The Sacrament of Breathing

 

I don't take a breath. Breath is given. Inhaling, breath flows into my body as Mother's grace. Exhaling, I offer it back. So effortless is this process that I take it for granted. But breathing is profoundly Eucharistic, a two-fold sacrament of grace and offering.

From effortlessly breathing in, I learn how to receive other gifts, like food, shelter, warmth, and love. From breathing out, I learn to give it all away. Shall I hold my breath so as not to lose it? Am I afraid to share my breath with the world? Breath is given on one condition only: that I ceaselessly give it back.

If Divine Mother provides each breath, why would she not provide all other necessities? It is only the mind that blocks her grace, inventing the thought of lack.

"Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can a woman forget the infant at her breast?"(Isaiah 49) She never asks whether her child deserves milk. Milk just flows. Yet I imagine I must prove myself worthy of Divine Mother's grace!

Do I ever spend an hour, a minute, or the duration of a single breath just resting in Mother's embrace, allowing her to give me what I need?

Neither separate from God nor one with God, I am God's breath, and every breath of God is a prayer. Breathing in, I am created. Breathing out, I pour back into my Creator.