Solidarity and Ascension
May 13th, 2021
If we don’t try to take some time to bond with
those we would help, our ability to stay engaged becomes a more arduous task.
The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated 40 days after Easter (today) throughout the world, although many places such as the United States move this celebration to the following Sunday so that it becomes part of our regular weekly rhythm. In today’s Touchstone I want to stress the fact that Jesus' Ascension is really the promise of our own Ascension journey.
But this promise is born out of the bond that happens through the incarnation, when Jesus becomes human and joins the human community. And this becomes an important message for each of us: Our ability and willingness to stay focused on lifting others up will often depend on whether or not we are truly willing to bond with them in the first place.
Too often in our society we see people who want to help others, as long as the others don’t gain any real power in society. This is not to say that if a deep bond does not precede our willingness to help others, there is not still a lot of good work that we can and should do. However, the ministry of the Ascension as modeled by Jesus calls us to, first and foremost, create bonds and relationships with those around us and then use that to motivate us as we hope to bring them up to where we are.
It also reminds us that those who help us so often in the world, may do so out of a bond that they have created. We must learn to be grateful, not simply for the help of others, but for the relationships that call forth, and make possible, that help.
God Bless and be well,
Fr. Pat
Vie de Jesus Mafa (Life of Jesus Mafa) used art to teach the gospel in Northern Cameroon. Just as in the stained-glass windows of European cathedrals that depict medieval society, likewise in Jesus Mafa paintings, the characters and the environment belong to Africa.
In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
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.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
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.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
No song this week.
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