Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 1, 2025: He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight...

He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight…
How has your encounter with Christ changed you? 

    Imagine the disciples astonishment at seeing their risen Lord! As we see in the Acts of the Apostles, some of them continued to have misguided questions about Jesus’ ultimate mission on earth, even after he rose from the dead! Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? they ask him. In essence, they are asking, Who are you? How are we to understand who you are? But Jesus’ response is mysterious: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. At least they must understand his final request, as we hear in both Acts and Luke: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

    Jesus’ Ascension – as he blessed them he parted from them, and was taken up to heaven – frees the disciples to go and tell the good news; his last moments with them have given them the blessing of an encounter with Christ where change happens, though they might not yet understand its full import. But, as Psalm 47 reminds us, when God’s rule has begun, our job is to proclaim it with praise: God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord! 

    In any period of uncertainty or unknowing, we feel betwixt and between. We want answers but have to wait in the tension until they come. But, as Paul reminds the Ephesians, a Spirit of wisdom and revelation will result in knowledge of Christ, knowledge in the sense of intimacy, knowing him as we know someone we love. Such knowledge will allow us to recognize his love for us and come to share in it. Our ongoing struggle is to see with our hearts rather than our heads; we still want wisdom, and we rely on dogma to define it, but we need to allow it to be revealed as Christ’s invitation to delve more deeply into his love. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, filled with light, so that we can truly see his ongoing presence with us, for we are his Body, and are called to be so in all fullness, revealing Christ’s love to our world.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 12, 2024: Proclaim the gospel to every creature...

Proclaim the gospel to every creature…

Are you ready to go out and proclaim the good news? 

     Like many songs in the psalter, Psalm 47 calls upon the people of Israel to proclaim that the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. In a sense, Jesus is following in this tradition when, at the end of Mark’s Gospel, he instructs his disciples to go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. The disciples will do so, bringing grace to bear upon the the lives of all who hear them; their proclamation is an opportunity for all to embrace the love of God. The disciples will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, Jesus tells them in the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles, and will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. With this final instruction, Jesus is lifted up, taken from their sight. 

    While the promise of signs may give the disciples courage – the ability to drive out demons, speak new languages, and pick up serpents with their hands, among others – the true power given to the disciples is the power of God’s love. Jesus deems the disciples ready, and indeed they do go forth and preach everywhere! 

    Are we ready to do as Jesus instructs all of his disciples? Are we ready to go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature? We may hesitate on our own, until we are able to see ourselves as God sees us. Like the disciples, the Apostles and the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we are called to get on with the task of revealing Christ’s life, death and resurrection to the nations, starting with our own families and friends. Paul prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give the Ephesian community a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him, so that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened. Knowing, as the Ephesians knew, that God is nothing short of mercy, forgiveness, and infinite love, we are called to allow the Spirit to draw us more closely into relationship with the Lord, not only as individuals, but as his Body, the church. Our union with that Body enables us to share in the fullness of all Christ has to offer us. It is when we know, when we have clear vision into, the surpassing greatness of his power, the power of love that enabled Christ to die and rise for us, that we can share God’s vision and bring that good news to all the world! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 21, 2023: I am with you always, until the end of the age...

I am with you always, until the end of the age…

Do we believe the ascended Jesus remains close to us? 

    When, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is about to ascend, he leaves his disciples with this promise: I am with you always, until the end of the age. Since all power has been given to him, Jesus will be able to work through them, because he will dwell in them and they in him. And so, Jesus commissions them: Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. The power they have will be Jesus’ power, transferred to them, the power of his love at work in them. This power is in each one of them because they are one in him and he is in them. They have but to wait, as we hear in the Acts of the Apostles, for the promise of the Father, baptism with the Holy Spirit, before they head on out to fulfill this commission. As he ascends, Jesus will leave an imprint of himself on their hearts, remaining there for all time, until the end of the age, that they might be his witnesses, to the ends of the earth. 

    What does salvation mean to us? Paul wishes for the Ephesian community that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened, that they might know the hope that belongs to his call. This wisdom, this revelation, is the openness to knowing God better and being drawn into his life for all. We are called to hope for something down the road that is different from our expectations; we are called to new hope for the future. Like the disciples, we too have to be open to the Spirit at work in us, guiding us. We must come to Jesus, open to being ruled by his love for us. For God fills everything in Christ and therefore God fills each of us as a part of the Body of Christ, with the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. We share in a collective faith, a collective hope, a collective call from Jesus. Our openness to that faith, that hope, that call should bring us to joy, as Psalm 47 proclaims, for if we truly believe that he is with us always, we will proclaim his good news to the ends of the earth! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 29, 2022: He parted from them and was taken up to heaven...

