The Third Glorious Mystery ~ The Pentecost

Here is an icon of the Pentecost ~ the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem is in the background. The perspective in the buildings is not what we are used to, reflecting that God's perspective: how to be human, how life can go, what we might think really matters ~ is very different from our own. And that this is not just a camera-ready historical moment, but one which transcends our snapshot, frozen-in-time thinking. This is why among the apostles, Saint Paul, who never met Jesus, is shown sitting across from Saint Peter in the front of the line on the right. I suppose we could put our own image in that place just as easily. Imagine, sitting in the circle of apostles on the day of Pentecost!

We notice that there is an empty chair in the middle of the scene between Peter and Paul. This is Jesus' chair. But Jesus has now returned to the Father in glory. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit as the Vicar of Christ. A vicar is a person who is authorized to represent someone else with that person's full authority.

There is this strange figure in the bottom center of the icon. This is the Ruler of the World - who lives in shadow and who seeks to have control of minds and lives. Maybe this ruler isn't a particular person but organizations and movements - maybe it's the media which wants to keep us shopping and spending, comfortable, protected and entertained. It seems we will have to wait for the brightness radiating from heaven to permeate this dark, underworld place.

As the heavens open up there are twelve rays emerging from above. These are the tongues of fire which will settle on each of the apostles. Fire is catalytic and purifying. Notice that in the icon there is no dove representing the Holy Spirit's descent. That's because there is no mention of a dove in the scriptural account of Pentecost - at the Baptism of Jesus, yes, but not at Pentecost. Divided flame which settles on the apostles is the Pentecost image.

And so long as there's the question about the dove. One thoughtful priest has suggested that it is perhaps the wrong bird to represent  God's Spirit because it is too soft, too pretty, too tame, too quiet. It might be better to have a wild goose represent the Holy Spirit. A goose is untamed, unpredictable, noisy. You can't easily catch or control a goose. The Spirit is much more like that, though many Christians will be uncomfortable with that iconography. So if the Holy Spirit is more like a goose than a dove, we'd best be really ready when we pray, "Come, Holy Spirit..."

Holy Spirit as Wild Goose Chase

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

It is the Jewish feast of Pentecost. It is the day of celebrating God's goodness and care through the harvest. Now with the visit of Jesus' Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual harvest: the Spirit of Jesus makes us abundantly fruitful in goodness and belief.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The Spirit comes down like fire. And this fire separated over each of them. It separated! This means that the source must be one and the same over each. God! And that each of us is  uniquely filled with God's gifts. We must accept this about ourselves and each human person.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Flame gives light. I ask the Spirit of Jesus to enlighten my mind, to take it out of the darkness where evil thoughts, guilt and protected memories breed. The flame comes to enlighten my mind to the teachings of Jesus ~ his purposes for me, his plans.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

And a great wind accompanied this Spirit-gift. It must have been noisy enough to draw the attention of the people in the city. Be wary of Christianity that is private and too quiet. In a world where deadly, bloody, violent sin happens, Christians have to make some noise, quite literally, for Christ's sake.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Flame gives heat. I ask the Spirit of Jesus to warm my heart with love for Jesus, who loves me endlessly. I ask Jesus to give me a love for myself where I am degraded. I ask for the gift of loving other people, especially the people who are different, or as the world goes, who are unlovable.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The apostles are gathered in a room when the strength of Jesus comes down on them. And they go out from that room with a new role or mission to accomplish for Jesus. I must discover and learn mine. Jesus waits!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came down, Peter preached boldly and everyone understood him in his or her own language. On that day it seems there was a great unity that drew thousands. Today, unity is very hard to achieve. But Pope Benedict XVI has said: Even if there cannot be a unity of belief, there can be a unity of love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

And there is the gift of tongues. This is not so much about sounds coming out of mouths, but the spirit-ability to pass on Christ's truth to people of different situations and circumstances: the people who hear me!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In hearing the spirit-filled apostles, three thousand people converted and were baptized that day. But day-by-day, am I being converted? Am I turning to a friendship with Jesus that changes my own heart and gives me joy?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In Baptism I was drenched, soaked, saturated and flooded with the very life of Christ. I became a new creation, a new kind of human person: living my own unique life as truthfully and as beautifully as Jesus lived his!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Rosemary ~ Saint Mary's Tree

The Second Glorious Mystery ~ The Ascension of Jesus

It's important to illustrate this mystery of the Ascension with an Eastern icon because Western depictions, whatever their artistic merits, only do what a camera would have done if cameras had existed 2000 years ago. But the icon tells us much more.

Jesus is taken up and sits in an aureole. He sits, which is the posture of authority and to remind us of the line from the Sunday Creed, "He is seated at the right hand of the Father..." An aureole is a circular or almond shaped radiance of light surrounding a sacred person. The sparks or rays of light which cover the clothing of Jesus are called assiste (ah-seest). Jesus has entered the place of perpetual light, as we say in the prayer. Divinity shines out of him.

As we read in  The Acts of the Apostles (1:9-11) Jesus was taken from their sight and two men (were they angels?) appeared telling the apostles to stop staring off into the sky; that they will see Jesus again. And while Jesus has departed from us physically, the Spirit has been sent, and so the mountains, the ground and even the air or atmosphere of the icon are sparkling and golden. "Earth is crammed with heaven..." Emily Dickinson writes.

