The Breath of God
(Acts 2:1-11; 1Cor.12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn.20:19-23)
We have so many locks in our lives – on our doors, our cars, our windows and our phones…
Why? Because of fear. We worry about these things, so we shut them away.
But it’s not just possessions we lock up. Sometimes we padlock our hearts and minds, too, especially when we feel fearful, anxious, depressed or empty, or when we suffer from guilt or resentment. That’s when our brains and hearts can freeze and we feel trapped, unable to go forward.
This is what happens to Jesus’ disciples after his crucifixion. They fear they might suffer the same fate, so they lock themselves inside the Upper Room.
Then on Easter Sunday, Jesus walks through that door, surprising them and greeting them with the words, ‘Peace be with you.’ Shortly afterwards, Jesus breathes on them, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (Jn.20:22).
Why does he breathe on them? It’s because Jesus is God, and his breath is life itself.
As you might recall, in the story of Creation when all was dark, God breathed over the waters of chaos and this led to light and life (Gen.1:1-5). Later, in the Garden of Eden, God picks up a lump of clay and breathes on it to create Adam, the first man (Gen.2:7). And in Ezekiel 37, God’s breath revives what was once dead in the valley of dry bones.
In other words, God’s breath is always life-giving, creative and renewing. It’s his Holy Spirit, of course, bringing not only biological life, but also spiritual transformation.
That’s why Jesus breathes on his disciples there in the Upper Room. He gives them the peace of his Holy Spirit.
Fifty days later, at Pentecost, the disciples are in the same place, but still don’t know what to do with themselves. Then suddenly a noise like a mighty wind arrives from heaven.
What is this wind? It’s the breath of God, once again. It’s God’s dynamic Spirit transforming them with meaning and purpose, passion and conviction. They then go out into the world to tell everyone the good news about Jesus.
Today, on this feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the wind of God’s gentle but powerful Spirit that never ceases to blow. And we remember that the fire of God’s love continues to burn brightly in the hearts of the faithful.
But what about you? Are you filled with the Spirit and living a meaningful life?
Or do you feel trapped in your own Upper Room, stuck with empty thoughts and going nowhere?
One person who managed to break out of her own Upper Room was St Edith Stein. She was born into a devout Jewish family in 1891, in Breslau, Germany (now Poland). As a teenager she turned to atheism, and as an adult she became a brilliant philosopher and one of the first women in Germany to earn a doctorate.
Edith’s ‘Upper Room’ wasn’t a physical room, however. She felt trapped in an intellectual prison, stuck in a silent space between unbelief and grace where she felt spiritually restless.
What really confronted her was the suffering she witnessed as a nurse during World War I. Her work in philosophy raised deep human questions about truth, love and the soul, but she couldn’t find any good answers. And when some of her friends started becoming Christians, something stirred deep inside her.
One day in 1922, while visiting friends, she picked up the autobiography of the Spanish mystic, St Teresa of Avila. She read it in one night, and when she finished, she simply said, ‘This is the truth.’ That was her Pentecost moment, when her locked door opened.
Soon afterwards she became a Catholic, shocking her family and her academic peers. But for Edith, it was the fulfillment of a long inner journey. For the next ten years she lived a quiet life, teaching, writing and translating the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and John Henry Newman. But she also felt a deeper call, to give her whole self to God.
In 1933, when the Nazis took power, she joined the Carmelites in Cologne, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. There, in the prayerful silence of her convent, she watched Europe descend into war.
Sadly, in their search for Jews the Gestapo arrested her and sent her to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in 1942. But even in that darkness, she remained serene, reportedly saying: ‘Come, let us go for our people.’
Her final act was accepting the Cross of Christ. She willingly embraced death in solidarity with her Jewish brothers and sisters.
Today, St. Edith Stein is offered to us as a model for anyone who feels trapped in darkness.
To set yourself free, welcome the life-giving Breath of God.