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| Fr. John Cusick, Director, Young Adult Ministry - Arch. of Chicago |
He breathed on them. Why?
It has been over a week since Easter Sunday, and in our fast-paced world a lot has changed since then. Just listen to or watch the news.
Yet this past Sunday our Gospel reading (John, Chapter 20) began “on the evening of that first day of the week.” It was still resurrection day, Easter. It was still the first day of a new creation. What does God create? Life.
So here we go again with more new life being revealed by the Risen Lord. This time the recipients are his disciples. The Gospel tells us that the door to the place where they were was locked because of the fear they felt. We can all understand that. Their leader, teacher, mentor, rabbi, and Lord was killed. By process of elimination, who is next? They are! Lock those doors and keep them locked! They were living in fear for their own lives.
They are in a state of mental and spiritual paralysis. Fear can do that to people. They cannot dream. They cannot act on any of the wonderful ways of living for others that Jesus revealed to them. They are frozen in time. They see nothing to look forward to, and looking back is fueling their fear. For all practical purposes, life is over.
Even though the door was locked, Jesus stood in their midst. This is the resurrected Lord. He is no longer bound by space and time. Locked doors are no big deal. These disciples experienced Him standing right in the middle of their fear. “Peace be with you,” He said. One definition of the word “peace” is the healing of relationships. He wants them to be re-connected to all He was about, to all He taught them life to could be, to all he wanted them to be: fully alive! The fear has got to go. They (and we) must face the future and live for what can be, as He did, and continues to do.
To assist with that, the Gospel says, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Keep in mind that this is a creation story. In the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, how did our Creator God pour life into Adam? God breathed into him the Breath of Life.
Now the Risen Lord is doing the same. He is breathing into them this new life in God that does not end in physical death. They got it! Soon afterward they opened that door and headed back into the world. It was their turn to breathe this new life into others.
Guess what? As you read this, who is the recipient of that Breath of Life today? You are! If they stayed in fear, if they stayed behind that locked door, the resurrected life of Christ would never have been passed on by them.
Now it belongs to you. But the Lord’s life is not yours to keep. It is not a treasure or trophy. It must be given away.
So do some thinking today. To whom can you breathe the Lord’s life? Who needs to be raised up – even if just a little?
Easter is an ongoing event. It is our call to live in such a way that people will see in our actions that each of our lives (and theirs, too, if they so choose) are destined to be everlasting. Nothing stops it. It can’t be killed. Even death has no power over it.
Aren’t we lucky?
Fr. John Cusick
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