The Ascension is one of the glorious mysteries
of the rosary. In fact the adjective ‘glorious’ seems naturally to apply to the
Ascension, even more, I dare say, than to the Resurrection. The oldest
Eucharistic Prayer in continuous use in the Western Church, the Gregorian
Canon, reads: “calling to mind the blessed Passion of this same Christ, Thy
Son, our Lord, likewise His Resurrection from the grave, and also His glorious
Ascension into heaven.” Few Christian artists have been able to resist painting
the Ascension. In fact the Ascension gives the artist more to work with. We
know the Resurrection only by its consequences – no one saw it happen – the empty
tomb and the Resurrected Body of Jesus. But there were witnesses to the
Ascension. The first three gospels, depending on the evidence of eye-witnesses,
give us details about the Ascension. St. Luke gives us two accounts, one in his
gospel and then again in the Acts of the Apostles, the first reading this
Sunday.
It is hard to imagine how the Ascension could be
anything other than glorious. Glorious not only in terms of Jesus but glorious
for us as well because we are given a glorious vocation: Jesus says “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria and to the end of the earth”. Yet the eye witnesses are the source
of the one flaw in an otherwise perfect picture. How do they respond to Jesus?
By saying “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” We can
imagine that Jesus, when he heard that, might have thought “maybe I had better
stick around.”
Jesus, as St. Luke knew because he tells the
story, had already dealt with that illusion on the road to Emmaus. “We had
hoped” they said: “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Jesus put
that to rest by giving them a bible study and breaking the bread: “beginning
with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself” and “he took the bread and blessed, and broke
it, and gave it to them.”
Illusions die hard and I suppose this is the one
detail of the Ascension that we can most easily identify with. I cannot say for
sure about you but most of the time I am afraid I just want to know when Jesus
is going to do what I want him to do. I want to know when he is going to
straighten out the political system, our dying culture, our economy, the folly
and madness of Christian disunity, not to mention a bunch of problems closer to
home. But what Jesus wants to know is when I am going to do what he wants me
to.
So begins the Book of the Acts of the Apostles,
The wonder is that what follows after that is the same fools who want Jesus to
restore the kingdom become saints and convert the world. How did that happen? Quite
simply Jesus told them what to do and for once they did it.
First of all, Jesus tells them “not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.” “Waiting” said
Cardinal Newman “is a permanent Christian disposition”. That is so waiting is
the only way to change. “Quick and easy” is usually a dubious claim but when it
comes to our moral life it is a dangerous claim. The way we forgive people and
get forgiven by others is by having space and time to see what is really
happening. Hi-speed internet may or may not be a desirable thing but there is
no hi-speed spiritual life. I get in the mail or more likely these days emails
almost everyday invitations to church growth or church planning conference,
when the biblical thing to do is to have a silent retreat. “Sing up now to be sure you have a place” the
emails say. But Jesus tells us “to wait for the promise of the Father.”
Second, “You shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you”. We think immediately of that wild scene on the Day
of Pentecost, but we ought to remember that there is not one Pentecost but
several, not one descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, but many. Most of all we need to remember the Easter
Evening Pentecost, when Jesus gave to his Church through the Holy Spirit the
ministry of forgiving sins, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Without this very
private Pentecost any attempt to witness to the world is simply a witness not
of Jesus but of our own chaos and disorder. People like to say “the Church is a
hospital for sinners” – I guess they mean like a VA hospital. There is a
treatment for sin and these days at least you will probably not have to wait
too long to get help.
Finally, St. Luke says “all these with one
accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus”. The Greek is really much stronger, not simply “devoted to
prayer” but “praying constantly” or “prayer without ceasing”. I have sometimes replied
to the church growth crowd that if they really want to grow the church, then
work for a revival of the religious life and especially of those religious
communities whose purpose is contemplation and prayer. They think I am crazy
unlike St. Francisfolk who know I am crazy. But consider this: St. Therese of
Lisieux along with St. Francis Xavier is a co-patron of missions. St. Francis
Xavier, we can understand, he was the first missionary to go to Japan. But St.
Therese what did she ever do? She entered Carmel at 15 and died at age 24. What
she did was pray, not to mention sharing the fruits of her contemplation in The Story of a Soul which converted
thousands.
OK, we cannot wait for a revival of the
religious life but we can pray and not just every once in a while but like the
Apostles pray without ceasing. If there is a single soul in this parish, who is
not praying for the conversion of the world, beginning with this parish and going
to the end of the world, then you need to get with the program. Pray by
yourself. Prayer with others. Pray at every Mass. Day and night. It is not optional.
Because that is what turned the motely crew into
the Church. Still does. Nothing has changed.
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