May the eyes of your
hearts be enlightened…
How has the Holy Spirit changed you?
The Ascension of Jesus, who mounts his throne to shouts of joy (Psalm 47), is directly preceded by Jesus’ assurance in
Luke’s Gospel that the Holy Spirit -- the
promise of [the] Father, a kind
of garment of power from on high --
will come to dwell with and in the disciples.
Once they have been baptized by
the Holy Spirit, as Luke describes their transformation in the Acts of the
Apostles, the apostles will be sent forth to become Jesus’ witnesses, in Jerusalem and throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth. They are sent
forth, in other words, to proclaim the Good News, to tell the story of the
Messiah whose death, Resurrection, and Ascension offer salvation to the entire
world. And so are we.
Moreover, all of this activity depends, as Paul tells the
Ephesians, on the transformation of our innermost being: may the
eyes of your hearts be enlightened by means of the Spirit, whose indwelling
Paul associates with wisdom, revelation, and knowledge. For it is only if we know God’s love revealed in Jesus that we can see with the eyes of
faith and speak to the hope that belongs
to his call… Ascension is that call, a call for us to be led by
the Spirit into the world to fulfill our own mission, as we hold unwaveringly to the confession that
gives us hope, and share the hope with the world.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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