The following audio file will guide you in a time of offering your breath in compassionate prayer for others: 

There is a way of breathing

That’s a shame and a suffocation

And there’s another way of exhaling,

A love breath,

That lets you open infinitely.

     - Rumi

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For further reflection:

In his book “The Hidden Gospel", Neil Douglas-Klotz explains many of the layers of meaning that emerge from the Hebrew language that we miss in our biblical texts.  He writes that in Hebrew there are four different “h” sounds, all of which link with breathing in some way:

• The letter “hey” has a very refined, soft sound, like the sound of “h” in “hear”. This refers to the breath that is free and unrestrained, not yet inside of any body.

• The letter “heth”, pronounced like the “ch in “loch”, describes the breath as it enters and enlivens the body

• The letter “kaph”, pronounced like the “ch” in “Bach”, describes the breath that is fully embodied

• The letter “tsere”, which sounds like the “e” in “they”, refers to a breath that has become overly involved in a body, and has got trapped there. It cannot feel its connection to other forms of breath.

He describes that this last sound is used to form the Hebrew word for “proud”, and is the root word for “enemy” in Aramaic. It is the description of the autonomous breath that has lost its sense of connection with God and the rest of life. It can also be translated as “one who falls out of rhythm”.

This tells us that in the early Hebrew language, this sense of being in rhythm with God, living consciously in connection with God, was very important, and to fall out of rhythm with that is to be proud, and to become an enemy of life and of our very selves. It is our human condition of being cut off from one another and God, and living autonomously.

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Questions for reflection:

Look at the descriptions of the various forms of breath described above.

• In what situations do you find yourself relating to each one?

• Where have you become overly autonomous and cut off from the flow of life?

• Can you set yourself reminders in some way to return to breathing consciously and freely, opening yourself to the rhythm and selfless love of God's breath?

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Ending prayer:

Holy Spirit, Ruah of God, Breath of our breath, help us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for,

or how to breathe in rhythm with you.

Too often we find ourselves cut off, trapped in our constricted selves,

and we miss the life-giving generosity of your free-flowing breath.

Thank you that you yourself intercede for us

with groans that words cannot express.

Teach us to breathe in rhythm with you,

to love with the spacious and tender heart of God,

and to be Christ's hands, feet and body in this world.

Amen.

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(Adapted from Romans 8:26)