05/27/2022
(THOUGHTS FROM THE FRONT DESK)
A PERSONAL REFLECTION ON THE ASCENSION AND ON CURRENT EVENTS
You know, most of us have been so affected by the elementary school shooting in Texas. I know I have since I have a nephew around the same age as these kids. I could imagine how actual parents of elementary school-aged children feel. The sadness, the worry, the grief, the anxiety. But also the age-old question of "why?". Why did this happen, how could this happen? If there is truly a God up above, why did He allow this to happen?
The running theme of most homilies for the feast of the Ascension, was on the angels' prompt to the apostles, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up to heaven?" And isn't the world looking up to heaven at this moment asking why did this awful tragedy happen and praying for the souls of these little ones. As you can see by the picture of Jackie Cazares below, she had just received her first communion just weeks ago.
There is no explanation for the reason for suffering and tragedy that can fully suffice. Even I, who wrote a 55 paged paper on the subject for my thesis, can't give the so-called "right answer". But as we reflect and continue to mourn and pray during this "Ascension tide", we look to Our Lord Jesus Christ once again. The angels also said to the apostles, "...the same Jesus that you saw going up to heaven, will return the same way you saw Him go up." That's the hope for us Christians, believers of the true God. Christ did not ascend to heaven to get away from us, but that He might be with us more fully than before. There are those who again look at us believers and taunt us with the similar words, "why do you look up", "why, in the middle of yet again another heinous event, still believe He still listens?" "Why is your God?".
Jesus Christ, true God and true man, one who is of our same flesh and ascended to heaven that we may be with Him forever one day. The collect for the Mass says, "He ascended that He may fill all things." Jesus sends us therefore the Holy Spirit, that He may communicate to us that God truly loves us and that it is shown in the Suffering, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Ascension reminds us that as Christians, unlike other religions, we don't have an absent God but a God, that amind grave tragedies and sufferings, He is truly present with us, going through it with us and loving us the more. Christ takes our human nature up to heaven, promising us that we can do the same and thus be with Him forever. The world may taunt us by saying "Where is your God?" but we can stand firm in the midst of such evil and tragedy, God is present with us by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus Christ, the word of God, descended and took on our lowliness to receive and endure the worst of human suffering and pain. And now that same human body is sitting at the right hand of the Father. The saying goes, "In the Incarnation, God took on humanity, but in the Ascension, humanity took on God." Our call is in Our Lord, who has gone to prepare a place for us. Our victory is not just one of mind and heart, but it is in being in perfect communion with God. That all the sufferings and all the scars and wounds we endure here on earth, don't have the final say. Of course many you know that another running theme in Easter and Ascension tides is the reflection on the Holy Wounds of Our Lord. Jesus' resurrected body still bore and still bears to this day, the wounds of His suffering and death. In the Book of Revelation, the Lamb is seated at the Throne, as if it were slain, but victorious (see the picture below). This is to remind us, that the wounds and sufferings, the pain and hardships we endure in this life, don't have the final say. If we unite those wounds and sufferings to Our Lord in His death, we are promised to rise with him in Heaven. Those pains are redeemed by Jesu Christ and will be brought into the divine life of Almighty God where the victory is prepared for us.
God is not absent from us and our pain. God has come to us in Jesus Our Lord. And in the Ascension, we hope as Christians and unlike any other religion, that we will dwell with God for all eternity. Our Lord, like these little ones, was innocent and also died amidst hate and at the hands of hate. But He redeemed our life and will take that life to be with Him forever.
THIS IS OUR FAITH. THIS IS THE GOSPEL. OUR GOOD NEWS.
This isn't a God who is absent and disassociated from our sufferings. This is a God who is "always with us, even unto the end of time."
"Eternal rest, grant to them O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
"And May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord."
-Arrys Ortañez
