Feast of Pentecost
Cycle A
June 4, 2017
Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville (4pm and 8am)
The Descent
of the Holy Spirit
There
is a fifteenth century Russian icon entitled The Descent of the Holy Spirit.
The
original of this icon is in a cathedral in Russia. I brought along a small, inexpensive
representation of this and it is here in the sanctuary.
If
you want, you can take a look at it after Mass.
I want to try to describe this icon and please just try to imagine it
with me.
This
painting – The Descent of the Holy Spirit
– depicts the event of Pentecost as completely quiet and calm. It is a very different picture from the
strong wind, the fiery tongues, and the fearful disciples that we hear about in
today’s readings.
This
icon portrays Mary and the apostles sitting in a semi-circle in complete
serenity and peace. Their eyes and hands
convey an openness to receiving and listening to the Holy Spirit.
So
what the icon is conveying is that the coming of the Holy Spirit is more of an
inner event and not so much an outer event.
The idea is that through the sending of the Spirit, God becomes
God-within-us, God-within-us.
Also,
the figures in the icon are not looking at or talking with one another. Instead, they are all listening intently to the
God-within-them.
And
each of the persons is portrayed differently.
They have different complexions, different hair styles, different ways
of sitting and even clothes that are different in style and color.
And
yet, despite all of these differences, the icon portrays complete harmony. The message is that God-within-us makes many
individuals into a single, unified, though diverse community.
The Holy Spirit and Oneness
That is the great lesson from this fifteenth century
Russian icon – The Descent of the Holy Spirit.
The presence of God-within-us is the common ground among
us. And because of that, it makes us
one.
And so, what we need to do is awaken our awareness
of the Spirit’s presence, much as the apostles do in the icon. This awareness leads us to realize God’s
presence as our common grounding with all people.
This is the most solid basis of community that we
could ever hope for. What a great lesson
from this six hundred-year-old painting!
Communion and Community
The well-known Trappist monk and spiritual writer Thomas
Merton has an excellent insight on the point made by this icon.
I want to read just a few sentences from Merton. I will read them slowly and please just try
to take them in.
Thomas Merton writes: “The
deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless.
“It is beyond words,
it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept.
Not that we discover a new unity – we discover an older unity.
“My dear Brothers
and Sisters, we are already one. But we
imagine that we are not.
“And what we have to
recover is our original unity. What we
have to be is what we are.”
Don’t Make Differences into Obstacles
Merton’s
thoughts are simple and yet quite profound.
Unlike
the apostles in the icon, we sometimes make the differences between us into obstacles
to communion or community. I am thinking
of differences like:
Ø
Black, white, brown, and yellow skin,
Ø
Male and female genders,
Ø
People in Harford County and people in Baltimore City,
Ø
Christians and Jews,
Ø
Christians and Muslims,
Ø
Jews and Muslims,
Ø
Catholics and those who are not,
Ø
American citizens and immigrants who want to be citizens,
Ø
Political liberals and conservatives,
Ø
Catholic progressives and traditionalists.
And,
of course, there are many other differences.
We so
often allow these differences to obscure the communion and community that is already
here. As Thomas Merton writes, “We are already one.
“What we have to recover is our
original unity. What we have to be is
what we are.”
This
is what the Holy Spirit, God-within-us does.
It is what today’s Feast of Pentecost celebrates.
