Feast of the Ascension
Reflection
To ascend with Christ does not mean we are to “go up” but to “go down” into the depths of our lives, to live from a center of humility, to accept the truth of each moment gifted by the power of God’s love. To think of “what is above,” of what is heavenly, is to think out of a deeper center of consciousness, not a consciousness of the isolated self but a consciousness of deep interconnectedness, and to realize that heaven begins here on earth when we realize that we are bound together in the unity of God’s ever-flowing love. To attain this unity in love amidst the chaos of world is to ascend with Christ.
Ilia Delio
Prayer
Send us your Spirit, O Lord.
Action
Reflect that “heaven begins here on earth when we realize that we are bound together in the unity of God’s ever-flowing love.” Find concrete ways to transform your faith into action.
Suggested Reading
Why are you standing here looking up into the heavens?
Acts 1:11
Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers and sisters, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.
Pope Francis
Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jesus is no longer restricted or confined to time and space, as he was during his historical lifetime. Rather, like the God whom he knew in his own experience, he continues to be known in the experience of his followers.
Marcus Borg
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
We cannot be tepid disciples. The Church needs our courage in order to give witness to truth.
Pope Francis.
To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God’s presence in the world.
Henri Nouwen
Discipleship isn’t something you learn just by studying it; at some point you have to do it.
Kenda Creasy Dean
Ascension Day proclaims the lordship of Christ. To say that the risen and ascended Jesus is “at God’s right hand,” a position of honor and authority, means “Jesus is Lord.” In the first century, when kings and emperors claimed to be lords, this claim had not only religious but also political meaning. To say “Jesus is Lord” meant, and means, that the Herods and Caesars of this world were not, and are not.
Marcus Borg