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Life in the Holy Spirit An Empowerment Bible Study © 2003 by Terry A. Modica |
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The Ascension of the Lord - Thursday
of the Sixth Week of Easter
Our calling to ministry
(In some dioceses, the Feast of The Ascension of the Lord has been transferred to Sunday so that more people will enter into this celebration.)
Sometimes we find ourselves in the same posture as the disciples in Acts 1:1-11, staring up at the sky where we last saw Jesus. After encountering Jesus in a powerful way, having been healed and enlightened, we're told to go forth and use what we've learned to make a difference somewhere, somehow, to someone -- but we're not sure what to do next.
Parents know this feeling. Having given birth or adopting a child in an amazing partnership with God the Giver of Life, we now have the awesome task of raising this tiny human into a faith-filled, emotionally healthy adult.
Graduates know this feeling. Having completed college or a Lay Ministry training program or ordination or final vows in a Religious Order, we stand on the threshold of working for the Lord -- where is this going to take us? Will we be effective and successful?
The grieving know this feeling. Having lost a loved one who went home to the Lord or a friend in a relationship that failed, our lives are changed drastically. How can we recover from the emptiness that centers our attention on our own needs and become full of service to others?
Every change in our lives is a commissioning. Every loss is the beginning of a new calling. Every experience is training for what the Lord wants to do through us to make the world a better place.
Why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been your teacher and your guide, although you cannot always see what He's doing, He has not abandoned you. He is fulfilling His promise: "You will receive power from the Holy Spirit, and you will be my witness throughout the earth." Indeed, you were given that Holy Spirit in baptism, and it is this Spirit of God that empowers you to be united with Jesus in ministry.
We can't see where He's leading us, but that's okay. We must boldly raise our foot to step forward, pausing it in mid-air while asking, "Okay God, where do You want me to put my foot down?" This can make us feel off-balance, but if we remain centered on the Lord, we will not tip over and we'll be able to wait for the Holy Spirit to show us where and how to move next.
Some thoughts from Pope Benedict XVI, presented in his 1st homily from the Cathedral of Rome, May 9, 2005, celebrating the Feast of the Lord's Ascension:
What, then, does the feast of the Lord's Ascension tell us? It does not say that the Lord has gone to a place far away from men and the world. The Ascension of Christ is not a journey into space to the most remote heavenly bodies, because in the end, heavenly bodies, like the earth, are also made up of physical elements.
The Ascension of Christ means that he no longer belongs to the world of corruption and death, which conditions our life. It means that he belongs completely to God. He, the eternal Son, has taken our human being to the presence of God; he has taken with him flesh and blood in a transfigured form.
... And, given that God embraces and sustains the whole cosmos, the Lord's Ascension means that Christ has not gone far away from us, but that now, thanks to the fact he is with the Father, he is close to each one of us forever. Each one of us may address him familiarly; each one may turn to him. The Lord always hears our voice. We may distance ourselves inwardly from him. We can live with our backs turned to him, but he always awaits us, and is always close to us.
From the readings of today's liturgy we also learn something more about the concrete way in which the Lord is with us. The Lord promises his disciples his Holy Spirit. The first reading tells us that the Holy Spirit will be "strength" for the disciples; the Gospel adds that he will guide us toward the fullness of truth.
Jesus told his disciples everything, as he is the living word of God, and God can give no more than himself.... In him, in the Son, we were told everything, we were given everything. But our ability to understand is limited; for this reason the mission of the Spirit consists in introducing the Church in an ever new way, from generation to generation, into the grandeur of the mystery of Christ.
... Thus, the Holy Spirit is the force through which Christ makes us experience his closeness. But the first reading also leaves a second message: you will be my witnesses. The risen Christ is in need of witnesses who have encountered him, who have known him intimately through the force of the Holy Spirit, men who, having touched Him with their hand, so to speak, can attest to him.... The Church was built by witnesses, beginning with Peter and Paul, the twelve, all men and women who, full of Christ, in the course of the centuries have rekindled and will kindle again in an ever new way the flame of faith.
Every Christian, in his way, can and must be a witness of the risen Lord. When we read the names of the saints, we can see how many times they have been, above all -- and continue to be -- simple men, men from whom arose -- and arises -- a shining light capable of leading to Christ.
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