Ascension
John 16: 24-33
Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name. Pray
from the heart, and it will be given to your heart, that your joy may be
fulfilled.
All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But
the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures, but will
tell you openly and unveiled about my Father, so that you can grasp it in full,
knowing consciousness. Thus will I proclaim to you the being of the Father. On
that day you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask
the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself will love you because you
have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the
Father. I have come forth from the Father and I have come into this world.
_by_Benjamin_West,_PRA.jpg) |
| Ascension, Benjamin West |
Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking
in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed
to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This
makes us believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered, “Do you now feel my power in your
heart? Behold, the time is coming, and has already come, when you will be
scattered, each to his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. But I
am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me.
All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may
find peace. In this world you will have great fear and hardship. But take
courage. I have overcome the world.”
Ascension
May
21, 24, 2009
John
16:24-33
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| Seed of Life |
Our
heart is the very center of our being. We can imagine our heart as the center
of a series of concentric circles, with all our dear ones in closer circles,
our acquaintances further out. Our heart is the center of our universe. Others
circle our periphery.
Likewise
we ourselves occupy the circles around other people’s hearts. For of course they
too have many circles around them. The human world is a labyrinth of
interlocking circles, all connected by the famous six degrees of separation.
Today
we celebrate Christ’s Ascension. It is the day when He expanded His Being, His
Heart, into the greatest and the broadest possible series of circles. The circles
of His universe include all human beings, even those who have never heard of
Him. Christ’s connection to us actually involves zero degrees of separation,
for he has expanded His being in ever widening circles to catch every human
heart. The circles of His heart’s love run through the very center of each
human heart. And that is where we will find Him—in the deepest, centermost core
of our own being, in the innermost core of every human being we encounter.
We
have scattered ourselves in division, in loneliness. We ourselves may have
placed Christ on one of the circles further out of our own heart, as one of our
‘acquaintances’. But He has connected us directly to His heart. He carries us
in His love. So when He urges us to ‘pray from the heart’ (John16:24), perhaps he is showing
us the way to find Him. Perhaps when we enter our own deepest core and find Him
there, find the One whose being is Love, we will recognize our true identity.
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| Holman Hunt |
As
we offer this Eucharistic meal, the words of the poet can inspire:
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet
yourself arriving
at your own door, ….
You will love again
the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread.
Give back your heart
to itself, to the
stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom
you have ignored…[1]
Christ
is urging us to join our hearts with His, so that we too can love the world as
He does.
[1]
Derek Walcott, “Love After Love”, in Collected
Poems 1948-1984, New York ,
Farrar Straus Giroux, 1986.
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