The Mother of God stands centrally, as first disciple. Elizabeth said of her: "Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord," (Luke 1:45). Mary stands in the position of a priest  at the altar. She is the image of the Church at prayer - in  the posture of gathering, lifting up and receptivity grounded in faith.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Jesus goes up! And I remember Saint Paul writing, But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. And that higher, excellent way is the way of love: patient, hopeful, enduring, generous and glad.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The physical body of Jesus has left us; he has gone to glory. But he has also promised to be with us, until the end of time. What a tremendous claim! The red light burns in my church by the tabernacle, where the presence of Jesus is real, unique and always.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Nick Vujicic, who has no arms or legs from birth says, If you find your joy in temporary things, your joy will be - temporary. But Jesus says, I am with you always, until the end of time.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I consider the great, hospitable kindness of Jesus, who says, I go to prepare a place for you , so that where I am, you also may be. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. What a joyful promise: room for me!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I join the apostles as they receive the Lord's departing blessing. This is Jesus giving me strength for the journey through this life, full of tempting solicitations. I must keep my eyes fixed on Jesus only.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus stayed with us for forty days after his resurrection from the dead. Forty days means a long time. Jesus understands the long time of struggle, the long time of fear, the long time of loneliness, the long time of hoping. But there is also the long time of his friendship.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I hear the words of Jesus, I go to the Father...I will be with you until the end. This is the greatest gift a friend can give - I will be with you. I thank Jesus through tears of gratitude.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I climb Mount Olivet too, to meet God, to go with God - up to the higher things of forgiveness, new direction, restored hope, reconciliation and joy.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The apostles look long to the sky. Angels appear to tell them that Jesus will return. Until then, I am not to look, gazing at the clouds, but to people left and right, in friendship and love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus was taken from the sight of the apostles, but only from their ocular sight. Faith and love have their own way of seeing. Jesus, help me to see rightly, how to trust, how to love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...



Our Lady's Pincushion



The First Glorious Mystery ~ The Resurrection of Jesus

This image of the Resurrection ~ Ascension of Jesus was painted by Matthias Grunewald in 1512 as part of a much larger altarpiece for the Monastery of Saint Anthony at Isenheim. This monastery operated a hospital which cared for victims of the plague and other life threatening skin ailments.

In the center of the altarpiece the crucified Jesus is depicted covered with sores, lesions and thorns. His body is racked with pain and appears to be in the early stages of decay. Grunewald knew his painting would be viewed by people who were dying terrible deaths. His image conveyed to them that in Jesus Christ, God understands our human suffering, having shared in it fully. A friend visited the altarpiece, which remains in a chapel setting, and said, "The crucifix stunned me and took my breath away when I first saw it. I felt compelled to stay and look at it for hours and returned to it over the course of several days." 

The image of the Resurrection is painted on one of the side doors or wings. Grunewald has indeed combined the moments of Jesus Resurrection and Ascension. The enormous stone has been rolled back and Jesus is raised up above the ground in a great circle of variously colored light. He seems to dance above death, darkness and decay. Perhaps we're familiar with the song I Danced in the Morning.

 I danced in the morning

when the world was begun

and I danced in the moon

and the stars and the sun,

and I came down from heaven

and I danced on the earth,

at Bethlehem

I had my birth.

I danced on a Friday

when the sky turned black;

it's hard to dance

with the devil on your back.

They buried my body

and they thought I'd gone,

but I am the Dance,

and I still go on.

They cut me down

and I leapt up high

I am the life

that'll never, never die;

I'll live in you

if you 'll live in me -

I am the Lord

of the Dance, said he.

As the gospel relates, the soldiers of the Roman Empire who were guarding the tomb of Jesus, were knocked to the ground on Easter Morning. Here they appear to be reptilian. We don't see their faces but are taken with their armor and weapons, all of which seem to be rather stupid, useless and ugly. We might think of  military displays all around the world: choreographed soldiers on parade in long processions of  expensive state of the art  fighting machines, guarantors of victory in these days of perpetual war.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Some people are quick to raise questions that oppose religion: "Did Jesus really rise from the dead?" without thought of the bigger, more pressing questions surrounding the death of our own passions and the increase of lived-goodness within ourselves.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

After the Second World War a submarine pilot reflected on the 14,000 women, children and injured enemy soldiers who died when he targeted a civilian ship: "This is war. It was your turn, now it's ours." We become insane in war. The Resurrection of Jesus says: We can change!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The stone is rolled away to show that Jesus is not there. The angel sat on the stone as if to say, The contest is over and death is the loser. I should want to jump up and cheer!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The soldiers outside the tomb fell down. Our defenses are useless before Christ. Even imperial powers and arsenals fall. It's all down for the count in the light of Christ's Resurrection. Now we wait in joyful hope for the full and final realization of this victory.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is not gone from us, here for awhile and then history. Jesus isn't just a good memory and a nice example. But Christ is risen and wants to be alive in the hearts of all Christians.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Can a woman forget her nursing child, the Prophet Isaiah asks. Saint Juliana of Norwich calls Jesus, our Mother. This Mother doesn't forget us, not for a moment. But Christ has come back even from death to take us to a new kind of life and new joy.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The first people to whom the angel announced the birth of Jesus, were shepherds in Bethlehem. And the first to be told by the angel of Jesus' Resurrection were the spice-bearing women of Easter morning. The Lord loves the humble heart.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter evening were full of disillusionment. And Jesus started to walk with them. He walks with me too in my own despair  and sad projecting and shares the new life that is within him. Oh Jesus, open my eyes too (Luke 24: 13-35).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Do not be amazed, the Easter angel said to the women. Do not be amazed that the Resurrected Jesus has overcome sorrow, anguish and every power we call darkness. Look for traces of this victory everyday and wait, with a happy heart, for the day when God's Kingdom in fully revealed and experienced.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In his Easter rising Jesus has gone through death to fullness of life. Even his body is included. This religion of mine is all about life. I ask Jesus to grow-me-up to the full life God has envisioned for me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...



Clematis ~ Mary's Bower