Spouse of the Holy Spirit
Coloured Pencil
© 2021 Adelaine Nohara
“The Spirit and the bride say “Come.””
~Revelation 22:17
This is my personal Madonna, an original depiction of Our Lady after my favourite Marian title, Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Our Lady is glorious, with the moon at her feet, because the Holy Spirit confers His own glory upon His beloved. The Eucharist is represented over her womb, because she conceived the Lamb of God through the power of her Divine Spouse. Our Lady is wearing a transparent veil – a bridal symbol – that embraces both the Church and Calvary. She became Mother of the Church at the foot of the Cross, where she sacrificed her Son so that we could be adopted into God’s family.
The Holy Spirit lit a fire in the heart of His bride. He will do the same thing in our hearts if we let Him, for the Church is the Bride of Christ. The seven tongues of fire represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit – gifts that saw their fruition in Mary. These gifts see their fruition in our lives and hearts when, like Mary, we give the Holy Spirit our wholehearted surrender as she did with her fiat: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Our Lady’s hands are extended in self-offering, a gesture that symbolizes the total receptivity of her heart to divine grace.
Prayer
Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mother of the Church, be our mother now. Take our hearts and replace them with yours, that we might know what it means to truly love. Invite your Beloved Spouse to descend into our hearts, and help us to respond to Him with your total self-surrender. There was no space between you and your Beloved; help us to give God all the place in our life, that there may be no space between us and Him. Make us His humble servants on earth, that Christ may live in us as He lived in you. Amen.