Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord in place of the Seventh Sunday of Easter. We hear in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus leaves the disciples with the promise that he will send them help while they await His return. They do not know when this help will arrive. They do not understand that the Spirit is on its way to empower, sustain, comfort and solace those left to do His work.
Can you imagine what the original disciples of Jesus must have felt? We already have the attainment of His promise of the Spirit; they were still waiting for its arrival. We know the work of the Spirit; they had yet to experience the fulfillment of that promise.
The mystery is that while He ascended to the Father, He remained with them (us). He is here, at once, at the same time, the promise and the fulfillment. We receive the support of our loving God in order to do His work in the world. In turn, we are His hands, His feet and His voice here on earth. In the Ascension readings today Jesus charges his disciples to go to the ends of the earth—to make belief in Him universal—which is the actual meaning of the word catholic.
In the second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians we hear St. Paul bless them with some of the gifts of the Spirit: “…(May God) give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of Him…may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know the hope that belongs to His call…” All of us are charged, according to our gifts, for the building up of the body of Christ, the Kingdom on earth.
All of us are people of promise and fulfillment. We have the Holy Spirit; the solace and comfort, the empowerment and sustenance we need for His work: the fulfillment of His promise. His presence is made clear in the world by our ‘Acts’ as His disciples. The fulfillment of this promise is also the use we make of our gifts for the Kingdom of God on earth. (Remember—love is action!) We celebrate the risen Lord among us every day by all we say and do: this is promise and fulfillment!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
Can you imagine what the original disciples of Jesus must have felt? We already have the attainment of His promise of the Spirit; they were still waiting for its arrival. We know the work of the Spirit; they had yet to experience the fulfillment of that promise.
The mystery is that while He ascended to the Father, He remained with them (us). He is here, at once, at the same time, the promise and the fulfillment. We receive the support of our loving God in order to do His work in the world. In turn, we are His hands, His feet and His voice here on earth. In the Ascension readings today Jesus charges his disciples to go to the ends of the earth—to make belief in Him universal—which is the actual meaning of the word catholic.
In the second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians we hear St. Paul bless them with some of the gifts of the Spirit: “…(May God) give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of Him…may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know the hope that belongs to His call…” All of us are charged, according to our gifts, for the building up of the body of Christ, the Kingdom on earth.
All of us are people of promise and fulfillment. We have the Holy Spirit; the solace and comfort, the empowerment and sustenance we need for His work: the fulfillment of His promise. His presence is made clear in the world by our ‘Acts’ as His disciples. The fulfillment of this promise is also the use we make of our gifts for the Kingdom of God on earth. (Remember—love is action!) We celebrate the risen Lord among us every day by all we say and do: this is promise and fulfillment!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
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