Sharing the breath of life

Homily for April 3, 2016 (2nd Sunday of Easter; Mercy Sunday)
Acts 5:12-16; Psalm 118; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31

When I was a kid, there seemed to be only three types of mouthwash:  Lavoris was red and tasted like cinnamon; Scope was green and tasted like mint; and Listerine was golden and tasted…bad. Today, as with so many other products found in our homes, the number and types of mouthwashes have grown exponentially.   There are not only mint flavors but different kinds of mint flavors.  There are some to control plaque and tartar and others to whiten our teeth.  There are fruit and other flavored mouthwashes for kids, others for smokers, etc. We all want to have fresh breath; and our families and friends as well as the people with whom we work and go to school and church are very glad that we do!

Fresh breath is OK, but God wants to give us something far better: the breath of life!  After Jesus rose from the dead he fulfilled his pledge to give his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, one who would serve as their Advocate, protector and guide (see John 14:15-31, 16:5-15).  In today’s gospel passage he visits them, entering through not only the locked door of the room in which they were huddled in fear but also through the locked doors of their minds and hearts. 

John’s version of this bestowing of the Spirit is different than the account in the Acts of the Apostles (see Acts 2:1-13).  In St. Luke’s version in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples through a noise like a driving wind and what appear to be tongues of fire over them. Here Jesus imparts the Spirit personally, even intimately: after wishing them peace and telling them not to be afraid, he breathes on them.  This act is loaded with meaning:  it recalls both the work of his Father who breathes life into the man he has formed from the clay of the earth (Genesis 2:7) as well as the reviving power of God’s spirit to breathe life even to a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14).  That life-giving, life-sustaining and life-renewing power has been given to us in our Baptism, sustained through the seal of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and renewed in the Eucharist.

God also wants us to share that breath of life with others.  The nascent community of believers demonstrated it through their common life and unity, devotion to the apostles’ teaching, prayer and the breaking of the bread (see Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-37).  They also witnessed it demonstrated in a dramatic way through the healing power granted by Christ to Peter and the other apostles.  The sick and those troubled by evil spirits were all cured!

Sharing the breath of life that we have received from God can also demand much from us. Just as we have brought it into ourselves, so we must breathe it out.  We are called to inhale and exhale the Spirit, each according to the gifts that God has given us.  John, the author of the Book of Revelation, shared it through his gift of prophetic imagination.  Exiled to Patmos, a Roman penal colony, during a time of persecution, he powerfully shared “the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance that we have in Jesus.”

On this Divine Mercy Sunday we give thanks for the many ways in which God has breathed life into us and called us to share that life with others.  Along with the author of our Responsorial Psalm, we “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love is everlasting.” +