The praise and worship song, This is the Air I Breathe, has been sung a lot recently in both the Catholic Church I am registered with and involved in and the church my wife and I attend together early on Sunday mornings.
I loved the song as a Protestant because singing it and other similar songs was about as close as I could get to feeling in touch with Jesus. And the haunting chorus goes "And I am desperate for You. And I am lost without You." I loved the chorus because it expressed the cry and longing of my heart for Jesus. They were not just the words of someone else but my words, too.
While they were distributing the Eucharist at the Saturday night Mass where I was serving as an altar server, the choir was leading us in singing this song and I realized that I was no longer lost without Jesus and desperate for Him. He has led me to the Catholic Church where I have found Him in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, in the other sacraments, in the sacramentals, in the art, in the Blessed Virgin Mary and in the communion of the saints, in the prayers of the Church which have set my prayers free and in many other channels of His grace through His Church. I have Jesus and I have ways to stay close to Him. Thanks be to God!
I still love the song as a Catholic because I remember those days of desperation and longing. And God used my desperation and longing to keep me searching. And now He is the air I breathe. Didn't I have Jesus as a Protestant and wasn't He present? Yes, He was but now I have Him more fully.
