Thomas Merton on the Mystery of God's Love

The contemplative life is then the search for peace no I an abstract exclusion of all outside reality, not in a barren negative closing of the senses upon the world, but in the openness of love. It begins with the acceptance of my own self in my poverty and my nearness to despair in order to recognize that where God is there can be no despair, and God is in me, even if I despair. That nothing can change God’s love for me, since my very existence is the sign that

God loves me and the presence of his love creates and sustains me. Nor is there any need to understand how this can be or to explain it or to solve the problems it seems to raise. For there is in our hearts and in the very ground of our being a natural certainty which co-exists with our very existence: a certainty that so insofar as we exist, we are penetrated through and through with the sense and reality of God even though we may be utterly unable to believe or experience this in philosophic or even religious terms.

O my [brother/sister], the contemplative is the person not who has fiery visions of the cherubim carrying God on their imagined chariot, by simply [one] who risks one’s mind in the desert beyond language and beyond ideas where God is encountered in the nakedness of pure trust, that is to say the surrender of our poverty and incompleteness in no longer to clench our minds in a cramp upon themselves as if thinking made us exist. The message of hope the contemplative offers you then, [sister/brother], is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God: but that whether you understand or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, calls you, saves you and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing you have found in books or heard in sermons. The contemplative has nothing to tell you except to reassure you and say that if you dare to penetrate your own silence and risk the sharing of that solitude with the lonely other who seeks God though you, then you will truly recover the light and the capacity to understand what is beyond words and beyond explanations because it is too close to be explained; it is the ultimate union in the depths of your own heart, of God’s spirit and your own secret inmost self, so that you and He are all truth in One Spirit. I love you, In Christ.

From Thomas Merton, The Hidden Ground of Love, pp157-158

nb:The brackets [ ] are editorial adjustments for inclusive language

Another Way of Looking at John 3:16-18

From Father William Bausch:

Let me put what I’m saying in the form of a story. After the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor slowly stood up, walked to the pulpit, and before he gave his sermon briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening. The pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends, and he wanted him to have a few minutes to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak: “Once upon a time, a father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast,” he began, “when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high that, even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. The minister continued: “ Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the lifeline? He only had seconds to make that decision. The father knew that his son was a believer in Jesus, a good Christian; he also knew that his son’s friend was living a sinful life. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torment of the waves. Finally, as the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son,’ he threw out the lifeline to his son’s friend. By the time the father had pulled his son’s friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of the night. His body was never recovered.”

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister’s mouth. “The father”, he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save his son’s friend.” The aged minister then paused and said with fervor, “How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us. Our heavenly Father sacrificed his only begotten Son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the lifeline He is throwing out to you at this service.”

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. Well, within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side. “That was a nice story,” politely stated one of the boys, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

“Well, you’ve got a point there”, the old man replied lancing down at his worn bible. As a soft smile broadened his narrow face, he looked up at the boys and said, “It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see, I was that father, and your pastor over there--he is my son’s friend.”

Pentecost, May 28, 2023

The Spirit of God is upon us

John 20: 19–23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord [Jesus] said to them again: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them: Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Additional Readings for Pentecost

Acts 2: 1–11 (First Reading)

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

1 Corinthians 12: 3b–7, 12–13 (Second Reading)

Brothers and sisters:

No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Music Meditations

• Veni Sancte Spiritus—Taize
• Come Holy Spirit—John Michael Talbot
• Send Us Your Spirit, O Lord—Diocese of St Benedict
• Nada TeTurbe—Taize
• Holy Spirit—Francesca Battistelli (Praise and Worship)
• Amazing Grace—4th Sunday in Lent—Catholic Community at Stanford 4:30 Mass

Opening Prayer

Give me, O God, stillness and attentiveness so that I may be receptive to the movement of Your Spirit within me. Keep me from fear; reassure me when I falter. Look into my small heart and make it bigger so as to encompass all that you love--the earth itself in all its beauty and those who dwell in it, in all their beauty. Help me, inspired by Your Spirit, to radiate the joy of Your gospel to all those I meet along life’s way.

Companions for the Journey

Today we round off more than seven weeks of celebrating the Paschal Mystery: Passion and Death – Resurrection – Ascension, Exaltation – Coming of the Holy Spirit. Although in the liturgy it is spread over seven weeks, all the elements are actually there on the cross on Good Friday. At the moment of death Jesus passes to life, is exalted to the Father and breathes forth his Spirit.

