Encouragement

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“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

If we were granted one last wish before we leave this world, I sincerely hope that we would all have the presence of mind to ask for the same universal wish and that is the comfort of a last anointing because it is only the grace of God which can take us to Heaven.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. We are always filled with sadness when we have to part from our loved ones. Jesus and His apostles felt the same. After the Lord’s resurrection, they had His presence with them for forty days and finally, He was going to ascend to the Father in Heaven. It was a mixed moment of joy that at last He would reign at the right hand side of God but there was also pain at being separated from Him.

I am reminded of an incident on my return journey from my homeland. As I was bidding farewell to my relatives who had come for the final goodbye at the airport, I started blowing flying kisses to them until I realized that the people standing behind them seemed more thrilled by my actions and I had to stop before they started reciprocating.

We see how the apostles looked in awe as Jesus was taken up into Heaven. They were the privileged ones to witness this great event. An angel appeared telling them that Jesus would return back in the same way as they saw Him go up.

Before his ascension; Jesus commissioned them to go out and preach the good news to the world baptizing those who believed in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. It is very interesting to note that Jesus gave this command to the same apostles who had fled the scene at the time of His passion and death. And, perhaps; today, Jesus is telling us the same. He is choosing us in spite of our failures and weaknesses. He knows we are not perfect and yet He is empowering us with His Holy Spirit to preach the good news of salvation. Though, we have His firm reassurance that He will be with us always until the end of Time. Truly, He is still present with us in the Eucharist; a perpetual presence.

He never forgets us. His promises are great and true. There are times when we feel He is close to us, heeding to our every single request but sometimes, He may be just watching us from a distance as He did standing at the shore watching the disciples struggle to catch fish until He stepped in and helped them out.
What is important is that His gaze is always upon us; never leaving us. True to His name; Emmanuel- God with us. And when we have His presence with us, we can rest assured that our problems will all be solved in due time.

There was a time when I felt comfortable in just being an avid listener to the preachers breaking the Word. It was a perfect scenario for me to listen to the Word, feel divine and collect all the blessings. Until I realized one day at the gentle prodding of my friend who urged me to take up preaching that I was actually being selfish. I only wanted to receive the Word instead of giving and sharing the Word. This made me determined to spread the Word.
Besides, looking at the lost faces of some of the brethren, I knew I had a mission to utilize the gifts given to me by God for His plan and purpose. Just as Jesus looked at the crowd that He was preaching to and felt sad because they looked like sheep without a shepherd.

God has called each one of us in our own little way to spread the gospel, by our daily acts of love and kindness. We can thus be a witness to him, a shepherd in our right to look after His flock of sheep.

Today, as we revel in His Ascension, we too look forward to the promise that one day, we too will ascend into the glory of His Heavenly Kingdom.

Maria Franco
 

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