Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The Alleluia Moment: A Meditation on The Ascension

The Alleluia Moment: A Meditation on The Ascension

Last updated on: May 5, 2016 at 2:40 am by Mary Pezzulo

The Alleluia Moment: A Meditation on The Ascension 2016-05-05T02:40:19-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

clouds-872143_640

I’ve got to admit, this is a day that stumps me. I don’t know what to say about the Ascension of the Lord. Take a look at this responsory, from tomorrow’s Office of Readings:

During the forty days after his passion, he appeared to them and spoke with them about the kingdom of God.
As they watched, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight, alleluia.

While he was with them, he told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the fulfillment of the Father’s promise.
As they watched, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight, alleluia.

Alleluia?

Jesus is taken from our sight, Alleluia?

He went away, and we’re supposed to sing Alleluia?

Why is this an alleluia moment?

What have you to do with Alleluia, when you can’t see Jesus anymore? Shouldn’t we be singing a lament? Should I get out the books from Good Friday and Holy Saturday? He went away from our sight. We can’t see the Savior. He was supposed to be here, even until the end of the age. He just got back from His descent into Hell. He hadn’t been back two months yet. Then a cloud took him, and we’re left here staring at the sky. Alleluia?

I’m glad He got to go back to His father and all. Is that why we’re singing Alleluia? That Jesus went away and got to be with His father? I know He said He went to make a place for us; very well, that’s great. Our own place in Heaven. We’ll wait here. How long could that take, Jesus being God and all? A few days? A year?

Thousands of years?

I’ve been waiting just shy of thirty-two years, myself, and it hasn’t been very nice. I’ve had my happy moments, but I wouldn’t say this was a rip-roaring good time. I’d rather have just gone with Him at once; slept on the sofa in Heaven until my place was ready. Why wasn’t that an option?

Or was it?

The reading for Ascension Thursday’s Office of Readings comes from a sermon of Saint Augustine. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing, but here are some bits that struck me. *“*For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.”

We are?

Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food.

Oh.

These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God… not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.

So… that is what He did, after all. In this life, at least in a sense, I am sleeping on the sofa while he prepares a place for me. As long as I remain in Him, I am where He is; and He is in Heaven, preparing a place for me. He is also in me, preparing in me a place for Heaven. Because I’m not there yet. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, I am not empty enough for Heaven to fill. I am all full of dead things and poison. I was born marked for death, and in a way already dead; I have allowed myself to be filled with the death of sin in too many ways. Through His mercy, on this long, slow journey where I cannot see Him, He empties me. By His Passion and Cross, by His emptying of Himself, He fills me again. By His glorious resurrection, He raises me from death. And now, by His ascension, He brings me home. All this takes time. So, by His mercy, it is a very slow ascent. But I am in the Body of Christ, and this life is my ascent.

It seems that it works like that, somehow.

I am in the Body of Christ. I, unworthy and filled with death, am in the Body of Christ, and Christ is drawing me to be where He is. That’s what life is, if you permit it to be. Everything is Grace because every moment is Ascension. Every moment culminates in Heaven, including this one. Right now. This moment. This heartbeat. The very breath I’m taking now. My fingers on the keyboard. The voice of my daughter in the next room. My slight headache; my mild hunger as I put off making supper. The omnipresent tiredness of chronic fatigue, and the sharp smell of the peppermint oil I smeared on my skin to ease the symptoms. These are Ascension. The best day I’ve ever had; the days where I felt Christ’s presence most closely, my engagement, my wedding party, the first time my daughter called me Mamma– that, too, was Ascension. The worst darkness I’ve ever felt; the things Christ did not intend for me, but that happened because of sin and fallenness: the secret abuse I endured all those teenage years, running away and cutting all ties. Sleeping on the sofa in the crazy ramshackle apartment building on the worst street in town, because I couldn’t afford new furniture but didn’t dare go back to the address where they could find me. The emergency surgery. The chronic illness with no friends to help. The disastrous childbirth. The rape, the recovery; the agony of a flashback. The humiliation of facing someone who saw me flash back and no longer considers me a rational human. Christ did not will these, but because I passed through them, they are Ascension.

What a truth. What a wonderful, glorious truth.

Truly, an alleluia moment. He was taken from my sight, because I was taken into Him, and now we ascend into Highest Heaven. He mounts His throne to shouts of joy, and because I am in Him, He draws me to where He is. Alleluia!

Previous Post

May 4, 2016

Primary Season 2016: A Summary

Next Post

May 5, 2016 How To Survive Mother's Day: Suggestions for Catholic Abuse Victims

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Jesus teach about forgiving others?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Forgive seventy times seven Never forgive Once is enough Only forgive friends