Today is also the birthday of the Church. What is the Church? The Church is basically that community and complex of communities spread all over the world which is continuing the visible presence of God and his work by living openly in the Spirit of Jesus and offering its experience of knowing Christ to the world. “The Word was made flesh and lived among us”.These words apply not only to Jesus but to all those who are now the visible Body of the Risen Jesus. It is for each of us, individually and in community, to incarnate the Word of God in our world.

Pentecost day

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us one account, perhaps the most familiar one, of how the mission of Christ was transferred to his followers. The scene is full of biblical imagery. There was a sound “like the rush of a violent wind”. In Greek the words used here for “wind” and “Spirit” are very similar. The whole house was filled with the very Spirit of God. Then “divided tongues, as of fire” were seen resting on each person present. Fire, again, speaks of the presence of God himself. God spoke to Moses from out of a burning bush. As the Israelites wandered through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, a pillar of cloud accompanied them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. God was with his people. The fire here was in the form of tongues, as if to say that each one present was being given the gift and power to speak in the name of God. And in fact:…all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Amazement

Because it was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the city of Jerusalem was filled with pilgrim Jews from all over the Mediterranean area. They were amazed to hear the disciples speaking to them in their own languages.

How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own language? In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power. In the Book of Genesis, men tried to build a tower to reach right up to heaven. For such arrogance, they were punished by being made to speak in different languages. No longer able to communicate, they could not finish their project. Now the time of the Tower of Babel is reversed. The disciples have a message which is offered to and can be understood by people everywhere. People are being called to be united again as brothers and sisters under one common Father, revealed to them by his Son Jesus Christ.

A different account

The Gospel from John presents us with a different account of the coming of the Spirit. It is Easter Sunday. The disciples are locked into the house, terrified of the authorities coming to take them away as collaborators with the recently executed Jesus.

Suddenly the same Jesus is there among them and greets them: Peace with you…

It is both a wish and a statement. Where Jesus is there is peace. The presence of Jesus in our lives always brings peace and removes our anxieties and fears. He shows them his hands and side to prove it is himself: the one who died on the cross and the one who is now alive. Then he gives them their mission: ”As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Their mission and his are exactly the same. Our mission and his are exactly the same.

He then breathes on them. As God breathed on the earth and created the first human being. In Christ, we become a new creation. The breathing also symbolizes the Spirit of God and of Jesus. So he says,  Receive the Holy Spirit. With the giving of the Spirit comes also the authority to speak and act in the name of Jesus. If you forgive sins, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. This is not just a reference to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the power to forgive sin. Forgiving sin, reconciling people with God is the very core of the work of Christ and the Christian mission. The disciples are now the Body of Christ, the ongoing visible presence of Christ in the world. This Body will experience injuries and wounds and disease. It will wander at times far from God. It will need healing and forgiveness and reconciliation. It will also try to bring the same healing and reconciliation to a broken world.

A body with many parts

Finally, the Second Reading speaks of the effect of the Spirit on the Christian community. The Church and each community within it reflects unity and diversity. We are not called to uniformity. We are not clones of Christ or each other. Unity presumes diversity and a variety of gifts and talents and responsibilities. So, on the one hand, we are called to be deeply united in our faith in Christ and in our love for each other. At the same time, each one of us has a unique gift. It is through this gift or gifts that we serve and build up the community. They are not just for ourselves, or for our families and friends. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

We are like a body. Each body has many members, each with its own particular function, yet they all are ordered to one purpose – the good functioning of the body as a whole. So it is with the Christian community, which is the Body of Christ. Each member is to be aware of his or her particular gift. This gift indicates the role the member has to play in building up the whole Body, the whole community.

