Vie de Jesus Mafa is a organization, dedicated to spreading the Gospel .

NEWS

The association « Vie de Jésus Mafa » is glad to introduce a booklet printed (20.000ex) by the diocese of LAVAL (France) about the Gospel by St Luc and the Acts of the Apostles.

To illustrate this booklet they use Mafa's image n°60 “The Pentecost”

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Pentecost, a Mafa Image

This image communicates a moment of intense joy, which surprises and floods the small group of the apostles, gathered together. (Acts 2, 1) Are we watching a typical ethnic festivity from a far-away land? Or a harvest celebration? Or the offering of the first fruits? Or perhaps, fifty days after Passover, the feast of the Covenant, celebrating God's gift of the Law to Moses? Could it be all of those at once? The image's title is ‘Pentecost'.

And now, I am sending down to you what the father has promised (Luke 24, 49)

Thus ended Luke's Gospel, for, with the story of Pentecost, a new book begins: the story of the first fruits of the young Church, the book of the harvests of the Apostles, the book which opens the Covenant to all the people of the earth, the Acts of the Apostles ‘ You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses…to the end of the world .' (Acts 1, 14) This image of the people of Cameroon reaches us ‘ from the end of the world' ; it establishes contact across all borders, beyond far away seas and countries, creating that proximity the Light alone can create. After the death of the Lord, after the discovery of the empty tomb, after the apparitions of Jesus, they were finding each other again, ‘ Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James... ' (Acts 1, 13)

All of them joined in continual prayer… (Acts 1, 14)

Here is a reading of this picture. The apostles are gathered in a house, a hut of mud and straw; woven rugs cover the floor; bamboo sleeping mats are rolled up against the walls, leaving space free for prayer and lunch. The meal resembles the Last Supper with Jesus, the one where bread and wine were offered, the first Eucharist. On the ground, a jar recalls Cana 's wine; a large basin full of water offers itself to all, along with goblets to be shared; next to it, a large bowl of cereals. One of the twelve, solid on his feet, is the first to grasp a goblet. Is it Peter assuming his proper place and beginning to speak in the name of Jesus? Could he have in mind the Last Supper? Does he wish to commemorate it, he who was so quick to witness to the Resurrection and to organize the new born Church?

Suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven… (Acts 2, 2)

Around Peter, the other apostles form an open circle. They are young, old, middle-aged, those men who had been following Jesus. They are draped in beautiful yellow, blue, or white cotton cloth. Splendid thick folds reveal their meticulous, seemless hand-made weave. The two oldest apostles are leaning on their staff. Standing, the middle-aged ones propped against the walls of the room. To the left of the picture, an apostle is kneeling; to the right, another is holding on to his seat. They are called Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Matthew, Simon, Jude… (Acts 1, 13) They are scared. Hiding their face in their hands, seeking protection next to their neighbor: but they also laugh, overwhelmed; a joyous dance grabs the youngest ones. To the right, his white vestment snatches the standing silhouette of Saint John into the Light; in him the Word becomes flesh, It truly dwells in him. In the foreground, James, his brother, invents the dance of the ‘ orans ', expressing on his own the energy filling all the others.

‘Something appeared to them that looked like tongues of fire…' (Acts 2, 3)

All eyes converge on a fireball which fills the room with light and heat: It is poised over an abandoned seat. Suddenly the evidence of a presence animates the faithful with an irrepressible life force, making them vibrate with one faith. Each receives a flame – a tongue of fire . (Acts 2, 3) At that moment, what they all had lived confusedly with Jesus lights up; each of them is now full of peace, healed, liberated. The light brings to each the Love Christ offers all, revealing the Father's Love. A new understanding of the Scripture is taking the apostles far along, towards the questions and the notions of people of all stripes, towards the universal language of that joy which catches fire when the Good News is announced: ‘ Parthians, Medes and Elamites…. Jews and Proselytes alike… we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God' (Acts 2, 10-11)

At the back of the room, a door opens, a new disciple is making his way in: ‘At this sound, they all assembled…' (Acts 2, 6) Could this be Mathias, who was listed as one of the twelve after the departure of Judas? (Act 1, 26) Or could this new disciple be one of those who, later, ‘ convinced by Peter's arguments, accepted what he said and were baptized', so that ‘ that very day about three thousand were added to their number .'? (Acts 2, 41)

‘along with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus…' (Acts 1, 14)

She is their in their midst, dressed in light linen, spotlessly blue. She does not have a little flame above her, but she has been radiating light ever since the ‘ the power of the Most High covered her with its shadow.' (Luke 1, 35) Through the love she accepts, she feeds from the fire; through the love she contemplates, she revives the fire; through the love she gives, she engenders the fire; through God, she gave birth to the Light. She is the Bride, ‘ caught in the radiance of Glory' ; her name is Mary.

She brings the Church to life on the day of Pentecost: A Church luminous, radiant, vivified by the Spirit of God; today at it was at the time of the first community; here as in Jerusalem and at the ends of the world; in Europe as in Africa; ready for the harvest; tirelessly ‘ narrating the wonders of God .'

Marie-Eline Guihaire