“Supernatural Breath”

May we “live life with our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground.” Every day we need to deal with the mundane…getting up, brushing our teeth, eating breakfast, going to work, getting gas for the car, fighting health issues, handling anxiety….. and at the same time recognizing that this life is fleeting and eternal life awaits…..life beyond this earth…heaven or hell. Somehow, we are living in two worlds. 

We just celebrated Easter… Christ’s resurrection from the dead after his sacrifice on the cross; thru our Lord’s great love he suffered and died to save us from our sins, to conquer death, and to defeat the devil. This is so magnificent that it’s hard to comprehend. Yet as we look to embrace this great truth, we are still trying to live life on this earth, dealing with issues from paper cuts to wars and rumors of war. 

Even in the last few weeks as we completed Lent and moved into the Easter season,  we’re immersed in the complexities of life… from the death of dear friends, sickness of family members, March Madness, earthquakes, eclipse of the sun, politics, travel, etc., etc., etc. Wow, it’s not easy keeping your head in the clouds (fixed on the Lord and eternity) and your feet on the ground (taking care of life on the earth)….. sometimes my heads on the ground and my feet are in the air. We need the Holy Spirit to be our guide and strength, moment by moment…. to keep us right side up. Maybe we should listen to what the saints had to say about all of this. 

St. Augustine said:

• “let us consider, dear friends, the Resurrection of Christ: indeed, just as his Passion stood for our old life, his Resurrection is a sacrament of new life. 
• You have believed, you have been baptized; the old life is dead, killed on the cross, buried in baptism. The old life in which you lived is buried: the new life emerges. 
• Live well: live life in such a way that when death comes you will not die.”  

Pope Benedict said:

• “the Gospel accounts that mention the appearances of the Risen One usually end with the invitation to overcome every uncertainty, to confront the event with the Scriptures, to proclaim that Jesus, beyond death, is alive forever, a source of new life for all who believe in him.
  • This is what happened, for example, in the case of Mary Magdalene, who found the tomb open and empty and immediately feared that the body of the Lord had been taken away. The Lord then called her by name and at that point a deep change took place within her: her distress and bewilderment were transformed into joy and enthusiasm…. 
• Faith is born from the personal encounter with the risen Christ and becomes an impulse of courage and freedom that makes one cry to the world: “Jesus is risen and alive forever.” This is the mission of the Lord’s disciples in every epoch and also in our time.
• If, then, you have been raised with Christ, Saint Paul exhorts us, seek the things that are above…. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2). This does not mean cutting oneself off from one’s daily commitments, neglecting earthly realities; rather, it means reviving every human activity with a supernatural breath, it means making ourselves joyful proclaimers and witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ, living for eternity. (Pope Benedict XVI, Magnificat, 4-2-24)

So in other words, we need to keep our “head in the clouds and our feet on the ground”. To do this we need “supernatural breath”… we need the Holy Spirit to help us. We can do this; we can do this because the Lord is with us and will help us and is pouring out his supernatural breath upon us. 

God did not save us by his great sacrifice to now abandon us to our own poor efforts. He is with us and is helping us. All will be well because the Lord is finishing the good work he began in each of us. Pause for a moment and feel the “supernatural breath” breathing new life into our weary souls. And that is Good News.