Article Of The Week
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Breathing Yahweh
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the Jewish revelation
of the name of God. As we Christians spell and pronounce it, the
word is Yahweh. In Hebrew, it is the sacred Tetragrammaton YHVH
(yod, he, vay, and he). I am told that those are the only consonants
in the Hebrew alphabet that are not articulated with lips and tongue.
Rather, they are breathed, with the tongue relaxed and lips apart.
YHVH was considered a literally unspeakable word for Jews, and
any attempt to know what they were talking about was “in vain.” As
the commandment said: “Do not utter the name of God in vain”
(Exodus 20:7). All attempts to fully think God are in vain. From
God’s side, the divine identity was kept mysterious and unavailable
to the mind. When Moses asked for the divinity’s name, he received
only the phrase that translates “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
This unspeakability has long been recognized, but now we know it
goes even deeper: formally the name of God was not, could not be
spoken at all—only breathed. Many are convinced that its correct
pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound
of inhalation and exhalation. Therefore, the one thing we do every
moment of our lives is to speak the name of God. This makes the
name of God our first and last word as we enter and leave the
world.
Holy Cross Catholic Church, Lafayette, LA
Reproduced By Permission Of Author / Publisher
www.holycrosslafayette.com
Article Of The Week
I have taught this to people in many countries, and it changes their
faith and prayer lives in substantial ways. I remind people that there
is no Islamic, Christian, or Jewish way of breathing. There is no
American, African, or Asian way of breathing. There is no rich or
poor, gay or straight way of breathing. The playing field is utterly
leveled. It is all one and the same air, and this divine wind “blows
where it will” (John 3:8). No one can control this Spirit.
When considered in this way, God is suddenly as available and
accessible as the very thing we all do constantly—breathe. Exactly
as some teachers of prayer say, “Stay with the breath, attend to
your breath”—the same breath that was breathed into Adam’s
nostrils by this Yahweh (Genesis 2:7); the very breath “spirit” that
Jesus handed over with trust on the cross (John 19:30) and then
breathed on us as shalom, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit all at
once (John 20:21-23). And isn’t it wonderful that breath, wind, spirit,
and air are precisely nothing—and yet everything?
Adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, pp. 25-26
Gateway to Silence:
The kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).
Holy Cross Catholic Church, Lafayette, LA
Reproduced By Permission Of Author / Publisher
www.holycrosslafayette.com