There's something
a little bit disturbing
about being breathed on.
There's the hygiene issue -
getting breathed on
is how diseases
like coughs and colds
and the flu are spread.
And there is something
invasive about it.
We say that we don't want
someone breathing
down our neck.
We shudder with the person
who picks up the phone
to a "heavy breather."
Yet, for those of you
present at the consecration
of Holy Oils,
or who attended
the blessing of the baptismal font
at the Paschal Vigil,
it appears bishops have to learn to
be heavy breathers.
Would you really want
to receive the oil of Chrismation
knowing that the Bishop
had subjected it
to a bout of heavy breathing?
But then,
during Confirmation,
the Bishop puff into the face
of the recipient of the Sacrament,
so you can't escape
the Bishop's breath!
[PAUSE]
Yet, here, behind closed doors,
where confused and
disoriented disciples dwell,
Our Lord appears and breathes on them.
Disgusting?
Germ spreading?
Invasive?
What do you think?
[PAUSE]
You say to yourself,
quite naturally,
if Jesus is doing
the heavy breathing
then it must be alright.
It affects us because
we are so aware of the germs
that can infect us
by being breathed in.
And perhaps
we can appreciate
why this couldn't be done
any other way.
In breathing on His Disciples,
Our Lord becomes
the vehicle for
the Holy Ghost
to begin His mission
in building the Church.
This is not a germ-ridden breath:
it's the Breath of Life,
pure, incorruptible
life-giving, empowering
and disinfecting.
Disinfecting?
Absolutely.
"Whose soever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them;
and whose soever sins ye retain,
they are retained."
Sin is our infection
which we spread
from the brokenness of
our hearts and minds and souls
in our thoughts, words and deeds.
Just as we breathe out
infectious diseases from our bodies,
so do we breath out
infectious sins from our fallen nature.
And yet,
here is the Holy Spirit of God
poured out upon the eleven disciples
for the purpose of
remitting and retaining sins.
This is the same promise by Our Lord,
first made to St Peter in Matthew 16,
then to all the disciples
two chapters later in Matthew 18.
Here,
the promise is delivered
by a breath.
This Holy Ghost
ignites on the Day of Pentecost
when the Apostles become
the first Bishops
each one with the power
to bind and loose,
remit and retain
through the authority
and power of the Holy Ghost
Who makes His dwelling
within the Church.
Just as we breathe on glass
in order to see through it
more clearly
so does Our Lord
breathe on the disciples
to polish them up
for the purpose
of cleaning all those
befouled by the sins of the world
as they enter God's Church.
This is our salvation.
It is also why
we should rejoice
to have Jesus
breathing down our necks.
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