Breathe On Me

Allowing bible reading to heal a hurting world

06/05/2020

2 Timothy 3:10-17 You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Several months ago I read a book by Abbot Jerome Kodell (I still call him “abbot”) on Scripture study, where he made a remarkable claim that surprised me. He said that bible study can heal you. More precisely, he wrote: “The day-to-day effects of Bible reading is subtle but real. The divine power does not work only through striking ideas or feelings, so the Bible reader cannot measure the effect of the Scriptures as the spiritual life grows.” Then he drew this conclusion: “But from time to time the transforming power of the word of God is recognized as one’s life becomes more peaceful, joyful and whole” (The Catholic Bible Study Handbook, 26). Can’t you almost hear Abbot Jerome’s calm, comforting voice behind each word?

Catholics contend that the sacraments have healing power, but so do the sacred scriptures, even if not in exactly the same way. And our world today desperately desires healing: from a vicious virus, but also from the ravages of racism. I would suggest to you that one place to find that healing is in scripture study, which, over time, helps us to become more peaceful, joyful and whole.

How does the Holy Bible heal us? That healing and wholeness comes by way of inspiration, which literally means “to breathe into.” Have you ever had to perform CPR on someone, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation? Besides chest compressions to restart the heart, you must also breathe into the mouth of the patient, so that air fills his or her lungs. How reminiscent CPR is of Gen. 2:7, where we read: “Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” That is basically how bible study heals us: God breathes his life and love into our nostrils on every page of the inspired text. God’s breath, his spirit, his pneuma (in Greek), entered Adam and gave him life. Likewise, God’s breath, his spirit, his pneuma, enters us when we turn the pages of scriptures, and we feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

St. Paul explains inspiration in his second letter to Timothy, saying: “All Scripture is inspired by God” – breathed into by God – “and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Part of that “good work” is performing spiritual CPR on a hurting world by bringing the healing of the sacred scriptures. In a sense the world is in need of healing, indeed CPR because of the pandemic and racism, and many other ills plaguing the people. You might say that the sacraments provide the chest compressions by giving God’s grace and divine life, but bible study provides the breath of God to help us all breathe better, like Adam did. In other words, both the devout reception of the sacraments and the assiduous attention to bible study are necessary for the patient of humanity to make a full recovery, to feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

My friends, how have you been spending your time in this pandemic? Have you caught up on your Netflix shows that you had put off until you had more time? Have you become a news junkie and kept track of every twist and turn of the tale of this pandemic? Have you remodeled your house, planted a garden, or learned a lot of new recipes? All those things are good ways to spend your free time. But I think there’s a better way: get involved in a bible study program, or simply dedicate 30 minutes a day to quiet, contemplative scripture reading. Why? Because the world is hurting and desperately in need of healing. It would not be an exaggeration to say humanity needs CPR. We are not well. The divine physician needs to make a house call and revive – which means “to make live again” – this patient whose life is slowly ebbing.

Let me conclude with Ethan Hatch’s famous hymn to the Holy Spirit: “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. Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure. Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life, for all eternity.” It is the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, who makes us feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!