Links for Pentecost

Pentecost
From a Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulilns
French (Saint-Omer), 14th Century
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 152, fol. 451r

Over the last several years I have presented various essays on different aspects of the event and feast of Pentecost.  This day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles following the Ascension of Jesus has frequently been called the birthday of the Church.  That is for good reason.

While the Apostles may have recovered their belief in Jesus and realized his divinity and power during the period from the Resurrection to the Ascension of Jesus they were still incompletely formed for their mission.  However, since Jesus had promised to send them the Spirit they were hopeful.  Retreating in a body to a single place to pray, they spent nine days praying together.  What they prayed for and what they expected we don't know, but we do know what they received and it is mysterious.  

"When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.

And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim."

(Acts 2:1-4)   First Reading for Pentecost Sunday, Masses During the Day

When the moment had passed, the Apostles were changed forever.  No longer timid and afraid, they were now "filled with the Holy Spirit" and able to communicate with others in languages they had not known before.  They were "enabled to proclaim"   (Acts 2:4).  

And proclaim they did, beginning that very day.

For "there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.

At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
"Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God."  

(Acts 2:4-11)  First Reading  for Pentecost Sunday, Masses During the Day

The ways in which artists have reflected these passages have been varied over the centuries.  Over these last years I have prepared essays that demonstrate the various approaches to this mysterious event in the life of the Church.  Click on the links below to be directed to each.

At This Sound, They Gathered In a Crowd

A Dove Descending

Tongues of Fire

Mary, Mother of the Church

So, Happy Birthday to all those who make up the current, terrestrial Church and also to those of the Church in Purgatory and of the Church in Celestial Bliss!

© M. Duffy, 2026

Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

 

Links to the Iconography of the Ascension

Giotto, The Ascension
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padue, Scrovegni/Arena Chapel

 

Forty days after the celebration of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the end of His bodily presence on this planet with the feast of the Ascension.

This event, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, ends Jesus' time on earth in visible, human form.  With His Ascension the Apostles were left to pursue the mission He gave them in parting, as reported by the writers of the Synoptic Gospels.

 

Mark 

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned."  Mark 16:15-16

Matthew 

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."  Matthew 28:19-20

Luke

"And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 

and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  

You are witnesses of these things."  Luke 24:46-49

The Iconography of the Ascension

Throughout time, artists have found differing ways of depicting this event.  Some of them are discussed in the following essays.

Striding into the Sky		https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconography-of-ascension-part-i-of-iv.html
Lifted in a Mondorla or on a Cloud		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-ii-of-iv.html
The Disappearing Feet		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-iii-of-iv.html
The Direct Approach		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-iv-of-iv.html

© M. Duffy, 2026

 

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Links for the Easter Season

Anthony van Dyck, The Resurrection
Flemish, c. 1631-1632
Hartford (CT), Wadsworth Athenaeum

Alleluia! 

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

The days of Lent and the days of sadness that are the Triduum are past and Easter 2026 has arrived!

Alleluia! 

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

I wish you a happy and profoundly inspiring Easter Season.

Alleluia! 

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

To guide some of your explorations of the themes of this joyful season I recommend to you the links below.  They lead to some of the commentary that I have written over the years regarding the iconography of the Easter Season, which extends from this happy day till Pentecost and Trinity Sunday.

Please feel free to explore the art created to imagine the Resurrection and the days immediately following, all the way through to the feast of the Holy Trinity.  I hope that considering these events and the pictures that artists have created to illustrate them over the centuries will help you to feel more connected to the long tradition of Christian art offered to the glory of God and to the living Church of our own time.

Links have constantly been improved over the years.  New images, better quality images and new material are constantly being incorporated.  If the original publication date suggests the material is now old, it isn't.  I am constantly revising and housekeeping.

Please note that over the course of the Easter Season I will be overhauling every one of the essays listed below to swap out old images with few pixels for newer ones with a greater number of pixels, giving you more visible details when you enlarge the images.  I will also be adding new images that turn up in the course of my hunt for improved ones (and this happens all the time).  Much more material turns up every year!  So, check back often to see what's new.

The Resurrection, the Incredulity of Thomas, Emmaus

Title		Link
The Women at the Tomb		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/04/iconography-of-resurrection-women-at.html
Noli Me Tangere		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/04/iconography-of-resurrection-noli-me.html
Jesus, the Gardener		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/04/iconography-of-resurrection-she-thought.html
The Incredulity of St. Thomas (Doubting Thomas)		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-incredulity.html
Emmaus -- The Journey		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-emmaus.html
Emmaus -- The Recognition		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-emmaus_07.html
Climbing from the Tomb		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-climbing.html
Hovering over the Tomb		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-hovering.html
Bursting from the Tomb		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-bursting.html
An Awkward Resurrection Image Apparitions		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-happy-and-blessed-easter-season-to.html
Good Shepherd Sunday		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-shepherd-sunday-fourth-sunday-of.html
The Lake of Galilee -- The Disciples Go Fishing		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-lake-of.html
Commission to Peter -- The Good Shepherd Transfers Responsibility		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-peters.html
The Commission to the Apostles		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/05/iconography-of-resurrection-commission.html
Christ Appears to His Mother Christ Presents the Redeemed to His Mother		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconography-of-resurrection-christ.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-resurrection-christ.html
The Ascension
Striding into the Sky		https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconography-of-ascension-part-i-of-iv.html
Lifted in a Mondorla or on a Cloud		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-ii-of-iv.html
The Disappearing Feet		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-iii-of-iv.html
The Direct Approach		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2017/05/iconography-of-ascension-part-iv-of-iv.html
Pentecost Tongues of Fire		https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/05/tongues-of-fire.html
At This Sound, They Gathered In a Crowd A Dove Descending   The Holy  Trinity Worthy Is The Lamb Father, Son, Spirit Iconography of the Holy Trinity – Imagining The Unimaginable The Holy Trinity -- Love Made Visible The Holy Trinity -- The Throne of Grace		http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/05/at-this-sound-they-gathered-in-crowd.html https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-dove-descending.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/04/worthy-is-lamb.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2008/05/father-son-spirit.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/06/iconography-of-holy-trinity-imagining.html https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2019/06/god-so-loved-world-that-he-gave-his.html https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-holy-trinity-throne-of-grace.html

