Wednesday, Sixth Week of EasterWhen he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
Acts 1: 9
As noted earlier, Luke dramatizes the end of Christ’s visible appearances with a scene in which the disciples visibly see him depart. He is the only New Testament writer to do this.
By dramatizing it this way, Luke is also teaching a deeper truth. When the risen Christ passed through death and went to the Father, he brought the human body into the realm where we thought only spirits and angels could dwell. From now on, we all belong there.
During the 50-day Easter Season, we celebrate the feast of all creation. No longer do we picture a future without matter. Flesh has been redeemed and glorified, and will last forever.
That’s what we believe and, in that sense, we’re materialists.”. We don’t want to destroy this world. We want the world to be transformed and be part of our future.
Today would be a good time to notice this good earth around us…and thank God not only for creating it, but for giving all of this – and us – a future.
Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.
May 5, 2005Ascension Thursday
Today, 40 days after Easter, has been the traditional date for “Ascension Thursday.” (Some countries, including the United States, have moved it to this coming Sunday.
Before the post-Vatican II restoration of the liturgy, a small ritual took place at the Ascension Thursday Mass – a ritual that obscured the meaning of the Ascension. The paschal candle symbolizes the presence of the risen Christ here on earth. On Ascension Thursday, immediately after the Gospel, the server would snuff out the paschal candle. Christ had ascended…and this implied that He was gone.
Today, the candle isn’t snuffed out. It continues to burn as a sign that Christ is present in a new form of human existence that breaks through the barriers of space and time.
Christ’s Ascension is about presence, not absence!
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Even after the Ascension, the paschal candle remains lit for the rest of the Easter Season…and is lit throughout the whole year at baptisms and funerals.
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We’re ten days away from Pentecost, popularly called the “Birthday of the Church.”
