Ascension
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| Garofalo, Wiki Commons |
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.
I leave the sense world
again and return to the world of the Father, of which you say that it is the
world of death.”
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 14, 17, 2015
John 16: 24-33
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| Michel de Broin, Superficial Mirror |
In this gospel reading for
Ascension, the Ascension event itself is veiled. But there are hints of what is
there. Christ says that he is leaving the sense world and entering the realm of
the Father, “of which you say that it is the realm of death.” John 16:28 Yet
with his Resurrection the realm of death was imbued with Life. The dead live,
though invisibly, as does He. He indicates however that we will nevertheless be
able to sense his presence through other means: we will sense him in praying,
when our prayers arise from our hearts. For with his Ascension he expanded his
being from that of Jesus to that of both heaven and earth. He has expanded
Himself into the whole world. This enables him to be present within the life of
every single human being.
We can sense him in the
warmth of our blood, in the rhythm of our breathing. He is hidden in the light
of our noblest thoughts, in the living changes and transformations of the music
of our soul life. He is invisibly present in the very meaning of our lives. He
appeared to ‘go away’. But his going away was in essence a drawing even nearer.
He is hidden within us, in our heart of hearts. "Pray from the heart and it will
be given to your heart:, he says. For I will give you myself, my very being –
light, life, warmth and transformation.
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