We’re taking a break from Uncle Harry this week because of my favorite feast day of the whole year: Pentecost!
Without Pentecost, the teaching that Jesus gave the apostles … would have vanished. Pentecost is, to me, the feast of the protection of the Holy Spirit over the deposit of truth given to the apostles. Without protection, the deposit would have simply gone away, destroyed piecemeal by the Judaizers, the Donatists, the Arians, and so on. But the Holy Spirit was there.
I love the image the artist came up with:
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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To me, the Mary depicted above seems symbolic of the Church entire, her motherly care protecting her charges. I love it that she was filled with the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ conception, made the spiritual bride of the Spirit, and now she’s present as the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to those who followed her son. It’s just beautiful.
Happy Pentecost!