Salvador Dali: The Sacrament of the Last Supper
2 Corinthians 1:20-24: Everything is Holy Now
Sunday, June 16, 2024
“Once you learn to take your place inside the circle of praise and mutual deference, all meaningful distinctions between secular and sacred, natural and supernatural, fall away. In the Divine Economy, all is useable, even our mistakes and our sin. This message shouts from the cross, and we still did not hear it! Everything is holy now. And the only resistance to that divine flow of holiness and wholeness is human refusal to see, to enjoy, and to participate”. (Rohr and Morrell 189-190)
Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident.
In Salvador Dali’s depiction of the Last Supper, we see the Trinity. The outstretched arms of the Father take in the holy newness of the meal; the good and faithful Son offers himself in the bread and wine; and the Holy Spirit nestles between Jesus’ right hand and cheek. We may need to enlarge and move the image in order to better see this small white dove. In the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. where this painting hangs, visitors are free to step forward and backward in order to bring the Spirit into focus, an exercise that reminds us that although we may not always feel a part of this mystery, it is nevertheless there. We also find that all twelve apostles are present, meaning that Judas Iscariot – who later betrays his friend with a kiss – is also present. Which figure is he? We have no way of knowing. Another mystery that Dali presents to us.
God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By the Spirit God has stamped us with God’s eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.
“What it comes down to is that we are each a transmitter station, a relay station . . . Once I was able to move from pyramid thinking, by reason of the Trinity – ah! Then my mind let go of its own defenses and stopped refusing the universal dance”. (Rohr and Morrell 190)
We’re not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We’re partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours.
“The love in you – which is the Spirit in you – always show says yes. Love is not something you do; love is someone you are. It is your True Self. Love is where you came from and love is where you’re going. It’s not something you can buy. It’s not something you can attain. It is the presence of God with you, called the Holy Spirit”. (Rohr and Morrell 193)
Rohr, Morrell, and Dali tell us that everything belongs, and everything is holy, even our sins and failures. Rohr, Morrell, and Dali also remind us we are part of this sacred triad. We also kneel as Christ blesses us. We also are swept into the enormous arms of God. We have only to be open to this divine energy in the holy now.
When we compare varying translation of these verses from THE MESSAGE, we begin to sense the reality of God’s pledge that everything is holy. Tomorrow, Corpus Christi and uncreated grace.
Image from: https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_243911/Salvador-Dali/The-Sacrament-of-the-Last-Supper
Rohr, Richard with Mike Morrell. THE DIVINE DANCE: THE TRINITY AND YOUR TRANSFORMATION. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2016. Print.
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