Beyond birds and flames: Let’s think of the Holy Spirit as jazz music | National Catholic Reporter | Daniel P Horan, OFM

A bird or a flame. Traditionally, these are the most common images used as metaphors for the Holy Spirit.

The ornithological metaphor is usually traced back to Luke 3:22 when, at Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, we are told that “the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” The latter, more pyrotechnic metaphor is traced to Luke’s New Testament sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, and its account of Pentecost. Along with a “strong driving wind,” we are told that the apostles were in a locked room when “there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them” (Acts 2:3).

— Read on www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/beyond-birds-and-flames-lets-think-holy-spirit-jazz-music