Fr. James McTavish, FMVDFriends in high places
One of our friends was telling us about a museum here in Manila. Being an exclusive museum it is only open to visit by appointment. She told us that if we want to visit then no problem, she will just organize it with her sister who happens to be the curator. How great to have connections and friends in high places! How lucky we are with the feast of the Ascension. We have a friend, Jesus, who is in a very high place, heaven itself, interceding for us. As the catechism tells us “Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the father’s house, to God’s life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and source, has preceded us” (CCC 661).
Luke the evangelist describes how the ascension of Jesus took place in today’s gospel (Luke 24, 46-53) – “Then Jesus led them as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke, begins by recounting the Ascension – “ As they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” (See Acts 1, 1-11).
What is the meaning of the Ascension? At first glance the thought of Jesus rising up in the air reminds us of the illusions of the magician David Copperfield. A kind of now you see me, now you don’t. But all the moments of the life of Christ are for us and for our salvation. The disciples did not see him any longer with their physical eyes but as St Leo the Great reminds us they could see him now always – with eyes of faith. “Christ now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity.” In his humanity Christ could not always be physically present to all his disciples, in all situations and at all times. His physical body was bounded by limits of space and time. But not so after the ascension! After the ascension, united to his Father, he could fulfill his promise to be with them always until the end of time.
Sometimes we need to ascend. To join Christ. To fix our eyes on things above and not on the things here below. It is always interesting to fly in an aeroplane. When you take off and gain height the world seems to get smaller and smaller – the cars, the houses, the roads. Looking from above things don’t seem so big after all. Sometimes when we get too stressed with life we need to change perspective - to get a heavenly perspective. Fr Aruppe, the former head of the Jesuits had a photo of the earth taken from space given to him by an astronaut. Whenever he got bogged down in problems he would gaze at the photo of the earth and realize that he could not even see the house he where he was living in the photo and concluding that maybe his problem was not so big after all! Sometimes it is good to rise above it all, to ascend, to pray, to escape into heaven and be with the Lord.
It is great to unload. The legend is told that the founder of Judo was inspired by snow falling on tree branches. He noticed that the big trees collected so much snow that there branches would snap under the weight of fallen snow whereas little blades of grass off loaded their tiny loads of snow regularly and were able to remain upright. Hence in Judo one principle is to off load your opponent as fast as possible. In our daily lives we need to learn how to off load all the opponents! Sometimes we forget to pray and think we are like the trees. I can manage, I can manage. More stress, more problems until finally we crack! But as St Peter reminds us “Cast all you worries on the Lord for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5,7).
All of us are called to this prayerful union with our Lord and to share everything with him. In the document Gaudium et spes we are reminded “The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by Gods love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to His Creator.” (GS 19)
Prayer is not escapism. On the contrary, people who do not pray are the very ones escaping into excess work, alcohol and many other diversions and escapes offered by the world. True prayer makes us more capable to face our responsibilities, to confront problems and trials. A truly prayerful person becomes more committed to their family, their work and in fulfilling all their earthly responsibilities.
And the good news about the ascension is that it is a joyful goodbye because Jesus promises the Holy Spirit! If he doesn’t leave, the Spirit will not come. This is why he can tell his disciples and us “‘But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (See Acts 1, 1-11). So the ascension marks the end of the resurrection appearances of our Lord, and now they must await the coming of the Spirit. We will celebrate Pentecost next Sunday! The Spirit who is our friend, who was in a high place but comes down to unite himself to us, to be our advocate, divine helper and spiritual guide. How thoughtful is Jesus! Let us enjoy this feast today and wait with joyful hope for the coming of the Spirit. Amen.
Luke the evangelist describes how the ascension of Jesus took place in today’s gospel (Luke 24, 46-53) – “Then Jesus led them as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke, begins by recounting the Ascension – “ As they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” (See Acts 1, 1-11).
What is the meaning of the Ascension? At first glance the thought of Jesus rising up in the air reminds us of the illusions of the magician David Copperfield. A kind of now you see me, now you don’t. But all the moments of the life of Christ are for us and for our salvation. The disciples did not see him any longer with their physical eyes but as St Leo the Great reminds us they could see him now always – with eyes of faith. “Christ now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity.” In his humanity Christ could not always be physically present to all his disciples, in all situations and at all times. His physical body was bounded by limits of space and time. But not so after the ascension! After the ascension, united to his Father, he could fulfill his promise to be with them always until the end of time.
Sometimes we need to ascend. To join Christ. To fix our eyes on things above and not on the things here below. It is always interesting to fly in an aeroplane. When you take off and gain height the world seems to get smaller and smaller – the cars, the houses, the roads. Looking from above things don’t seem so big after all. Sometimes when we get too stressed with life we need to change perspective - to get a heavenly perspective. Fr Aruppe, the former head of the Jesuits had a photo of the earth taken from space given to him by an astronaut. Whenever he got bogged down in problems he would gaze at the photo of the earth and realize that he could not even see the house he where he was living in the photo and concluding that maybe his problem was not so big after all! Sometimes it is good to rise above it all, to ascend, to pray, to escape into heaven and be with the Lord.
It is great to unload. The legend is told that the founder of Judo was inspired by snow falling on tree branches. He noticed that the big trees collected so much snow that there branches would snap under the weight of fallen snow whereas little blades of grass off loaded their tiny loads of snow regularly and were able to remain upright. Hence in Judo one principle is to off load your opponent as fast as possible. In our daily lives we need to learn how to off load all the opponents! Sometimes we forget to pray and think we are like the trees. I can manage, I can manage. More stress, more problems until finally we crack! But as St Peter reminds us “Cast all you worries on the Lord for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5,7).
All of us are called to this prayerful union with our Lord and to share everything with him. In the document Gaudium et spes we are reminded “The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by Gods love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to His Creator.” (GS 19)
Prayer is not escapism. On the contrary, people who do not pray are the very ones escaping into excess work, alcohol and many other diversions and escapes offered by the world. True prayer makes us more capable to face our responsibilities, to confront problems and trials. A truly prayerful person becomes more committed to their family, their work and in fulfilling all their earthly responsibilities.
And the good news about the ascension is that it is a joyful goodbye because Jesus promises the Holy Spirit! If he doesn’t leave, the Spirit will not come. This is why he can tell his disciples and us “‘But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (See Acts 1, 1-11). So the ascension marks the end of the resurrection appearances of our Lord, and now they must await the coming of the Spirit. We will celebrate Pentecost next Sunday! The Spirit who is our friend, who was in a high place but comes down to unite himself to us, to be our advocate, divine helper and spiritual guide. How thoughtful is Jesus! Let us enjoy this feast today and wait with joyful hope for the coming of the Spirit. Amen.
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