Father Chris -Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time- Homily

" The Breath Of Life "
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“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” – Gen 2.7.


This is one of the most relevant scriptures to anyone trained in First Aid. Those in our ICUs battling the Covid virus know that if a patient can still breathe, thanks to modern, life-saving ventilator machines, they still have a chance to live.


The breath of life. Indeed, we need air to live. Of the four elements – earth, water, fire and air – air, even more than water [discussed last week], is the ultimate bridge between life and death. Without air all human life, all creation would die.


Those watching over the daughter of Jairus who had gone to beseech Jesus to heal her would have suddenly detected no breath from the young girl, and why some of them went to tell Jairus that, sadly, his daughter had passed away. There was no longer any need to disturb Jesus. But Jesus is God and God is capable of breathing life into anyone, as Jesus did to the family’s amazement.


Many of us have also been by the bedsides of the dying. Silently, we wait; some anxious or fearful, others curious or in awe and reverence of the mystery unfolding, while most are sad, perhaps emotional. But everyone is waiting for the last breath.


Several years ago on a drive in the country, a friend and I stopped to investigate a car crash ahead of us. It looked bad! Someone had hit the vehicle along the right side and left the scene. My friend left to get help while I managed to open the driver’s door. He was pinned against the steering wheel and bleeding badly from a gash in his forehead. Thankfully, he was still breathing, the “first sign of life”. As he stared blankly out the shattered windshield, clearly in shock, I told him help was soon on the way, assuring him all was OK, while being careful not to touch or move him as per recent life-saving training strategies. Talking ongoing to keep him alert, I monitored the rhythm of his breath. Help arrived, and soon he was whisked away to London General hospital. Thankfully, I would not see a last breath until that of a close friend dying from cancer many years later.


In his book, ‘The Four Elements’, which we are referencing for our celebration with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, of God in all Creation, John O’Donohue says, “Air is an intimate element. It gets right into you through your breathing and your blood, into the heart of your life [and your spiritual being]. … [Indeed], the first moment of life is the [first] exercise of [breathing]. … It sets [in motion] the rythmn of your life … akin to the ebb and flow of the ocean as it comes into shore, holding and then leaving again. [Just as] in the womb everything comes in waves.”


The cry which comes with our first breath is our introduction into the air around us, the space we will live our lives in. John tells us, “It is air which gives us space and makes it possible for us to move. Without movement [life is not possible].” Also, the air we encounter can be mountain air, sea air, the moist air of woodlands or dry air of desert, or air polluted by industry and disrespect for how vital air is for life.


He further points out one of the aspects of space is the loneliness it creates for all humanity, because of the ‘distance’ it places between us. But this is critical for revealing and developing our complex, miraculous, individual identity where personality and perception take shape in the empty space we have taken over.


Meanwhile, in the OT, Elijah, hiding in a cave from his enemies, waits for God. First, a storm came, but God was not there. Then a wind, but still God is not there. Finally, a gentle breeze came, and God was there, a testament to his tenderness. In the NT the Holy Spirit visits Mary and the disciples as a great wind on Pentecost. And so, just as Greek philosophy identified ‘spirit’ with breath, ‘pneuma’, so air, too, is spirit, and spirit residing in prayer, because air is breath and breath is prayer. With the Indigenous, also Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic peoples, we share this sacredness of breath in prayer. Focusing on the flow of our breath helps us hear the inner life of the Holy Spirit flowing through us, whispering to us during meditation and contemplation. Finally, “the Holy Spirit is like the wind which blows where it will.” In John’s words, this is a kind of “hymn to spontaneity”, necessary to the movement of life. No rigid adherence to ‘the Law’ is John’s point, but instead to the free-flowing nature of God’s ‘Law of Love’. In God’s wisdom, we have air which gives us life, and space to face our challenges, yet also to breathe in earth’s goodness and beauty. Let us think of each breath we take this week as a prayer of gratitude to God, until when we can hope to breathe-in the grace of heaven.


– Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario