Icon of the Descent of the Holy Spiritby
John Champoux |
|
|
Our
Lord the All-Gracious and Holy Spirit, the third Person of the blessed
Trinity, descends upon those gathered in the upper room on Pentecost,
thus fulfilling the promise of the Old Testament 'Feast of Weeks'.
Just as no Person of the Trinity stands alone, but each relates
eternally to others in the 'society' of the One God, so Pentecost,
which means 'the fiftieth day', does not stand alone but, as established
by Moses, relates to the Pasch of Israel. Memorialized in this feast
is that law-giving encounter between God and the people of Israel
at the foot of Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the crossing
of the Red Sea. There God wrote upon stone tablets, here, in New
Testament times, He has written upon the very fabric of the human
heart (2 Cor. 3:3). Pascha and Pentecost together have everything
to do with the human heart, for added to the 'leap' of Resurrection
joy is the serene jubilation of Pentecost. But what is the reason
for this joy, this jubilation? Simply put, it is because we have
been recreated in the image and likeness of God. We read in Genesis:
"The Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed
into his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul"
(Gen. 2:7), and, in reading, we become aware of an astounding parallel:
first, in Christ, our bodies are being fashioned out of a new earth,
the 'earth' of His risen body, which is also the Church, and then,
with the Holy Spirit, God has breathed into our faces, has ensouled
us with His fiery Breath, which is also the Church, "the church
of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens". And it is
to this Church that we have all received the most cordial of invitations. [
The Sign of the Cross ] |
|
|
|
|
|
[ about dhs ] • [ bulletin
] • [ meditations ] • [
icons ] • [ links
] • [ contact ]
|
|
|
DESIGNBYFAITH.COM
|
|
"But
you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels,
and to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to
the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel."
Hebrews 12:22-4