© M. Duffy, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

The Day of Gloom and the Coming of the Light

Paolo Veronese, The Dead Christ Supported By Angels
Italian, c. 1587-1589
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

On a typical Holy Saturday the church is quiet, the tabernacle empty, the altar stripped. People come for services such as Tenebrae, made up of readings, songs and symbolic acts such as the snuffing out of candles or for Confession to ask God for forgiveness.



 Basically, the prevailing mood is quiet, a little gloomy even, but with a hint of excitement nonetheless.


Underneath it all is a sense of expectation.  And, in the evening, as darkness descends, we gather (or perhaps watch on the net or on TV) to celebrate the Easter Vigil, the Great Vigil, in which the darkness of the tomb is turned to the light of Resurrection.

As the massive newly carved and lit Paschal Candle is carried down the aisle of the darkened church we will be confronted with a symbolic image that has come down to us from remote centuries, for the light represents the Risen Christ.  As we light our individual candles from the One Candle the church gradually fills with light.  What was obscure and gloomy just moments ago can be seen clearly.  It is a magnificent symbol of the Resurrection, of the share we each have in it and of the effect that spreading that light can have on the world.  

Deacon Singing the Exultet 
From  an Exultet Roll
Italian (Montecassino), c. 1072
In this scene he gestures toward the Paschal Candle, which is being incensed

For more information on the images that relate to both the day of waiting and of the Paschal Candle, please click on the following:

The Harrowing of Hell here

The Dead Christ in the Tomb here

Easter Vigil and the Paschal Candle here

©  M. Duffy, 2015, updated 2020 and 2021 and 2022

Meditating on the Passion

Fra Angelico and Assistants, The Mocking of Christ

Italian, c. 1440-1441

Florence, Convent of San Marco, Cell #7

Over the life of this blog I have written extensively about the iconography that surrounds the subject of the Passion of Christ.  

Here is a series of links to many of those articles.  They are organized around themes suggested by meditations, both theological and artistic, and by such devotions as the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross.  

As we experience the final week of Lent, I offer them for your perusal.

I updated many of these listings over the last few years.  Sometimes this has resulted in the addition of new material.  In most cases I have replaced the picture files with newly available photos in higher definition than was available when the essays were originally written.

There is a great deal of material here that you can use to explore the themes presented.  May you have a fruitful experience while using them.

2012 Series:  Meditations on the Passion
Meditation on the Passion	April 1, 2012	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-passion.html
The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico	April 4, 2012	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-passion-mocking-of-christ.html
The Ecce Homo	April 5, 2012	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-passion-ecce-homo.html
The Man of Sorrows	April 6, 2012	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-passion-man-of-sorrows.html
In the Tomb   2018 Additions: The Instruments of the Passion   The Man of Sorrows with Instruments of the Passion	April 7, 2012 March 28, 2018 March 29, 2018	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-passion-waiting.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2018/03/meditation-on-passion-instruments-of.html http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-man-of-sorrows-with-instruments-of.html
2013 Series:  The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Sorrowful Mysteries	March 26, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-sorrowful-mysteries.html
The Agony in the Garden	March 27, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-first-sorrowful-mystery-agony-in.html
The Scourging at The Pillar	March 29, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-second-sorrowful-mystery-scourging.html
The Crowning with Thorns	March 29, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-third-sorrowful-mystery-crowning.html
The Carrying of the Cross	March 29, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-fourth-sorrowful-mystery-carrying.html
The Crucifixion	March 30, 2013	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-fifth-sorrowful-mystery-crucifixion.html
2016 Series:  The Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross – Introduction	March 9, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-stations-of-cross-introduction.html
Jesus Is Condemned to Death	March 10, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-first-station-jesus.html
Jesus Carries the Cross	March 14, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-second-station-jesus.html
Jesus Falls, The Third, Seventh and Ninth Stations	March 15, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-jesus-falls-third.html
Jesus Meets His Mother	March 16, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-fourth-station-jesus.html
Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross	March 16, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-fifth-station-simon.html
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus	March 17, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-sixth-station.html
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem	March 20, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-eighth-station-jesus.html
Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments	March 21, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-tenth-station-jesus.html
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross	March 22, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-eleventh-station.html
Jesus Dies On the Cross	March 23, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-twelfth-station-jesus.html
The Body of Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross	March 24, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-thirteenth-station.html
The Body of Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb	March 26, 2016	http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/03/stations-of-cross-fourteenth-station.html

2019 with 2020 update

O Sacred Head Surrounded                          April 19, 2019            https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2019/04/o-sacred-head.html

© M. Duffy, 2017, update 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2026.