Pentecost, 2010
May 26th, 2010 Posted in writing | Comments Off on Pentecost, 2010The New Testament has two stories of the coming of the Spirit, one in the gospel of John, the other in the Acts of the Apostles. In their details, the stories differ on when the event took place, who was there, and what form the Spirit’s coming took.
But, taking the two accounts together, it is clear that the coming of the Holy Spirit has to do with empowering the community of disciples to take on a mission (bring forgiveness and reconciliation) and proclaim a message (the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and rising).
Sometimes we may feel that, as individuals or as a church, we haven’t fulfilled the mission or delivered the message very well. After two millennia there’s still too much violence, and many people still haven’t heard the gospel. Maybe we are still learning how to do the work of proclamation and reconciliation. The reassuring truth, however, is that the Holy Spirit stays with us, helping us do better at the job God has entrusted to us.
The Ascension
May 17th, 2010 Posted in writing | Comments Off on The AscensionAs seminarians, my Jesuit buddies and I figured that the perfect entrance song for the feast of the Ascension would be the then-popular song “Up, Up, and Away.”
However, the feast is not really about Jesus going up, up, and away. It’s about Jesus’ taking his place at the right hand of the Father. So, if one wanted to select appropriate music for the Ascension, the Hallelujah Chorus would fit nicely.
The feast of the Ascension is about us, too, for Jesus didn’t leave his human nature behind when he ascended. He remains fully human: our humanity is his and his humanity is ours.
So, all the children of Adam and Eve — we who are the brothers and sisters of the ascended Jesus — now have a place waiting for us where Jesus is, and Heaven is no longer a place from which we are excluded.