Today let us ask God to send his Spirit into our hearts. Filled with that Spirit, may we each individually make our contribution to the community to which we belong. And, as a community, may we give clear and unmistakable witness to the Truth and Love of God, revealed to us in Jesus our Lord. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Receive the Holy Spirit

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

Check the page with the First Reading and the Gospel for Pentecost A. Which reading for today’s Pentecost liturgy do you prefer? Why? The disciples were in a locked room because of fear. In what ways has fear kept me locked off from others? Jesus repeated his greeting “Peace be with you”. Peace demands tolerance and forgiveness. Which is harder for me? Fr. William Bausch said that Jesus Imposed the “Spirit of Second Chances” on them, sending them out to impart to others the spirit of God’s love and forgiveness. Do I look on the Spirit that way? To whom am I called to go out and extend love and forgiveness? What if this passage is less about the clerical notion of the priest’s ability to forgive sins, but instead is about our own ability to work with the Holy Spirit in forgiving others? Whose sins do I need to forgive? What sort of sins would you consider “unforgivable” and thus, retained? Do you think Jesus would refuse to free anyone of his or her sins? How does my church extend peace to sinners or to those who disagree with our teachings? What is the difference between seeing and recognizing? What is the difference between hearing and understanding? Where can I do better in each? What might it mean to “renew the face of the earth” today? Do you ever pray to the Holy Spirit? Where does the spirit figure in your spiritual life? Have there been experiences in your life through which the Spirit was speaking to you? Did you listen? How do you expect to hear the Lord's voice? What do you regard as your spiritual gifts? How do you use them? What gifts of the Spirit do you see in this community? How might the church be more effective in the process of enculturation? What dangers might enculturation pose? Has some person in your life been a source of inspiration and/or courage for you? What do you see as your mission to the world at large right this moment? In the future?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read today’s responsorial psalm which is Psalm 104. Using Lectio Divina, pray this scripture hymn. Which words or phrases speak out to you? Sit with them and savor the meaning for you. Is God speaking to you these beautiful words? What works can you do to reflect the role of the Spirit in your life? How can you help the glory of the Lord endure forever? Then speak to God, using your own words and from your heart, about how you want to respond to the gift of the Spirit in your life.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Adapted from The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality, by Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I:

We need to be on fire again, for our hope is no longer an easy hope. We live in a culture of despair within which Pentecost can no longer be taken for granted. Hence we must take upon ourselves the burden of the times and refuse to make the Holy Spirit a piece of private property but a spirit that matters. ----Mary Jo Leddy

Rolheiser asks us to examine the following questions and relate them to the presence of the Spirit in our lives: What should I be doing? To whom should I be listening? Must I get involved in this or can I choose to ignore it? What is important? What are the pillars upon which I build my spiritual life?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Memory:

Someone who had been through hardship and endured, sought forgiveness and it was granted said: “There are moments in life when God lifts you up and gives you moments of ecstatic clarity… there are moments that give all of our crosses meaning and revealed their goodness. The Spirit has ruled again.” (Fr. William Bausch in From No to YES)

Think back on instances in your life when you have been given a second chance; think of a time when you have given someone else the gift of forgiveness. Try to look at your present circumstances be thankful for the chances to start anew, try to forgive yourself for mistakes you have made, and extend a non-judgmental hand to another.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Acts 2: 1-6. Imagine that you are one of the twelve apostles whom Jesus left behind. What have you been doing since Jesus' death? What are you feeling about keeping the group of believers together? Has a natural leader emerged? What are your immediate plans for spreading the Good News? Suddenly you hear a sudden wind growing stronger and stronger in volume until it seems there is only noise in the house you are in, and then you see the fire (fire!) hovering over the room, appearing to split into individual tongues of flame and seeming to come to rest over the heads of your companions. Has anything like this ever happened to you before? Were you expecting this? Are you afraid? How does it feel to speak in tongues? Do you feel any different now that you have been filled with the Spirit of God? Return to the present and reflect on any times in your life in which you have felt extraordinary strength from the Spirit to do God's will. Talk to God about your response to this outpouring of love from the Spirit.

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem by Denise Levertov. Does it capture for you how we are protected by the Spirit, the Sustainer of Life?:

“The Avowal”

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them;
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

Closing Prayer

Adapted from Sacred Space 2023, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

I pray, Lord, in a special way for the church spread throughout the world under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit. I ask for the grace to grow in love for the Church of which I am a living part. I ask Your Spirit for patience and understanding when I think the Church is changing too swiftly or not changing fast enough. Please guide the Church in being open to the Spirit as it moves through the process of synodality, in order that we all may be witnesses to Your love, Jesus, in the world

The Ascension of the Lord, May 21, 2023

Jesus is always with us, helping us spread the good news of the kingdom

Matthew 28: 16–20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.

