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A Fiery Sword and Tongues of Fire: Pentecost

Pentecost“‘And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:3-4). They partook of fire, not of burning but of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, but gives lustre to the soul. This is now coming upon you also, and that to strip away and consume your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten yet more that precious possession of your souls, and to give you grace; for He gave it then to the Apostles. And He sat upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that they might crown themselves with new and spiritual diadems by fiery tongues upon their heads. A fiery sword barred of old the gates of Paradise; a fiery tongue which brought salvation restored the gift” (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 17.15).

Happy Pentecost, everyone!

H/T to Father Z for the quote.

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Babbling Tongues, Tongues of Fire

Tower of BabelToday’s Old Testament Mass reading from Genesis features the famous building of the tower of Babel in an attempt to reach heaven by human power. God stops them by confusing their language, scattering them to the ends of the earth (Genesis 11:8-9).

Scholars have long noted that the account of Pentecost in Acts 2 is a reversal of the Babel event: People gathered from the ends of the earth in Jerusalem heard the Word of God proclaimed in their own language. They, in turn, were sent back to the four corners of the world, to proclaim the one message in many tongues. Why? So that humanity can truly be united as one (in the universal Church) on the journey toward heaven.

The difference? In Genesis people tried, as many still do today through various religious approaches, to reach God by dint of their own power and effort. Such an enterprise is doomed to failure. Pentecost proves, just as the Incarnation did, the difference of Christianity: God has descended, seeking us. We must not believe in our pride that we deserve heaven. We must stop trying to “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). We must recognize this fact in all humility: there is only one name that matters – Jesus, the Christ. “There is no other name under heaven…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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