He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’
Acts 1:7-11
It’s the last line that grabs me. When Jesus returns, He will come back the same way He left, but what if, when He returns, He will return to find His people the same way they were when He ascended? This seems to be the flip-side of the angels’ words, and what is behind their, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?’ The force of this idea, that the believers, that is, the Church, will again be united as those disciples were when they witnessed Christ’s ascension, is what moves me. The ending shall be as the beginning, on earth as it is in heaven.
Holy apostles, lovingly plant in us the seed that the Master planted in you, that you write to us who live at the end of time, that the Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life causes to sprout and grow in us, that we too may enter into the mystery of life in the Holy Triad with you, one mind, one will, one heart, one love. [*]
No comments:
Post a Comment