says, “And when Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said to them. “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

We all have this forgiveness power – to let go of anger and hurt from ourselves or others and breathe peace into the situation – into the relationship.

However, let me also give a warning. Trying to initiate a reconciliation is tough stuff – especially if it is a family split that has been going on for years. Consult. Prepare well. Think twice about this. Sometimes reaching out can make matters worse. It can open up old wounds. The old saying: “Better let sleeping dogs lie!” is often the best advice.

But also notice the Early Church burst out of that Upper Room and brought this message of peace and forgiveness, love and understanding, to not only their fellow Jews – but also to all these other women and men in so many different groups.

As the result, the early Christian communities had in the room not only folks they knew, but also, as we heard in today's first reading from Acts, "Parthians, Medes and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt, the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the might acts of God."

How’s that for a text to challenge those of us with xenophobia or wanting everyone to speak our language – or that everyone look like us? Surprise: Catholics come in all the different sizes, shapes, colors and languages of the planet.

Come Holy Spirit. The word "Catholic" – "Kata Holos" in Greek – means with the whole world.

Come Holy Spirit.

CONCLUSION

I don't know how to end this, so let me put together a prayer to catch some closing hopes.

Breath of God
breathe on me.
Fill me with your freshness.

Breath of God,
breathe on me,
be a wind that shakes me,
wake me, stir me, prune this tree called “Me,”
knock off all my dead branches
that are not giving life..

Breath of God
breathe on me,
fill my empty sails
and take me to new depths, new shores, new life.

Breath of God,
breathe on me.
Pentecost me.
Pentecost us,.
Re-Church us. Amen.