Hand-In-Circle
Hand of God

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them,
he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

Mark 16:19

Our Chrismon symbol for today is the hand reaching downward through a cloud into a circle. The text is Mark 16:19, “After the LORD Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.”

Although I could not find any Christian symbols of a hand reaching down into a circle, we can look at the hand and circle separately. In much of Christian symbology, the Divine hand reaching down represents the acts of God on our behalf.

Circles can symbolize eternal, universal, or global. Putting these symbols together offers us a reminder of the many ways in which God reaches down to us in creation, in the mystery of the incarnation, and in the paschal mystery.

Our text Mark 16:19 completes the work of Jesus on earth as He ascends to heaven. His obedient life, culminating in the cross, has been accepted by the Father.

Much of world religion is the study of how ancient people appeased an angry God. Jesus turns our human view of God upside down and shows us a God who does everything necessary for our salvation. What a remarkable shift occurs in our hearts when we no longer fear God. Instead, we open our hearts, minds, and hands to receive the wonderful gift given us in Jesus. I hope that when you see this Chrismon on our tree, your hearts are glad for all the work of salvation God has done for us in Jesus.

Fr. Dave Scheider