The Breath of Life

“I’m a good guy! I work hard and I love my family! So why should I spend an hour every weekend listening to why I am going to hell?” Homer Simpson lamented while speaking to God in the episode Homer the Heretic of Season Four of The Simpsons. Even though this statement may come off as a bit shocking, I believe our pudgy, yellow faced friend with an unending five o-clock shadow who is best known for his balding head and love of Duff Beer is making a point about modern day Christianity. We have lost our sense of wonder and awe at our beautiful Catholic Faith.

Why? I believe a root cause is this: we lack proper understanding and context of the Crucifixion and what Christ merited for us on the cross. Many Christians are aware that Christ died for our sins. And the buck tends to stop there. Numerous times, I have gone to confession, heard the beautiful words of absolution and then, I am back to the same old patterns that sent me there in the first place. 

Everyone has a struggle similar to this. We have been wounded by sin. We are sinners in desperate need of the Savior. Sadly our wounds and our sinful tendencies become the definition of our being. With this attitude, of course we are going to focus on the negative instead of the positive, hell, not heaven, judgment in place of mercy. If we think like this, it makes it easier to walk into a church, genuflect and look at the Crucifix with an “oh, that nice” glance and continue about our day. It makes it easier to be indifferent to the needs of those around us while allowing the world to fall apart.

How can we regain a proper understanding of our faith? By understanding the hidden gem of Christ’s death on the cross: transformation and restoration.

The Breath of Life…..The Spirit of God

How does this take place? By understanding Christ’s final act on the cross. On Good Friday, there is one passage of scripture that is intriguing: “’Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit.’ And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46)  

What did it mean for Christ to “breathe his last?”

Let me set the stage for you. The first time we hear about “breath” is the creation of Adam. Genesis 2:7 reads “The Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

What is this “breath of life?” It is God’s Spirit. He intimately transmitted his very being into man. He not only brought him to a biological life, but a spiritual one. He gave Adam a very being and nature that was completely and wholly good. This “breath of life” is the soul, the deepest essence of the human person that radiates forth goodness, truth and beauty. God gifted his essence to man in his body, mind, heart and soul. He blessed Adam and Eve and every other person that came forth from them with his image and likeness.

Lies, Deceit and Death

As with every good story with a hero and heroine, there is a villain looking to undermine it.  Adam and Eve, and subsequently the rest of us are no different. Satan, who was once Lucifer or “the Guardian of Light” knew the beauty of God breathing his very goodness into man, and he sought to destroy it (See Genesis Chapter 3). He ensnared Adam and Eve to disobey God and when this happened they lost the “breathe of life” God gave them. It did not mean they lost their inherent dignity or worth. It did not mean they were loved less by God. It did mean they lost the capability to love as God loves and to pursue his divine will.

When man fell into sin, his soul, knowledge and desire to do good became darkened. Instead of being geared toward what was good, true and beautiful, he bought into the lie that he was evil, defiled and tainted. Sin is a refusal to love as God loves. It is choosing my wants, desires and will over the good of others and the will of God.

Just as Satan robbed Adam and Eve of the breath of life, every time he coerces us into sin, he robs us of the love and life God wishes to give us. He destroys and taints the goodness we possess leaving our souls and lives barren, hallow and empty.   

The Divine CPR

When Christ died on the cross, his final act was commending himself to the Father meaning where Adam disobeyed, Christ swore unending obedience even unto death. It was a sign of his total surrender to the Will of the Father.

After he spoke the words “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit” scripture tells us he breathed his last. Through his final breath, Christ breathed life back into all of humanity, the ends of the earth over. The Spirit of God, which the Trinity gifted to man and Satan stole, Christ redeemed and restored with his final breath.

Think about it, when trying to revive someone, you use CPR. You are breathing life back into the person, keeping them from impending death. When Christ breathed his last, he transmitted his Divine Spirit back to all of us. He breathed life, love and the wealth of the Kingdom back into our hearts, minds, souls and bodies.

What was robbed of our hearts, Christ restored. What fear held us bound to sin, sadness and agony Christ transformed into courage.  The habits and tendencies toward sin, Christ replaced with the capacity to chose virtue and love.

Wherever we are in our journey of faith, yes, even if we question the need for Catholicism, may we allow the Breath of Life and the Spirit of God to once again enter our hearts this Easter Season so we may be transformed and restored into the people God always wished us to be!

For more information on the nature of evil, sin and the breath of life go to: http://www.newadvent.org