30. St. Peter and Paul Church, East Harling, East window, Ascension,
1480.
Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from
the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
(Luke 24:46-7)
After uttering reassuring words to his Apostles gathered around
the Virgin Mary, Christ blessed them all before ascending into heaven.
The colorful harmony of the central portion of the window quickly attracts
the eye’s attention. The intimate connection established between
Mary and Jesus at birth, continuously represented throughout the scenes
of this window, is not dissolved by death. The unique bond between
a mother and her child never dies. As Jesus ascends into heaven, aglow
in the light of divinity, Mary mirrors his grace with a similar, earthly
radiance - the two remain forever connected. The footprints on the
rock between them further signify the permanence of the indissoluble bond
between mother and child.