Today we celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven, 40 days after his resurrection. Before he began his ministry, Jesus spent 40 days being tempted in the desert. The lure of worldly riches, power, prestige and money was offered to him because satan believed Jesus’ human nature would overpower the God Spirit in him. Satan hoped Jesus would lose faith in himself and who he really was, God in man. If he did, Jesus would cling to the material reality that satan held out to him, telling him to worship him through this passing false reality. (Isn’t this what happens to us?) Being imbued with Fr Richard Rohr’s and Fr Thomas Keating’s teachings, in my mind, this means believing in the falseness of this world and involves the worship of idols.
Before his public life, Jesus spent thirty years of ordinary life, faithful to his Jewish prayer rituals and, one can imagine, hours of quiet reflection pondering the mysteries, strengthening and unifying his relationship with the Father God. It is because of this quiet life of prayer that Jesus grew in the knowledge of who he was and his mission. Mary and Joseph, the human parents, did a great job of guiding him in his childhood and teaching him about God. We need healthy role modeling parents. We are also celebrating Mother’s Day today and we often forget the important and challenging role of motherhood. Joseph and Mary are our powerful intercessors who look after ‘the Jesus life in us’. Jesus needed both parents to become the person he became.
Jesus was crucified because he wouldn’t enter into the lies and the false reality of this world. This became the ultimate test of his Divinity and Humanity. He was stripped of all earthly glory to give birth to the fulness of His Divine glory. He rose above the restrictions of his human nature where there was no more temptation. Forty days of fasting and temptation to forty days of a glorified human body brings us to celebrate Jesus’ return to the Father. We have already received the ‘gift from on high’ at our birth, renewed in our baptism through our parents’ commitment, strengthened by our commitment at confirmation. The trials and challenges we have lived through, or have yet to live through, are what will carry us to our resurrection that is already in this life. Those of us who are aged are at the edge of the western door, waiting for our Ascension back into the fullness of God life.
Let us wait for the feast of Pentecost, take time to pause, and wait with a spirit of expectation for the gift from on high to renew and strengthen our faith.
~ Sr. Terry (Kateri) Beaudry CPS