In today's first reading, Acts 1:1-11, Jesus the Christ is taken up into heaven. He had taught the apostles up until that last moment when he said to them: "'...John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit....[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' As he said this, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." Two men dressed in white then appeared to the apostles and asked: "[W]hy are you standing [here] looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven." In Luke 24:49, Jesus, we are told, says to his apostles before leaving them: "And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city (Jerusalem) then, until you are clothed with the power from on high." We are told in Mark 16: 19, that after he had spoken to them, "there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by signs that accompanied it."
Imagine how this was for the apostles. For three years they followed Jesus around Galilee--here, there and everywhere--listening to his every word, witnessing His compassion toward those who were sick, crippled, deaf, blind or possessed by demons. He healed all who were afflicted in any way, showing them the compassion and love of His Father and ours, His God and ours. When the time for his return to heaven arrived, he left them. Suddenly, Jesus is no longer physically with them. They now need to see and know and hear Jesus with eyes of faith in all of the circumstances of their lives.
As for the apostles, so, too, for us. We, too, at our baptism and confirmation and at each Eucharist are clothed "with the power from on high" and are sent forth to bear witness to Jesus everywhere we go, "the Lord working with [us] and confirming the word by signs that [accompany] it." How and when are we or others or the universe a sign, a sacrament, of God's presence? When is God's power at work in us and around us and in the universe? I experience God working through me when I am kind and loving, forgiving and caring, forgiving and reconciling, being a peace-maker, a "creator" of good things that bring hope and comfort, and thus healing, to others. God's power is working in me when I refrain from gossiping, when I leave unsaid a word others do not need to hear, when I am patient and seek to understand the other person before being understood myself. God is at work in me when I respond to another person's need for love and support in times of difficulty and confusion, fear and despair! I also see God hidden in the beauty of the universe: the sun, the moon and the stars; the seasons of the year--spring, summer, fall and winter; in wind and rain, ice and snow, warmth and cold; in all of the creatures that roam the earth, fly in our skies and swim in our oceans, rivers, seas and lakes. God is everywhere? Am I looking for God?
No comments:
Post a Comment