The excitement of the Preakness thoroughbred race this weekend reminds me of a gambler who saw a priest blessing horses, and each horse won its race.
The gambler withdrew all his savings for the last race. But this time, the priest blessed the eyes, ears, and hooves of the “old nag.” The gambler bet all he had. The horse came in last.
The gambler asked the priest what happened. The priest answered, “I guess you can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and the last rites.”
During the 40-some days since Easter, we have celebrated the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ – a mystery that includes his death and resurrection, and also his ascension to his Father in glory, and the descent of the Spirit.
These are all aspects of the passage of Jesus from earthy life through death into a new, transformed reality—anticipating our own future.
The Ascension which we celebrate today is Jesus’ final leave-taking from the disciples. Now something new can happen: the descent of the Spirit. Yes, the living Christ will continue among us ever active, through the Spirit of God.
The Book of the Acts indicates a two-volume work. The Gospel is about Jesus; the Acts about early Christianity. The ascension connects Luke and Acts: heralding the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the beginning of the Church’s ministry: the proclamation of the Good News – Jesus is alive – to the ends of the earth.
St. Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Ephesus prays that we will grow in wisdom and enlightenment so that we will see more clearly God’s saving work in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the “head” of the “body,” the Church, the people of God. We with our multi talents are called to build this Mystical Body of Christ.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples to be missionary, to make disciples of all nations. The disciples and you and I are the hands and feet and eyes and ears and voice of the Living Christ.
This living Christ by the power of the Spirit is creating new relationships for us—with God and with one another. In light of this, I pose three questions:
What make us feel alive?
What does it mean to be alive in this new relationship with the living Christ?
How really alive in Christ are we?
First, what makes us feel alive? Gazing at the heavens on a clear night? The awesome Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon? Watching a space flight lift off?
How about seeing a favorite sports team win? Hearing a top singer in concert? Holding a baby? Accomplishing a challenging task? These, and other experiences, can make us feel alive.
The second question: what is being alive in Christ? We are gifted with God’s triune life in Baptism: a "triple crown" of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yes, Baptism, our initiation into a community of disciples, makes us alive in Christ.
To understand this, we have to appreciate who we are in relation to God. At birth, we lack God’s triune life. Original sin means a lack of a relationship with God. The Book of Genesis captures this graphically. In the beginning, man and woman walked with God. Somehow they lost that friendship. Genesis describes simply yet powerfully that they “hid” from God; man blamed woman; and even the earthly elements worked against them.
Later, God became flesh in Jesus and re-established that friendship. Through the waters of baptism we enter a fellowship of grace.
And the third question is: How really alive in Christ are we?
The Spirit of God is within us, to bring about the design of God on this planet of ours. That Spirit calls us to continue the work of Jesus Christ until He comes again in glory. We are indeed his hands and feet and eyes and ears and voice. The Spirit empowers us to be channels or instruments of faith, hope, love, forgiveness, compassion, truth, fairness, hospitality, fidelity, responsibility and self-discipline, in our families, our workplaces and our communities.
How can we glorify God with our lives? At this time of year, we hear about commencement speeches. The best advice I ever heard, in a commencement speech, was this brief passage:
The quality of our life and our soul’s destiny will be measured by our character: going the extra mile to help someone in need; helping a child realize their potential; being faithful in our relationships and responsibilities; working for the common good; trusting always in a good and compassionate God who is ever near to us and will guide us safely home.
If we follow that advice, we indeed will be continuing the saving work of Jesus Christ until He comes again.
