The Breath of Life

Just something interesting that I read. (:

Catholics believe the things of creation are a testament to God’s word. Any physical thing I do — the scratching of my pen across this paper — is God speaking to me.

One gateway to this sense of the sacredness of physical things is our breathing. We are sometimes conscious of our heartbeats but rarely of our breathing. Just as we breathe, unaware, so God works in human lives. Without conscious thought we inhale and exhale. From the slap after birth that got us started until the last dying breath, all is done for us.

Life is God’s gift.

We so often think that God lives “up there” or “out there,” overlooking the presence of God “in here.” We may seek God by seeing, hearing, feeling, and especially breathing.

Genesis tells us,“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.”

Breathing, an intimate and holy physical action, is a perfect symbol of God’s presence — quietly at work, always here, keeping us alive. God’s place within me is like that rising breath. The power that lies in breathing is a constant reminder that God is always quietly present.

Like all else, breathing is a gift that requires thanksgiving. Without it, I die physically; without God’s tender loving breath, I die spiritually.

Passage after passage in the Bible suggests that attention to breathing is one of the best ways to listen to God. Samuel responded to the whisper of his name in the night, saying, “Here am I.” God’s grace is in the breath that formed us as living souls and created our own breath, through which we can learn to feel God’s presence. “Breathe on me, oh breath of God,” a 19th century hymnist wrote.

St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote, “For it is not knowing a great deal that satiates and satisfies the soul, but feeling and savoring things intimately.” God breathes quietly these days, at times so softly it is hard to hear above the noise of our world. We have to be utterly quiet in order to hear the still, small voice of the All in All.

One of the most difficult things to learn in the spiritual search is this need for doing nothing, of merely being. We are all made in God's image — our true selves exist deep within and require only the gentlest uncovering.

The atmosphere is charged with God's presence. Inhale God as you inhale the air.

Breathing expresses the presence of God, and we must seek God in silence, in the everyday, in the way our breathing goes on moment by moment, hour by hour, decade by decade.

In our busy lives, it seems impossible to follow the directive, "Be still and know that I am God."

Cheers, angele