When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Music Meditations

• Ahavat Olam (Song of thanksgiving) sung by by Ben, Jonah and Henry Platt
• Christ in Me Arise
• Our God is Here
• Christ Has No Body Now but Yours—Josh Garrels, (for a praise and worship version, choose Rexaband)
• Come, Thou Font of Ev’ry Blessing

Opening Prayer

I pray for hope, Lord. Hope for those who are lost, afraid, homeless, lonely and tired, many of who are invisible to me. Hope for my friends, who are dealing with their own issues and challenges, but who often put on a brave face. Hope for my family members, for their happiness and joy. And finally, hope for myself I times of stress or worry. Teach me to be thankful for all the gifts you give me each day, including life on this earth. Help me to show your face to others in all that I do and say.

Companions for the Journey

Excerpted from The Story Revealed, by Rev. William Bausch

The disciples of Jesus were surely disappointed at his pending departure. They loved this man. There was nothing they would not do for him. He was their friend, their teacher, their Lord. Now he would be missing from their company. It was a moment of great sadness. But they did realize that Christ was too big for Galilee, too big for Jerusalem, too big even for earth. The physical world could not contain him. He needed to be set free from the confinements of this earthly body so that his spirit might soar and be accessible to all.

They were right, and so that Spirit was bequeathed to them. The Ascension is that turning point, that transitional point. Ascension celebrated the passing on of that Spirit to that assembly of disciples who would collectively be known as the mystical body of Christ, the Church. The Spirit was given to ordinary people to witness to Jesus, to do the works of Jesus in this world, to celebrate his memory and invoke his presence in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

The Ascension is, then, if you will, our swearing-in time. You are now Church. You are the priesthood of the faithful. You are Christ in the world. Get busy. You have been empowered to witness to the wonderful works of God. Move!

Again, from another of Bill Bausch’s books:

As an old Quaker story puts it, by accident a lady happened in on a small Quaker congregation. They were all sitting in silence, as Quakers are wont to do. “When does the service begin?”, she whispered to a man sitting near her. His answer: “when the meeting is over.”

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Have I ever felt deserted by someone in a moment when I needed him/her the most?
  Have I ever felt deserted by God?
  What did I do?
• What have been some important transitions in my life?
  Did I celebrate them?
  Did I mourn them?
• In this version of the last time with Jesus, the disciples have returned to Galilee. What does that indicate to you about their state of mind?
  Is it a reminder that Jesus is to be found on our home ground, in ordinary circumstances?
• This passage, although used for the Feast of the Ascension in this particular liturgical cycle, there is not an actual “ascension scene.” Why is that?
• This is also on the mountain where the transfiguration took place. Is there a connection between that event and this scene?
  What does that tell you about the risen Jesus?
  Do I think of heaven as “up there” in outer space somewhere?
• How can Jesus be in Heaven and here with us?
• In this passage, some disciples doubted. What are my doubts about God?
  What are my doubts about the future?
• Do I believe that Jesus was also speaking to me on that last day?
  Do I believe that I am disciple?
  Do I think that they were better prepared, better educated than I am?
• Do I believe God wants me to bring hope and healing into the life of another?
• Do I have to be perfect to be a witness to Jesus Christ?
  Am I afraid to leave my comfort zone?
• What is the role of prayer in discerning my commission from Jesus?
• What do I do to make the presence of Jesus real to others?
  Do I ever teach others about God, Jesus, the Church?
• How am I called to preach with my life?
• Do I believe Jesus when he says: “And behold, I am with you always.”?
  Do I really believe Jesus is with me always?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

(This commentary is from Rev Jude Siciliano, O.P.; the questions are by Nancy Greenfield) Read today’s first reading--Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 Thomas Troeger, the famous Presbyterian preacher, in a sermon preached on Ascension Day, recalls the frustration of the disciples and the early church in their waiting and longing for the fulfillment of the reign of God. He says we too know that frustration. After having given our lives over to Jesus Christ, we experience not triumph, but a mixture of triumph and defeat. Has anything really changed? What difference does our faith make? “When will things come together in some whole and enduring pattern?” he wonders. We are wearied by our waiting. With Yeats we voice our longing, “Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand.” It’s a lament, a prayer of need and dependence. We need help that we cannot provide for ourselves. Troeger invites us to hear again what the early church heard in its anguish and yearning, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by [God’s] own authority.” How difficult it is for us to hear these words surrounded, as we are, by the kind of events we see and hear on the evening news–pictures and sounds of refugees from war and civil strife, and the scenes of poverty that persist in our prosperous nation. What we have, Troeger reminds us, is the belief that Christ reigns and will send the Holy Spirit to help us live as we must. We cannot force the hand of this Spirit, it is a gift constantly coming upon us. And one that still requires waiting. What am I waiting for? How hard is it to wait? “Wait for the promise of the Lord.” What does that mean for me? If I have not “waited” in the past, but acted too soon, what was the outcome? If I waited too long, what was the outcome? How hard is it to know when the time is right to act?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

