How Really Alive Are We

Raphael's Ascension

Monday, Memorial Day, the United States remembers men and women who died in the wars of our nation. I invite all of us to pray with thanks for those heroes and heroines. Some of us may be able to visit a cemetery and leave a flag or a flower on the grave of a fallen soldier.

During these 40-some days we have been celebrating 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 of God upon the disciples. These are all different aspects of the passage of Jesus from his earthy life through death into a new, transformed reality—anticipating our own future.

The Ascension we celebrate this Sunday is Jesus’ final leave-taking from the disciples, so something new can happen: the descent of the Spirit. Yes, the living Christ continues among us through the Spirit of God.

The Book of the Acts indicates that the Lukan Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles are a two-volume work. The Gospel is about Jesus; the Acts about early Christianity. The ascension, connecting Luke and Acts, signals the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry and heralds the beginning of the Church’s ministry.

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 indeed the “head” of the “body,” the Church, the people of God. We with our multi talents are called to build the Mystical Body of Christ.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples to be missionary disciples. The disciples then, and you and I now, are the hands and feet and eyes and ears and voice of the Living Christ until He comes again in glory to transform this universe into a new heaven and a new earth.

The living Christ, gloriously alive, has created new relationships for us—with God and with one another. And in light of this, I would like to pose three questions:

First, what makes us feel alive? The awesomeness of nature? Hearing Tony Bennett or Carrie Underwood sing? Holding a baby? Accomplishing good work? Watching a space flight lift off – there’s a manned flight scheduled this week; let’s pray for the safety of these two astronauts.

Second question: what does it mean to be alive in Christ? We have been gifted with God’s triune life in baptism, our initiation into a community of disciples. The rite of baptism makes us alive in Christ. At birth, we lack God’s triune life. In the beginning, man and woman walked with God. Somehow they lost that friendship. Genesis describes that they hid from God. But God became flesh in Jesus. God through the crucified and risen Christ re-connected us. Through baptism we enter a community of disciples, a fellowship of grace.

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. 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.

This time of year, we would usually hear commencement speeches. The coronavirus changed this season.  But the best advice I ever heard, in a commencement speech, was this: the quality of your life and your soul’s destiny will be measured by your character: going the extra mile to help someone in need; helping a child realize potential; being faithful in your relationships and responsibilities; working for the common good; trusting always in a good and compassionate God who is ever near to us and who will guide us safely home.

If we follow that advice, we indeed will be continuing the saving work of Jesus Christ.

'Tis the Season to Rejoice

John the Baptist Proclaiming Repentance

This third Sunday of Advent is known as “Gaudete” Sunday: a Latin verb meaning “rejoice” because Jesus, the joy of our salvation, will be born.

As we anticipate celebrating his birth, we thank Jesus for the gift of life, God's eternal life. We have so much to be thankful for. Yet many people lack what we take for granted. Yes, this season especially is a time to rejoice and share our blessings.

When you hear the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, remember there’s a story behind it. I share this each year because Christians still are persecuted in some places for their faith.

Catholics in Protestant England could not practice their faith openly for more than two centuries. So someone wrote The Twelve Days of Christmas which has two levels of meaning: one secular; the other, religious. Guess what the numbers symbolize; here’s a hint:
A partridge in a pear tree is…Jesus Christ.
The two turtle doves are the New and Old Testaments.
Three French hens stand for faith, hope, love.
Four calling birds are the four Gospels.
Look up the rest and play a game with children/grandchildren to see how well they can remember.

The word of God from Isaiah takes us back probably to the sixth century before Jesus (the 500s). Jerusalem had experienced immense destruction. Yet the author speaks about new beginnings: the desert will bloom; the wilderness will burst with life. The messiah will come. The author may be asking us: what message do we proclaim through our attitudes and behaviors?

James in his letter urges us to practice patience like the farmer who plants and works with nature to bring forth a harvest of produce. Patience! Even better, perseverance!

In the Gospel, John the Baptizer announces that he is the voice in the wilderness who prepares the way for the messiah. He cried out to the people who came to the waters of the Jordan River, “repent,” live an other-centered, God-centered life. And when Jesus walked along the Jordan, John pointed to Jesus as being the sacrificial Lamb of God, through whose bloody death/glorious resurrection we have a right relationship with God.

John prepared the way for Jesus, the bridge between two covenants that created a special relationship between God and us.

John challenges us to be heralds of Jesus, evangelizers, missionary disciples, in our families, our workplaces our communities by the manner in which we live. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord so that Jesus Christ, gloriously alive, can enter into our “hearts” and those of our fellow human beings.

This season, there’s no better place to begin again than in our own families, by creating an even better sense of togetherness, by cherishing people more deeply for who they are, and by reaching out to one another with a helping hand and praying together – especially at Sunday liturgies.