In one of the most dramatic, significant and yet intimate, tender moments of the Gospels, the resurrected Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit onto His gathered disciples:
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21-23).
Can you imagine what it must have been like to have Christ’s own breath, the very breath of God, the Holy Spirit, gently blown into your face, lungs and heart? Life-changing for sure. God breathed on me once, and this is how I later depicted this truly indescribable event:
Once You breathed on me; I felt Your breath, so softly surrounding me, then slowing, ever so delicately, moving through and filling me with Your liberating presence.
Then Your breath became You, how I know not, but when Your breath morphed into You it ceased to move; everything ceased moving within and around me.
There was simple union, pure You and only You for a space as immeasurable as it was unforgettable.
You are Spirit; You are love; Light and airy, yet of Greater Substance and Power than all the mass and energy generated by Your Big Bang.
This is but one of Your paradoxes:
Ultimate power one with ultimate tenderness, strength wed inseparably to gentleness.
You are Yourself the miracle of all miracles.
Breathe on me, breath of God; transform my weighted being into your weightless wind, blowing wherever it will, in accordance with Your will, knowing Your freedom of flight.
One of my favorite hymns is “Breathe on Me, Breath of God,” written by Edwin Hatch in 1878. Here are its four verses, slightly modernized. As you meditate on these heartfelt words, pray that God will breathe on you, establishing in you the spiritual truths they contain:
1. Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love the way you love, and do what you would do.
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours,
to do and to endure.
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God, until I am wholly yours, until this earthly part of me, glows with your fire divine.
4. Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with You the perfect life of Your eternity.
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