He parted from them and was taken up to heaven…

Where is the Lord to be found?

    Luke’s Gospel is as straightforward as any account of the extraordinary can be: as Jesus blessed his disciples, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. When we think of heaven, we naturally look up at the sky as the disciples do in Luke’s second account of the Ascension in Acts of the Apostles, and we hear in Psalm 47, God mounts his throne to shouts of joy! What does it mean to mount one’s throne but to go up, to move in an upward direction? Indeed, the very word Ascension implies a movement upward. But the Ascension is precisely about transcending these limits of time and space. Why are you standing there looking at the sky? the angels ask the disciples in Acts. To look at the sky is to be focused in the wrong place; the disciples need to find Jesus in themselves and in their community. Only with the coming of the Holy Spirit will they begin to understand this, however, and Pentecost is days away. 

    Human beings tend to want to describe God in their own terms, and in so doing, we place limits on who God is and where God is. But the Trinitarian God is not confined by time and space; God transcends those human constructs. God is always greater than the limitations we place upon God, because God is without limits. This is a fundamental lesson of The Ascension of the Lord: God can’t be contained within our terms. Jesus was present at creation; the Holy Spirit was active in us before we were born. We can only open to this extraordinary truth, be aware of it – only then can we hope to have any notion of heaven in God’s terms. 

    The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us that after his death, Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, but heaven itself. In so doing, he gave us access to eternity through the new and living way he opened for us through the veil. That way goes through humanity, not past it; it exists through flesh, not despite it. We may continue to look up at the sky when we imagine heaven, knowing nonetheless that divinity cannot be contained in our finite terms. Yet, so long as we continue to approach the Lord with a sincere and open heart, we will be making progress. For the purpose of our life journey is to move toward him, toward perfect love, toward perfect union… even if we won’t know what heaven looks like (so to speak), or what direction we are taking, till we get there. 

This post was based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 16, 2021: May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened...

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened…

How clear is your sight?

   It’s easy to miss what the Lord intends us to see. Just before Jesus ascends to heaven in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples are still asking, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They are still failing to see God’s point: Jesus did not come to overturn Rome. Moreover, as the two men dressed in white garments tell them, the disciples are not to look at the sky but rather on God’s kingdom here and now, where they will be able to participate in salvation history through their witness to the world. Only with the intervention of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost will the disciples’ ability to see be truly focused; the story of the Ascension is the beginning of their transition from being stargazers to being lifegazers, focused not on the sacred that is to come, but on the sacred that is already happening. And so, while we hear in Psalm 47 that God mounts his throne to shouts of joy, the important thing is to recognize that God is king over all creation, rather than training our gaze on a heaven we imagine to the exclusion of the world here on earth. 

   All of which requires, as Paul notes in his Letter to the Ephesians, using the enlightened eyes of our hearts. Jesus was sent so that we might come to know the Lord and what he has in store for us. The Spirit reveals the depth of God’s love for us, and the eyes of our hearts are necessary to help us see clearly what is not physically visible but rather what is intangible. Using these eyes, we will know what is the hope that belongs to Christ’s call: a hope for eternal life, for perfect union in the love of God. Ultimately, we must see clearly so that we might be his witnesses, or, as Jesus exhorts the disciples in Mark’s Gospel, go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. And they do: Mark notes that the disciples went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them. The Holy Spirit has filled their hearts, and they enjoy new life in Christ, one in which they can be witnesses to the riches of his glory and the surpassing greatness of his power, a power revealed in the depth of the love of God. We are called to no less. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 24, 2020: He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight...

He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight…

How are we to connect as Church once Jesus has ascended?

