Through the natural breathing of a life of conversion, we exhale the spirit of this world and inhale the Holy Spirit of God. As a result, we become one with the Son of God, and the Word of God takes shape and body within us. Consequently, we become members of His Body, the Church.
Jesus illustrated this concept using the metaphor of a branch bearing fruit. Not all branches on a tree produce fruit; only certain types do. He declared, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will produce abundant fruit, for without me, you can accomplish nothing.” Remain in me, and you will receive the care of the Father, enabling you to bear even more fruit. (John 15.1–5)
To the casual observer, confined by the limitations imposed by human perspectives, the words of Jesus appear repetitive. What is the message the Lord intends to convey? We are already aware that the branch must remain connected to the tree; only the branch connected to the tree has a chance to bear fruit. The message, indeed, is not about contemplating the image or the understanding it brings. The message is the invitation to take a leap of faith and enter the realm of God, breathing in this supernatural order: exhale the human and inhale the divine; be grafted onto the vine of Christ.
The words of Jesus are not a subject of scientific understanding through discourse and reason. They are life and the breath of God. Only when we actively breathe in His Spirit do we gain life and comprehend the genuine and life-filled meaning of those words. We experience the sweetness of God’s life only when we breathe in His Holy Spirit. In other words, we don’t attain communion with God through contemplation or by delving into the depths of His eternal goodness through theological discourse. Instead, we must breathe in the Son of God by surrendering our breath and accepting the Holy Spirit of our Lord. Only then will divine grace transform our human blood into the flowing sap of divine Life, and every action will reveal the beautiful face of our Heavenly Father.
This transformation is a sacred mystery and a supernatural reality, not mere poetic words or sentimental stories. We have the witness of countless martyrs and saints, whose example serves as the true touchstone of our resolve and integrity. By reading their lives and learning from them how they breathed the Holy Spirit, we can emulate their example and form our own path on the life-giving breath of the Holy Spirit, aligning our lives with our calling and capacity.
Following the example of the saints does not mean mimicking and reproducing whatever they did; it means encountering–like they did–the Son of God, who came looking for us. He is knocking on our doors to come in and share our life, to taste our nature and give His to us, transforming us into abodes of the Most Holy Trinity and filling us with the fire of His holiness against the cold darkness of sin and evil.
