Ascension
Rev Chris Doig talks Tiramisu and the Ascension, a short video about Fatima and an introduction to the Ignation Year by Fr James Bell. This weeks Saint's are Conval and Gathan. Welcome!
The tiramisù is a wonderful desert which is light, full of all the right flavours and restores one's mind and spirit after a heavy meal. Although it may be heavy in calories, it is light in substance and can always fit into a belly already filled with pasta, grilled vegetables and juicy meats.
The Ascension of the Lord, which we have just celebrated is, in a certain sense, like the tiramisù. One could call it a liturgical desert: on the one hand, it is heavy because of its liturgical weight and also because it is theologically very rich and requires some hard work of the mind and heart to properly digest it; on the other it is light and it's the sort of liturgical feast that literally tiramisù, picks-me-up – points us to heaven, lifts our spirits when we are weighed down and fills us with joy and hope.
Jesus told his disciples about the ascension and that He must go back to the Father but they did not quite understand what it was all about, neither did Mary Magdalene who wanted to cling onto him (Jn 20:17) At the time of Passover he tells them that it would be better for them that he goes back to the Father because if he doesn't the Counsellor will not come to them. (Jn 16:7-8) But even at the Ascension itself the disciples don't seem to get it. The angles ask them, why are you looking up into heaven? Our Lord tells them to be patient and to wait for the Spirit to lead them into the fullness of Truth. If these people had to struggle with idea of the Ascension, then it's not such a bad thing if we don't fully get it either. However, we are on the other side of the Paschal Mystery and two thousand years down the road which has given the Church time to contemplate in her heart (Lk 2:19) this great mystery.
First of all it is a fundamental belief of the Church that Jesus ascended in to heaven in his bodily form. We profess this on solemnities and feasts that : “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”[1] But what does it mean? We can rattle this off our tongues quite easily but we don't often get the time to stop and contemplate this for ourselves. The Solemnity of the Ascension gives us that moment where we, the Body of Christ, lift up our eyes of the heart, to the Head, who is the Risen Jesus, now reigning from heaven.
This theological treat is made up of two fundamental ingredients – the fact that he ascends with his human body, and he now sits next to his Father in heaven. It is important to emphasize the importance of his human body. The Word that was with God from all time (Jn 1:1) has now returned but it is not just a return to what was in the beginning – there is a change. Jesus' human nature is now in God himself. This does not mean that there are now four divine persons. Our friend John Damascene professed that he did not believe in the purple robe of his body as some garment or even as a fourth person but as God himself. Jesus returns to God as the second person of the Trinity and neither his divinity nor humanity are altered in any way. His human nature does not get absorbed by the divinity so that it disappears in God in the same way as a drop of water falls into the sea. No, there is a perfect harmony and union of these two natures and it has deep implications for us. At Mass we hear in the Collect “where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope”[2] Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them in the Father's house (Jn 14:2). He prepares this place by redeeming human nature, which he has accomplished in his Passion, Death and Resurrection and has now taken that nature into the heart of the Father. We are now “capable of God,” as St Augustine would say.
The second part of the Ascension is about Jesus' ongoing work of salvation. He has accomplished it by his one and only sacrifice on the Cross but it is now made eternal as “Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb 9:24).” He acts as the Eternal High Priest who intercedes unceasingly for the salvation of all, but he can only be priest by virtue of his human nature, for a priest is a mediator between God and men. John Damascene understands his enthronement as the glory and honour of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.”[3] The Catechism says that the Lord's Ascension is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel that to the Son of Man was given “dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:14).
There is always the temptation to think of God's kingdom as an earthly one and that some day we will see it with our eyes. The disciples were rebuked by the Lord for asking if he was coming to restore the kingdom of Israel and told them to wait for the Spirit who will give them power.
This act of Jesus ascending to the Father is the completion of the Paschal Mystery. It should be a consolation, a moment of hope and joy but also one of suspense: we wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things (Jn 14:26). As we sit after having devoured a heavy meal and try to digest it all, we are lifted up by the tiramisù ; our hearts and minds are picked up, not gazing into an empty sky but contemplating the spiritual delight that Jesus has entered into heaven and intercedes for us until we reach the harbour of salvation.
[1]The Nicene Creed. [2]The Roman Missal, Collect for the Ascension. [3]St. John Damascene, De Fide Ortodoxa, 4,2, PG 94, 1104C.
Reverend Chris Doig
THE IGNATIAN YEAR
Written by Fr James Bell
An Introduction [with gratitude to several sources and some thoughts that came into my head as I sought the help of St Ignatius in putting this together].
From 20 May 2021 until 31 July 2022, the Jesuits, the Ignatian family and all who are influenced by St Ignatius are celebrating an Ignatian Year. WE can be part of this world-wide community of prayer, reflection, discernment and devotion.
What is an Ignatian Year?
The 20 May 2021 is the Five-Hundredth anniversary of the great change in the life of St. Ignatius. As we say, ‘a game-changer’. Thereafter everything was different. On that fateful day Inigo from Loyola, the courtier and army officer, was struck by a cannon-ball at the Siege of Pamplona
Hereafter the life of Ignatius was that of a pilgrim, seeking a greater knowledge of God, honouring Him and encouraging others day by day. Each of us could learn something about ourselves by meditating on this important moment in Ignatius’ life?
Perhaps we might ask: How might we, and a particular Church community, learn to recognize and embrace those “cannonball moments” which occur in our own lives.
Are the ‘game-changers’ in our own lives to be shattering obstacles that stand between us and true freedom? Or how might we see the Providence of God showing each of us and the community of Faith the way of Jesus. This has been described as that of ‘downward mobility’ [so unlike the usual aspirational impulses of modern life]. Walking this way, we walk with Jesus who embraces poverty, humility and even rejection. How well do we face up to that? Not at all easy>This is a useful time for Examen: Looking at each day, giving thanks for the graces and gifts, acknowledging the failures and the debts, and resolving with God’s grace to plan ahead for a more fruitful tomorrow. Once begun, this Examen can be a fruitful and encouraging daily habit, a good habit that checks the other sort.
St Ignatius’ life is a study in how his personal circumstances are transformed by the Grace of God.
“For Ignatius, a life of poverty was an expression of intimacy with Jesus... More than words, his poverty was a sign of his interior transformation, of his growing indifference to preparing himself to follow God’s will, of his sense that everything came down from above as a gift."
Seeing God in all the circumstances of life, as a gift, brings us to an awareness of ‘the Sacrament of the Present Moment’.
We will prepare for The Ignatian Year by offering a Novena to St Ignatius Loyola and thereafter every Wednesday there will be an Ignatian Reflection to stimulate our Devotion to the Lord Jesus, honouring Him in our Devotion and in the service of our brothers and sisters.
The Novena and the Weekly Reflections are designed to be said privately and offer an opportunity for a Fifteen Minute conversation with God, ourselves, and listening to the promptings of St Ignatius.
Praise God always!
Editors Note: I was a bit late in picking up on this, hence why the observant of you will have noticed the Novena has already begun. However if you sign up to stmarysinverness@btinternet.com you will be able to partipate in the Wednesday reflections written by the excellent Fr Bell.
"St Ignatius of Loyola in the Cave of Manresa" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
A short video on Our Lady of Fatima from the St Paul Center.
St Gathan and St Conval
