Image source by Sculptor Jaume Plensa
"They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
“Men of Galilee,”
they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same
Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room
where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and
Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of
Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
Bible reference here
"Christ's Ascension is therefore not a spectacle for the disciples but
an event into which they themselves are included. It is a sursum corda,
a movement toward the above into which we are all called. It tells us
that man can live toward the above, that he is capable of attaining
heights.
More: the altitude that alone is suited to the dimensions of
being human is the attitude of God himself.
Man can live at this height,
and only from this height do we properly understand him. The image of
man has been raised up, but we have the freedom to tear it down or to
let ourselves be raised."
— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, from Images of Hope: Meditations On Major Feasts (Ignatius Press, 2006)
So how do we pray in these nine days between The Ascension and the impending arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost ?
Praying is hard for a lot of us but help is at hand....
I highly recommend this from Fr Austin at A Concord Pastor Comments.
It will only take 10 minutes a day but it is power packed !
I gain comfort and hope from the idea that we are joining in with the prayers of Mary and the first disciples during a time after the Ascension when they too must have been grappling with many questions.
Come Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful
and enkindle in us the Fire of Your Love!
Send forth Your Spirit
And we shall be created
And You shall renew the face of the earth
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