Mystical Angels

696 695 Fire While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness

Summary: 696 695 Fire While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit s actions The prayer of the prophet Elijah who arose like fire and whose word burned like a torch brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel 37 This event was a figure of the fire of the Holy Spirit who transforms what he touches Anointing The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit 30 to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit In who goes before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah proclaims Christ as the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire 38 Jesus will say of the Spirit I came to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were already kindled 39 In the form of tongues as of fire the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself40 The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit s actions 41 Do not quench the Spirit 42 initiation anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation called chrismation in the Churches of the East Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit that of Christ in Hebrew messiah means the one anointed by God s Spirit There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant pre eminently King David 31 But Jesus is God s Anointed in a unique way the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit established him as Christ 32 The conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who through the angel proclaimed him the Christ at his birth and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord 33 The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving 34 Finally it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead 35 Now fully established as Christ in his humanity victorious over death Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until the saints constitute in their union with the humanity of the Son of that perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ 36 the whole Christ in St Augustine s expression 696 695 Fire While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit s actions The prayer of the prophet Elijah who arose like fire and whose word burned like a torch brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel 37 This event was a figure of the fire of the Holy Spirit who transforms what he touches Anointing The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit 30 to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit In who goes before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah proclaims Christ as the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire 38 Jesus will say of the Spirit I came to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were already kindled 39 In the form of tongues as of fire the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself40 The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit s actions 41 Do not quench the Spirit 42 initiation anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation called chrismation in the Churches of the East Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit that of Christ in Hebrew messiah means the one anointed by God s Spirit There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant pre eminently King David 31 But Jesus is God s Anointed in a unique way the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit established him as Christ 32 The conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who through the angel proclaimed him the Christ at his birth and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord 33 The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving 34 Finally it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead 35 Now fully established as Christ in his humanity victorious over death Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until the saints constitute in their union with the humanity of the Son of that perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ 36 the whole Christ in St Augustine s expression

Image Dimensions: 99 x 130