"I have loved you with an everlasting love...And I know the plans I have for you says the Lord"
Jeremiah:29-31
This beautiful painting by Tommy Winn truly captures the awe and majesty of Christs ascension into Heaven. Saint Augustine wrote a moving reflection on what the ascension means for us here on earth, as we await our own glory into Heaven. Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food. Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him? While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love. He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head. St Augustian of Hippo We celebrate the third Sunday in Advent or Gaudete Sunday which means Rejoice! As I reflected on this holy day of Joy I am reminded that Jesus became Man for a specific purpose. He was on a mission... We are all created by God with a specific purpose and mission as well, whether we see it or not. Even in our suffering, pain, sickness Etc. God’s plan for us is still at work.
Saint John Henry Newman’s words spoke deeply to my heart today. Let them nourish and strengthen you as well. God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission—I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for his purposes, as necessary in my place as an archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, God can raise another, as he could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good. I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, though not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain. He may prolong my life; he may shorten it. He knows what he is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still he knows what he is about. O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, you who guide Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to you. I trust you wholly. You are wiser than I—more loving to me than I am to myself. Deign to fulfill your high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve you, to be yours, to be your instrument. Let me be your blind instrument. I ask not to see. I ask not to know. I ask simply to be used. Saint John Henry Newman In the first and second week of Advent we reflect on Christ's second coming as promised in Acts 1 "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" Sometimes it can be hard to believe in the 2nd Coming, I know it is for me especially this Advent 2019. I found this beautiful Litany of Longing in the "Magnificat" and it helps me remember that all things will come into fulfillment when he returns and we are not left alone in his absence. Until then we can lift up our struggles or the struggles of others in the Hope of healing in this life or the next.. The Litany of Longing Response: COME LORD JESUS! In the dryness of prayer, we long for you "Response" In the dissatisfaction of useless entertainments, we long for you "Response" etc In the desert created in us by overwork, we long for you " " In our thirst to love and be loved, we long for you " " In our yearning for priorities that matter, we long for you " " In our desire for a just world, we long for you In the darkness of our accumulated sins, we long for you In the hopelessness of our addictions, we long for you In the emptiness of habits of mind that nourish no one, we long for you In our restlessness for something beyond our present good, we long for you In our search for an anchor in this life, we long for you In our pursuit of beauty and goodness, we long for you, O Lord Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done On Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil...Amen + The Christian faith is to surrender the will, to humble the pride, to become like a little child; to believe in the unseen; to know that there is another world than that about us, to enter it by Baptism, to live in it by the Holy communion; to be guided by the voice and hand of an invisible Master; to be drawn nearer and nearer to that blessed Home of which death is only the portal, to be in it, yet far above it; to despise none of its beauty or goodness or excellence, and yet to have the life hid with Christ in God; above its din and noise, to hear celestial harmonies; in the midst of its hurry an bustle, to be at peace; to care neither for its honors nor its persecutions; sober in prosperity, patient and resigned in adversity, at rest in life, at rest in death, one with Christ for ever! Blessed James Dekoven |
Author
I'm not really a writer, but it's on my long list of aspirations to become one. The first on the list is to become a great Saint! My hope is to share knowledge and inspiration as we walk together during our pilgrim journey on earth and guide each other, hand in hand to the gates of Heaven... If you for find this website helpful please consider making a donation today! Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|