Lately when I reflect on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, I tend to draw my personal inspiration for Pentecost found in John’s Gospel, Chapter 20. The Risen Jesus appears to His disciples and after blessing them with peace, He BREATHES upon them.

Peace be with you…then He breathed on them and said:
Receive the Holy Spirit…

Jesus in-spirits them with His own BREATH, His own SPIRIT. Closer to us than our own breath and breathing, with a single, quiet and gentle breath Jesus breathes upon us and intimately fills us with His Holy Spirit every moment.

To feel His Breath upon us, we need to be close to Jesus. Think about a moment in your life when you held another person with whom you have a close, deep and intimate relationship with – a spouse, a beloved friend, a child, a grandparent – someone you held close and could feel their breath brush across your cheek. You breathed your love into them. The two of you shared the same air. That moment you felt only one love, one breath, one life. Now imagine an even greater and deeper intimacy with Jesus. Be still and quiet and feel His gentle BREATH fill your body and heart, your soul and mind. Feel Him breathe into you His Holy Spirit of love and peace.

It is not unique to Pentecost that Jesus breathes into our lives and our stories. He is constantly breathing upon us throughout the day, but do we pause and notice and feel Him breathing His Spirit into our deepest self. Do we notice when His gentle and healing breath holds us when we feel broken in body and spirit? Do we notice when He gently breathes upon us courage and hope in a future that may be filled with uncertainties and unexpected news of illness, loss, and death? Do we notice when Jesus breathes upon us with comfort in our grieving and sadness? Do we feel Him breathe upon us with unconditional love? Do we feel His breath fill us with amazing joy and awe in beholding those we love and who love us? Do we feel His breath fill us with gratitude for all that beautiful and good? Most of all, Jesus breathes into us His silent, yet profound, Holy Presence and we become one breath, one life, one love.

So, the celebration of Pentecost goes beyond the fiery tongues, rushing winds, and foreign languages. Perhaps the real miracle of Pentecost is that Jesus breathes upon us every day and fills us with His own Spirit and Life. Jesus breathes and we live.

In celebrating the BREATH OF JESUS, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, PENTECOST IS EVERYDAY!

-Sandy Setterlund