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Who sits at the left hand of God?

Feb 06, 2015

Hi Father John Flynn,

I have a question for you! In the Apostle’s Creed we say, “Jesus ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” I was wondering who sits at the left hand? Is it the Trinity? Or possibly Mary?

Thanks for all the help!

Asked at 09:29 pm on February 06th 2015

Dear Evana:

We are dealing here with symbolic language that denotes the honour and dignity due to Christ. We see this symbolism again in the account in Mark’s Gospel where James and John ask to sit at the right and left hand of Christ:

“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish [me] to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” (Mk. 10:35-7)

We are not told anything about who might be at the left hand, but if you would like to read about Christ being at the right hand of God you can see what St Thomas Aquinas had to say in the Summa Theologica.

Replied at 01:29 am on February 08th 2015