Room to Breathe

A Reflection on the Gospel for June 9th, 2019:
The Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday

John 20.19-23

It was evening on the day Jesus rose from the dead, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

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​Come, Holy Spirit. I’ve learned to say that more and more over the last 20 years. Slowly. Surely. And when He comes, I’m always surprised. I know I shouldn’t be. The Holy Spirit has been working all around me since before I was born. He guided the heart of my mother when she was pregnant – a high risk pregnancy she was urged to abort. He moved mountains for me before I learned how to move them myself in Jesus’ name. He helped to right my feet before I had the chance to stray too far from the path.
 
Jesus empowers us through the Holy Spirit to go out on mission in His name. He gives us the peace we need to comfort us, but He also sends us. We’re in a season in the Church where it’s hard not to see the work of the Spirit. We’re being invited to be stretched as Church and as individuals. I have seen God working wonders in individuals, our parish community, and now our diocese. The hardest thing can be to give the Spirit room. I love that expression: “room to breathe”. We have to give Jesus room to breathe.

"​The hardest thing can be to give the Spirit room... We have to give Jesus room to breathe."

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My husband is recovering from a very difficult bout of pneumonia that led to hospitalization and some bleeding in his lungs. I remember at the worst of his illness, how difficult breathing was for him. It stretched him. It was so painful. But it was essential for him to survive and get better.
 
So here we are as a Church, experiencing the breath of God after a period of long illness. It hurts. It’s stretching us. But we need that breath to survive. So, I stand and accept that deep breath of God and cry out “come, Holy Spirit, come”.

​Stephanie Potter

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