In fact, I was Florence just a few weeks ago and saw the monastery of San Marco where Fra Angelico painted all the frescoes in each monks cell, and one of them depicted The Harrowing of Hell. Perhaps this is why The Harrowing of Hell is depicted in many of the medieval Corpus Christi Mystery plays with low brow slapstick humor. You might be a weed getting pulled up and thrown into an everlasting fire. It might be distressing to suddenly find yourself the presence of Christ … in hell. It might be distressing to hear the Gospel when you are busy cursing God. It might be distressing to hell when someone comes in and makes things even worse. Furthermore, I would suggest – in order to keep the argument going with those other theologians who are paid for their opinions – that before the coming of Christ the souls of the dead were all together, undamned and unredeemed, and were awaiting the resolution of the states of their souls. But why would souls be compared with weeds? Why not the “Harvesting of Hell?” I suggest that The Harrowing of Hell is a deliberate reference to the Distressing of Hell. It would seem at first that term Harrowing of Hell is more a reference to the field action, Jesus pulling souls out of the spiritual soil of the underworld. Tomorrow the Son of Man will walk in a garden Turned with a cry from digging and delving. Hailed the King of Angels on the fifth step.Ĭame to the sixth step with his pastorals Joseph, harvest-dreamer, counsellor of pharaohs The boy whose mouth had been filled with harp-songs, He kissed Wisdom there, on the second step. Paul repeats, “None are righteous, not one.” They still needed the Grace of God which comes only through the Son of God, the Redeemer.Ī poem entitled “The Harrowing of Hell” by Orkney poet George Mackay Brown imagines Jesus descending a step at a time and encountering the Old Testament prophets and kings who had anticipated him: The righteous souls who died before Christ needed to have an encounter with Christ before being released from “prison.” Because even though they were righteous, they weren’t quite. Most theologians argue that the Descent into Hell was to Sheol, the place of the dead, rather than Hell, or the Inferno, Gehenna, the place of the damned. Peter clearly says that Jesus “preached to the spirits in prison,” (3:19-20) after his death and before he rose from the tomb. There is no direct reference to it in the Gospels, but the First Epistle of St. So, what is the Harrowing of Hell? It is a term we do not hear very much these days, and yet it refers to an event that we mention every time we recite the Apostles’ Creed: “He descended into hell …” It comes right after “He was buried,” – and right before “On the third day He rose again.” It is what happened between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. They’re talking about being chased by a rabid dog or getting their shoelaces caught in the wheels of a train. If someone tells us they have had a harrowing experience, they’re talking about being distressed, but they’re generally not talking about working in a field. We are still in the Easter Octave so it’s not too late to talk about something we often forgot to think about during the Triduum: The Harrowing of Hell.īut, before we talk about the Harrowing of Hell, let’s talk about harrowing.Ī harrow is a sort of heavy field rake, more imposing, that is used to break up heavy soil and remove weeds.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |