Ad Imaginem Dei: Links for Pentecost

Sunday, May 12, 2024

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 several 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!

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.

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Uniquely among the monotheistic religions Christianity permits the use of images of God. Why? The answer lies in the Christian belief in the reality of the Incarnation. Since God has assumed human nature and form the Biblical prohibition against making images of God ceases to apply. As the second Council of Nicea declared in 787 "Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets."
(Council of Nicaea II: DS 600)

This decree of Nicea II was promulgated for the entire church, both Greek and Latin speaking, and was a response to the strongly held beliefs of the iconoclasts, who wished to suppress the use of images, which had convulsed the Byzantine Empire and the eastern churches for almost 100 years. In addition, St. John Damascene, last of the Greek Fathers and a staunch defender of images, had written in De imagine ("In Defense of Images") "Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, (Bar. 3.38) I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter." (St. John Damascene, De Imagine, Part I, 15-16, from Internet Medieival Sourcebook.)

The ways in which this imaging of the divine has been accomplished in the course of time is the subject of Christian iconography. To quote from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, iconography is "1: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject; 2: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject; 3: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art".

The iconography of any subject develops and changes over time. Christian iconography develops and changes too, as reflection on the Gospels and Tradition develops over time and as the act of making art develops and changes as well. This is the background for this blog.

Ad Imaginem Dei

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