Ascension Sunday
The Ascension (John Singleton Copley, 1775) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
“The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.”
Mark 16: 19-20
Copley was from Boston and was known for his painting of American founding fathers. He spent a year in Rome and, after viewing Raphael’s painting of the Transfiguration which he declared was the “greatest picture in the world”, he was inspired to paint the Ascension.
His painting captures the moment the resurrected Christ rises to heaven. The painting is divided horizontally, with his human followers in the bottom half and the divine in the top. The colourful clothes of the Apostles are contrasted by the dazzling white of Christ and the two angels.
Our eyes are drawn by the movement of the painting to “look up.” The apostles are in a variety of postures, hands raised, perhaps urging Christ onwards… or perhaps to try to hold on to him as Mary did when confronting Jesus “the gardener” at the tomb. Some of the apostles are on the ground, one sobbing, the others overwhelmed. We know that their next action was to rally together to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
For more on this painting see: https://youtu.be/8CvJuxLIQSM
We now enter the last week of Easter. We too wait for the Holy Spirit at Pentecost – or rather for the renewing of the Spirit in our lives. The following is a suggestion for a reflective way to wait in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and to “recap” the glory of the Easter season:
The Way of Light or Stations of Easter, a counterpart to the Stations of the Cross with the focus on the events following Christ’s resurrection. https://acollectionofprayers.com/tag/ascension/
Continue your journey with one of these:
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