👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Mystery of the #Cloud: Its Creation and Its Meaning
(Part 1)
Beloved in Christ, peace and blessing to you from the Lord who governs heaven and earth, who establishes the boundaries of the seas, who gathers the waters, and who clothes the skies with clouds. Today let us reflect on the divine mystery of the cloud what it is, how it was created, and what hidden message it contains for us who believe.
The Ordering of the Waters
In the beginning, when God made the heavens and the earth, He arranged the waters in wondrous fashion. The Scriptures bear witness that He separated them and appointed their places.
One part He raised up, calling it the expanse, the firmament stretched out between earth and heaven.
Another portion of the waters, which He placed above the expanse, He called the sea.
The last portion He divided into seven parts, and the last seventh part, he called ocean, the great deep which surrounds the earth.
The solid part beneath He called the earth, which He adorned with fruitfulness and gave as a dwelling place for mankind.
Behold how our God, with wisdom, arranged even the waters in order and harmony, so that the creation might reflect His majesty.
The Birth of the Cloud
After this ordering, the Lord brought forth yet another wonder: He caused dry vapor to rise from the dry land and moist vapor to rise from the sea. From their mingling, He formed the cloud, that light and smoke-like creation which floats above the green earth.
The Psalmist declares: “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth” (Psalm 134:7). Thus, the cloud is not of heavy substance, but of delicate and unseen particles, gathered together by the word of the Lord.
The Nature and Work of the Cloud
What is a cloud? It is a subtle, smoke-like body, invisible to touch, yet powerful in purpose. It is the chosen vessel that bears rain.
Through the mystery of evaporation, the waters of the seas and rivers are lifted upward. They are gathered into the cloud, and when the Lord commands, they are poured forth again upon the earth. But notice, brethren, how wisely God has ordered it: the waters do not descend in confusion or destruction, but in measure and in season, “filtered,” as it were, through the very body of the cloud, so that they fall gently and fruitfully.
This is why Saint Epiphanius, in his holy liturgy, testifies: “He causes the rain to fall in the wilderness where there is no man.” Mark the wonder! Even where no man dwells, where no eye beholds, the Lord waters the desert. Why? To show that His goodness is not limited to human need, but extends over all creation.
He sends the snow upon the desolate places, and pours water where men dwell. Each has its appointed place: the wilderness clothed in snow, the city refreshed with rain. Behind this, the Fathers discern a greater mystery.
The Hidden Mystery Revealed
Yet this is not all. The cloud bears within it a spiritual mystery. Just as rain is poured forth from heaven through the hidden work of God, so also did our Lord Jesus Christ come down to us.
By the unfathomable wisdom of the Father, the eternal Son was conceived without seed in the womb of the Holy Virgin Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as a hidden cloud bearing the water of life. He came down upon the barren desert of this world, and made the wilderness of our hearts fruitful by His grace.
And when He had accomplished His saving work teaching, healing, suffering, dying, and rising again He sent forth His holy apostles, as streams of living water, to carry His Gospel to all nations. For He Himself commanded them: “Go and teach” (Matthew 28:19).
Thus, the mystery of the cloud points us to the Incarnation, the life-giving descent of Christ, and the apostolic mission which continues to water the whole earth with the teaching of truth.
Continues 👇🏾