Ascension Thursday
With his
ascension into glory, Jesus didn't go away. He disappeared. - Louis Evely
(He is here; he is near; he is dear.)
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ACTS 1:1-11; PS 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; EPH
1:17-23
MK 16:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be
condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the
right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
Being left behind leaves a sting that is hard to forget. We remember the emptiness, as a child, when our grandparent dies. We remember how the car lights disappear down the street after being dropped off at college for the first time. Some separations are harsh. A child is left at the police station and then placed in an orphanage,
never to see that family again. The woman fleeing violence arrives at the border. Officials take her child for months of separation. Abandonment is a brush with death.
When Jesus died, his followers grieved. They too died. But the story was not over. What felt final was not the end. “In a little while,” something stirred
within. God’s presence filled them in a new way. Fear gave way to assurance and strength. Jesus’ puzzling words became real: “I am in you and you are in me.” Aroused by the Spirit, they returned to life and their new journey began.
For some, the emptiness seems final. Does this hole have a bottom?
- by Jeanne Schuler
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 51
“He is the Head, and we be His
members.” “Therefore our Father nor may nor will more blame assign to us than to His own Son, precious and worthy Christ” And now [was] my understanding led again into the first [sight]; both keeping in mind. Then saith this courteous Lord in his meaning: Lo, lo, my loved Servant, what harm and distress
he hath taken in my service for my love,—yea, and for his goodwill. Is it not fitting that I award him [for] his affright and his dread, his hurt and his maim and all his woe? And not only this, but falleth it not to me to give a gift that [shall] be better to him, and more worshipful, than his own wholeness should have been?—or else methinketh I should do him no grace.
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