As glorious as was the Ascension, I feel a special kinship with, and grief for, the Apostles and Jesus’ disciples. If you have ever experienced a beloved pastor or spiritual director being taken out of your life, for example, and felt the pain, fear and loneliness of that loss, multiply it a gazillion times and try to imagine the depth of the emotions paralyzing Jesus’ followers as they watched Him being swept up by a cloud. Were they close to despair, I wonder. He promised to send the Comforter, the Paraclete, but in the meantime, how they must have agonized.
From St. Faustina’s Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul:
532 After Holy Communion, I saw the Lord Jesus, who said these words to me: Today, penetrate into the spirit of My poverty and arrange everything in such a way that the most destitute will have no reason to envy you. I find pleasure, not in large buildings and magnificent structures, but in a pure and humble heart.
533 When I was by myself, I began to reflect on the spirit of poverty. I clearly saw that Jesus, although He is Lord of all things, possessed nothing. From a borrowed manger He went through life doing good to all, but Himself having no place to lay His head. And on the Cross, I see the summit of His poverty, for He does not even have a garment on Himself.
“When can I see the face of my God?”“Why are you downcast, my soul?” “Why do you groan within me?”
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This is a soulful rendition of Psalm 42 sung by John Michael Talbot, and a very beautiful video as well. For everyone whose soul is groaning. Towards the last minute, candles are lit, the flame passing from each to the other, and in my mind those hands belong to all of us here.