From Julian of Norwich: For our soul is so wholly united to God, through His own goodness, that between God and our soul nothing can interpose. (Showings, p 259) And so I understood that any man or woman who voluntarily chooses God in their lifetime for love, they may be sure that they are endlessly loved, with an endless love that makes His grace in them. For He wants us to pay true heed to this, that we are as certain in our hope to have the bliss of heaven whilst we are here as we shall be certain of it when we are there. (Showings, p 308) In what areas of your life do you experience hope? Make a list of all the things you are currently hopeful about, and then a list of those things you want to be hopeful about. Then compose your own litany, interposing “Jesus you are our lasting hope” after each item. Pray this litany each day this week.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read the account of Matthew again. Imagine that you are one of the disciples trying to make sense of all that has happened to Jesus. Think of his death, his appearances after death and all that has happened in the last month or so. Then imagine yourself there on that mountain in Galilee. What do you see and hear? What is your reaction to seeing Jesus again on the mountain top? Why would Matthew say that the disciples “worshiped and doubted”. Do we do the same? Why? What is your reaction to the words of Jesus telling you: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age”? Have there been times in your life when you have been comforted by the presence of Jesus during difficult times? Close your eyes and thank God for the gift of Jesus’ love and presence in your life.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Review the various scripture references to the Ascension event >> (separate article). Notice that the three synoptic gospel versions close each book, and the Acts version opens the book. (Note, the Gospel of John makes no reference to the Ascension event at all.) What does that tell you? Which version leaves you still looking for either comfort or more information?

Which version speaks to you the most? Read that passage every day this week.

Poetic Reflection:

The frightening poem “The Second Coming” was written by William Butler Yeats shortly after the First World War, when the world seemed to him to be in chaos and despair. In our present dystopian culture, with its chaos and fear, does the agony of this poem resonate? How is the grim prediction of this poem offset by the poem “Ascension” (by Colleen Hitchcock) which follows?

excerpt from “The Second Coming”

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

“Ascension”

And if I go,
while you’re still here…
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
—behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
—both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
…I will be there.

Closing Prayer

Adapted from J. Janda; Julian: A Play based on the life of Julian of Norwich:

Life is a precious thing to me and a little thing My life is a little thing When it will end here is Your secret. And the world is a little thing In your hand But it is in Your ever-keeping, It is in Your ever-loving, it is in Your ever-making How can anything be amiss? Help me to trust that: Yes, all shall be well And all will be well, And all manner of thing shall be well…

Ascension Scripture References

NOTE THAT THE STORY WE MOST ASSOCIATE WITH THE ASCENSION IS NOT IN ANY OF THE GOSPELS, BUT IS IN ACTS OF THE APOSTLES:

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1:6-11

6 When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going* to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

10 While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

THE ENDINGS OF THE THREE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE WRITTEN

MATTHEW 26: 16-20

16 The eleven* disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.

17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.

18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

MARK 16:15-20

i15 He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages.

18 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.

19 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.

20 But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

LUKE 24:46-53 

46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 

47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 

48 You are witnesses of these things. 

49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 

51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 

52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

NB: The Gospel of John ends with the little breakfast barbecue by the lake after a little night fishing. It does not reference the Ascension at all and may have been appended later:

JOHN 21:

1 After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way.

2 Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.

3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.”

6 So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.

7 So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.

8 The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish.

9 When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.

10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”

11 So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three* large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.

12Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him,* “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord.

13Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.

14 This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”* He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

16 He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep.

18*  Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

19 He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?”

21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

22 Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come?* What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”

23  So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to remain until I come? [What concern is it of yours?]”

24 It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them,* and we know that his testimony is true.

25 There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.