to appear in my church's newsletter
THE FIRE AND THE ROSE:
Some Thoughts on Pentecost and the Church
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
-- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding
Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. On this day in 33 AD, as recorded in the second chapter of the Book of Acts, the disciples of Jesus received the Holy Ghost and experienced the miraculous “tongues of flame”. The multitude, gathering about to witness the spectacle, heard the disciples declare the works of God in the many different languages of the Roman world. After a sermon from St. Peter, those in the audience who “gladly received his word” were baptized and received the Holy Ghost themselves (verses 38, 41). Thus the Church, the Body of Christ, was created through the incorporation of its members via the action of the Holy Ghost -- recall the Prayer Book definition of the Church as “the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and all baptized people are the members”.
The above story illustrates the sacramental nature of the Church and God’s action in it. God uses the “stuff” of creation -- water, fire, rocks, flowers, cows, what have you -- in his interaction with us. The Church accordingly views the material world as an “outward and visible sign” of a deeper, spiritual reality. During the Middle Ages, there was a custom on Pentecost Sunday in which acolytes would crawl into the rafters of churches, wait until the portion of the liturgy when Acts 2 was read, then drop rose petals on the unsuspecting congregants, thus reenacting the descent of the tongues of flame. In various parts of Italy and Sicily Pentecost is still called Pascha Rosatum or “Passover of Roses” after this practice. Here we find the Church again in its sacramental embrace of the world, connecting with God in an outward and visible way through material things. The symbols of the fire and the rose, however quaint in the above instance, seem to likewise convey an “inward and spiritual” significance for the Church.
Consider first the case of fire. We have, for example, the symbolism of fire in the Old Testament, where the rites called for sin-offerings to be burned-up on the altar of the Tabernacle. Here fire is understood in a purgatorial sense, symbolizing the eradication of sin. The sinful desires of the flesh are to be burned-up inside of us in order to make room for the Holy Ghost. In the words of St. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost the Holy Ghost “changed the carnal minds of men, filling them with love for himself. Thus, whilst there appeared outwardly cloven tongues like as fire, inwardly their hearts began to burn.” Fire is a sign of love penetrating and transforming the heart. A heart sufficiently corrupted by sin will require a more thorough and painful purging; the purgatorial fires will be that much hotter, as it were. This is the Church’s “intolerable shirt of flame”, to quote Little Gidding again.
On the other hand, the shirt of flame is worn only for a short time in comparison with eternity. If the Church is pictured as a great conflagration of sin while on earth, what is the picture like when sin is gone? The symbol of the rose provides an answer. Take, for example, Dante’s vision of paradise in the Divine Comedy: upon reaching the Empyrean portion of heaven, he encounters the Church as a white Rose that “slopes and stretches and diffuses fragrance of praise unto the Sun of endless spring”. The ranks of the blessèd saints constitute the Rose's petals, and the offering of their worship before God is the Rose's "sweet smelling savour" (cf. Eph. 5:2). Just as the petals of a rose together make up its form and comeliness, so the Church reaches its perfection when its members are joined in an eternal consort of love and worship. In the absence of sin and self-centeredness, the Church draws together in perfect unity -- within itself and with God -- and the Rose reaches its fullest bloom. This union is the proper end of the Church, never to be fully realized while on earth.
The fire and the rose can be viewed as signs of the Church in this way, existing on earth and in heaven (respectively). As Christian signs, moreover, they necessarily transcend the level of mere symbolism; they have an ending and a fulfillment. The day will come when “the fire and the rose are one”, signs and symbols are no longer needed, and the Church sees God face to face.
Some Thoughts on Pentecost and the Church
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
-- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding
Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. On this day in 33 AD, as recorded in the second chapter of the Book of Acts, the disciples of Jesus received the Holy Ghost and experienced the miraculous “tongues of flame”. The multitude, gathering about to witness the spectacle, heard the disciples declare the works of God in the many different languages of the Roman world. After a sermon from St. Peter, those in the audience who “gladly received his word” were baptized and received the Holy Ghost themselves (verses 38, 41). Thus the Church, the Body of Christ, was created through the incorporation of its members via the action of the Holy Ghost -- recall the Prayer Book definition of the Church as “the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and all baptized people are the members”.
The above story illustrates the sacramental nature of the Church and God’s action in it. God uses the “stuff” of creation -- water, fire, rocks, flowers, cows, what have you -- in his interaction with us. The Church accordingly views the material world as an “outward and visible sign” of a deeper, spiritual reality. During the Middle Ages, there was a custom on Pentecost Sunday in which acolytes would crawl into the rafters of churches, wait until the portion of the liturgy when Acts 2 was read, then drop rose petals on the unsuspecting congregants, thus reenacting the descent of the tongues of flame. In various parts of Italy and Sicily Pentecost is still called Pascha Rosatum or “Passover of Roses” after this practice. Here we find the Church again in its sacramental embrace of the world, connecting with God in an outward and visible way through material things. The symbols of the fire and the rose, however quaint in the above instance, seem to likewise convey an “inward and spiritual” significance for the Church.
Consider first the case of fire. We have, for example, the symbolism of fire in the Old Testament, where the rites called for sin-offerings to be burned-up on the altar of the Tabernacle. Here fire is understood in a purgatorial sense, symbolizing the eradication of sin. The sinful desires of the flesh are to be burned-up inside of us in order to make room for the Holy Ghost. In the words of St. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost the Holy Ghost “changed the carnal minds of men, filling them with love for himself. Thus, whilst there appeared outwardly cloven tongues like as fire, inwardly their hearts began to burn.” Fire is a sign of love penetrating and transforming the heart. A heart sufficiently corrupted by sin will require a more thorough and painful purging; the purgatorial fires will be that much hotter, as it were. This is the Church’s “intolerable shirt of flame”, to quote Little Gidding again.
On the other hand, the shirt of flame is worn only for a short time in comparison with eternity. If the Church is pictured as a great conflagration of sin while on earth, what is the picture like when sin is gone? The symbol of the rose provides an answer. Take, for example, Dante’s vision of paradise in the Divine Comedy: upon reaching the Empyrean portion of heaven, he encounters the Church as a white Rose that “slopes and stretches and diffuses fragrance of praise unto the Sun of endless spring”. The ranks of the blessèd saints constitute the Rose's petals, and the offering of their worship before God is the Rose's "sweet smelling savour" (cf. Eph. 5:2). Just as the petals of a rose together make up its form and comeliness, so the Church reaches its perfection when its members are joined in an eternal consort of love and worship. In the absence of sin and self-centeredness, the Church draws together in perfect unity -- within itself and with God -- and the Rose reaches its fullest bloom. This union is the proper end of the Church, never to be fully realized while on earth.
The fire and the rose can be viewed as signs of the Church in this way, existing on earth and in heaven (respectively). As Christian signs, moreover, they necessarily transcend the level of mere symbolism; they have an ending and a fulfillment. The day will come when “the fire and the rose are one”, signs and symbols are no longer needed, and the Church sees God face to face.
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12:32 PM
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