  The beginning of the Acts of the Apostles recounts the end of Jesus’ physical presence on earth; his Ascension is the beginning of the Church that is to carry on Jesus’ presence in the world.  As long as the disciples have Jesus physically present with them, they can’t be Church.  But when he gathers them together one last time, they are confused. Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? they ask.  He does not answer their question directly – it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  The disciples’ hearts are not yet open to the full truth, to the fact that Jesus came to ransom us, to open the door to God’s heart, to move us from a life of separation to a life of connection, connection within the Body of Christ.  But they will know that love, and soon…

  In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul reminds the Christian community that the Spirit promised by Jesus is a Spirit of wisdom and understanding resulting in knowledge of him, a Spirit that draws us closer to God, draws us more profoundly into God’s love for us.  When the eyes of our hearts are enlightened, we can see that love clearly as it is manifested in the surpassing greatness of his power, the power of that being Psalm 47 calls the great king over all the earth:  God’s love is made manifest in the forgiveness of our sins.  Thanks to this forgiveness, we can forgive one another, drawing closer to God and to others, united in the love of Christ.  That love is the source of all human connection; it is a gift of the Spirit that descends as Jesus ascends to God.

  And it is nothing less than this love that effects our ultimate commissioning, as that commissioning began with the eleven disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, Jesus tells them before he ascends. Go and establish with all people a relationship with Christ, full engagement with the love of God.  Instill that love within them, so they feel the God’s power, God’s love, in their lives.  This was the mission of the original disciples and it remains our mission today:  to fill every heart with the love of God, a love we know because of the Spirit that dwells within us, a love born of forgiveness that leads to connection, to life as Church. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 2, 2019: What is the surpassing greatness of his power...

What is the surpassing greatness of his power?

  When, in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles want to know if Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, Jesus tells them to focus their attention elsewhere:  It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established.  In fact, political dominion was never in the cards; Jesus wants Israel to be a strong spiritual entity, grounded in the power that is love, rather in any form of physical force to be reckoned with.  It surely is not what the apostles were expecting.

  The period between the Ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost must have been a time of fear and expectation and much prayer for the apostles.  When Jesus ascends, he leaves them physically; now they must learn to rely on his spiritual presence with them.  Before ascending, as described in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reminds the apostles that they are to preach repentance.  In order to do that, they must first turn to love and allow it to work in them; only then will they be able to preach to all the nations a universal call to repentance, so that his love can come to dwell in all people.  Only then will all be able, as Psalm 47 suggests, to shout to God with cries of gladness.

  If Jesus has his way, the Letter to the Ephesians suggests, the eyes of all hearts will be enlightened; eyes blind to the potential depth of love before the death of Jesus will now see the full measure of love to which they are called.  That love is what the letter calls the surpassing power for those who believe:  when Christ’s love for us enables us to open our eyes to see the love he has for everyone, and for all of creation.  It is this same love to which we are called, if only we can allow Christ to rule our hearts.  His power, that is, his love, is the power we need to share in, that we might see all things as he sees them, love them as he loves them, honor them as he honors them.  This is truly the only possible restoration of the kingdom Jesus imagines for his followers, and it is the kingdom he wishes for us.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 13, 2018: You will be my witnesses...

 You will be my witnesses… 

How do you manifest Christ to the world? 

   When Jesus ascended, the disciples weren’t exactly ready for it:  Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel, they ask him in the Acts of the Apostles, just moments before he is lifted up and taken up into heaven.  The image of ascension to heaven has been prefigured in Psalm 47:  God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy, the psalmist sings, calling upon all nations to shout with cries of gladness.  But the disciples?  They are just confused, staring open-mouthed, looking at the sky…

   Both Acts and Mark’s Gospel before it make it clear:  Jesus rose so that the disciples could at last understand their mission:  Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.  The disciples are to be Jesus’ ongoing physical presence in the world, sharing his salvation, his good news or gospel, with everyone. They are to act in his name, Jesus tells them, because everything done in his name manifests his love, that is, makes his love visible to the world.  They are capable, Jesus is telling them, of extraordinary acts of love through which they will reveal Christ for who he is:  God’s love incarnate. 

   It’s not an easy job, to be sure.  Paul tells the Ephesian community that they must bear with one another through love, that they might build up the body of Christ.  How?  With all humility and gentleness, with patience…  Paul prays that the depth of their awareness of that love might be given through the Spirit:  may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, he says. If the Ephesian community can come to appreciate all that God has done in Christ, and come to share in all Christ has left them through the Spirit, they will know the hope that belongs to his call, manifesting Jesus’ presence in the world, and building that hope for others.  To be the Church we are called to be requires nothing less.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source: www.wordle.net