BREATHE!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 7th Monday after Easter is, “Breathe!”

One of the 3 key images of the Holy Spirit is breath.

The other 2 are fire and the dove.

Suggestion for this week before the feast of Pentecost: become very aware of your breath.

Some people, as we hear in today’s first reading, could say, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Come Holy Spirit!
Come Holy Spirit to all peoples.
Come Holy Spirit – be to us as close as our breath.

BREATHING PRACTICES – DURING PRAYER WORKSHOPS

If you have ever taken a workshop on prayer, you might have experienced people saying, “Breathe!”

The several that I have taken said, “Practice breathing. Be aware of your breathing!”

You will have people have you stand up and stretch – and then at some point to have you sit down. They will ask you to be aware of your body – your butt on the chair – your back into the back of the chair – your feet on the floor – your hands on our lap or at your side.

Too many times we start praying too soon – too fast.

So prayer teachers will suggest coming into church or into your prayer space and stretch and be conscious of that as well as your body in a chair and then they will then suggest becoming aware of your breathing.

Some teachers will say plants give off oxygen – without which we would not be alive.

They will then tell you that our bodies breath in oxygen – O2 – otherwise we will not be alive.

Then if I have this right, the body changes that oxygen that we bring into our lungs and it becomes energy and fuel for our body through our blood system and then it becomes carbon dioxide – CO2 – and that goes back to our lungs and we breathe that out – and then that carbon dioxide goes back into the plants to nourish them and on and on and on.

You will be told to let go of that information and just be conscious of your breathing. Just “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

ONE OF THE GREAT SCENES IN THE BIBLE

One of the great scenes in the Bible about breathing takes place in the Book of Genesis – when God creates, sculpts, the first human, Adam, meaning, clay, earth, and then God breathes life, the Spirit of Life, into that first person.

We grasp that because we know the difference between a statue and a human being – a doll and a person. We know the scene of the birth of a baby – when the delivery room people get that baby breathing.

We have stood at the bedside of a person dying – seeing their shortness of breath – wondering if they are still alive. We know when we are out of breath. We know when stairs and hills are tough – and we have to do some more exercising.

We might have seen scenes in movies or on beaches when someone drowns – and someone is giving that person artificial respiration.

So the writer of that story in Genesis has God breathing life – breath – into his creation.

PRAYER

And so a good way to pray is to just breathe in and out – breathing in the breath of God and breathing out the opposite of God.

A good way to pray is to deep breathe.

A good way to pray is to say, “Come Holy Spirit.” and breathe in the breath of life.

A good way to pray is to realize while we’re breathing in we are in communion with all people and all creation – trees, water, wind – which is all in union with each other. We’re all connected. We’re all in union with each other.

These chemicals are being recycled – along with water – and what’s in us was in others – and in plants and trees and we’re all in this together. Interesting.

And we know when we walk into a room – our spirit – our attitude – our mood – effects the mood and atmosphere of the room. Happy faces, sad faces, impact our face. So hopefully we rise from prayer and bring joy to the world.
Come Holy Spirit…..

CONCLUSION

Take the time this week – this time of preparation for Pentecost – to be aware of your breathing – and this amazing process called life – and its net, its interchange, and its interconnection. Be aware of the Holy Spirit in us and about us – and in all people. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit.







This is a weekday homily. Someone asked that I put it on my blog.