Pentecost
John 14: 23-31
Jesus replied, “He who truly
loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him
and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [an eternal dwelling]. He
who does not love me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word
that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me.
I have said this to you while I am still with you.
But he who is called down, the health-bringing Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, he will teach you everything and will awaken within you all
that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do
not be afraid [have no fear].
You have heard how I said to you, ‘I am going away,
and yet I am coming to you’. If you loved me you would rejoice because I am
going to the Father[ly Ground of the World], for the Father is mightier than I
am.
I have told you now, before it happens, so that
when it happens you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for
soon the prince of this world is coming. Yet over me he has no power.
But the world shall see in this how I love the
Father [Ground of the World] and how I act in accordance with the Father’s
purpose, as it was entrusted to me. Arise, let us go on from here. [let us be
on our way.]
June 1, 2009
Whitmonday
John 14:23-31
A second image that belongs to
the Pentecost story is the image of the dove. She is a creature belonging to
both the air and the ground. She descends and ascends again and again, to the
realm of light and warmth where gravity has little pull. And she returns to
earth, happy to walk and feed there.
We too are creatures of two
worlds, the airy world of soul and the world of earth. The poet explores our
dual nature:
What's it like
to be a human
the bird asked
I myself don't
know
it's being held
prisoner by your skin
while reaching
infinity
being a captive
of your scrap of time
while touching
eternity
being hopelessly
uncertain
and helplessly
hopeful…
it's being on
fire
with a nest made
of ashes
eating bread
while filling up
on hunger
it's dying
without love
it's loving
through death[1]
In the Pentecost story, the dove
is the bird of truth, sent by Christ from the Father’s realm. Christ has
expanded His being, so that now His feet are grounded in the earth, and His
heart is in the clouds that surround the whole earth. Through the dove He sends
the truth that we shall indeed keep on being creatures of two realms. But
gradually, through love we shall make earth’s nest of ashes into a phoenix
fire; we shall reach infinity through hope, touch eternity by loving through
death. And one day the two realms will be one.
[1]
Anna Kamienska, in Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska,
ed. and trans. by D.
Curzon and G. Drabik)
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