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Reading
Acts 1:9
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Devotion
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| The Ascension. From Illuminated Armenian Gospels with Eusebian canons, 1609 Bodleian Library, Oxford |
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Ascension, forty days after the Feast of the Resurrection. The feast commemorates Jesus' ascending to Heaven to be with the Father. I like the fanciful art of this illuminated manuscript as it reminds me to take a cosmological interpretation of the event. The swirling gold and white yields to a golden tear in reality revealing where Jesus is portrayed as entering eternity. He points, perhaps behind him as he seems to step backward into heaven. The apostles, including a woman in the back right corner, perhaps his mother or perhaps Mary Magdeline, gaze either above or toward a mystical representation in their midst. The firmament of sky with stars separates them and a stylized representation of the earth at the bottom with what appears to be trees and green grass.
I think this artistic rendering encourages us to meditate on the fact that Jesus is both absent and present in the lives of the apostles. Jesus leaves us his memory and the Spirit, which comes at Pentecost. Yet, He, too is present, as it says in Matthew 18:20 "whenever two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them." There is this tension in our own lives as well. Often God may seem absent or hidden and yet, there are times when the Presence of God seems to surround us, when we know we are in the presence of the holy.
I most intensely experienced the hiddenness of God on many of my combat deployments. For an excellent reflection on this, I recommend God's Hiddenness in Combat by Preston Jones and Cody Beckman. As for God's presence, for me this is most clearly felt during the celebration of the Eucharist when holy mystery makes God present in the bread and wine and the hearts of the receivers. But that is not the only time or place. Where have you dear readers experienced God's hiddenness? Where have you experienced God's presence? How have you changed as a result? May God bless your reflections!
Prayer
Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)