May 8, 2005: Receiving the Power

+FEAST OF THE ASCENSION


One of the most touching news events this week was the story of Donald Herbert, the brain-damaged fireman from upstate New York who all of a sudden started talking normally again—after 9½ years in a near-coma. Nobody expected this. I was listening to a neurosurgeon on CNN who stopped short of calling this a miracle… but he made it clear that if someone doesn’t bounce back from an injury like Herbert’s after a year or two at the most, it just isn’t going to happen. Well, surprise!

What about the fireman’s family? Before this wonderful news, did they still have hope for their husband and father? Were they still praying for their miracle? I wonder…

A story like this makes you realize that we may think that we have much of the world figured out, but actually, human life is very much shrouded in mystery. And Jesus, I’m afraid, doesn’t always do much to satisfy our curiosity.

In our first reading today, from The Acts of the Apostles, one of Jesus’ inner circle asked him if something was going to happen. The Lord answered: It is not for you to know the times or reasons that the Father has established by his own authority. That’s a polite way of saying, “None of your business.” In other words: you don’t need to know this to live your life for the purpose for which you were given it. Lots of times—maybe even most of the time—God expects us to travel blind, having faith in him but not getting answers to questions like: Why did this happen? Will this come to pass? Should I do this or that? The Lord truly wants us to pray every day for our daily bread.

But then Jesus says something else that’s also quite interesting: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth.

Wow. The power of God. He says we will receive it from the Holy Spirit.

St. Paul talks a little about that power today, too. He says that it’s wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. It’s a special gift and ability to perceive God so you can be guided by his light.

The Holy Spirit can flood us with his power any time he wants… sometimes out of the blue, like the healing of the fireman. But one of the typical ways that such power is communicated to us is through the Sacraments.

OK, this is still hard to grasp… but at least we’re starting to feel a little better that Jesus is with us. And then, poof! No sooner than he delivers this amazing news, he disappears! He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. He ascended back to the Father in heaven—which is the feast we celebrate today.

I guess it’s always like this. Jesus had to die that we might have life. He had to be taken up from the earth so the Holy Spirit could come down upon us. Something that seems bad has to occur so something much better will come along. Why? We simply can’t explain it. It’s part of the mystery.

When Jesus disappeared, the apostles kept standing there looking up at the sky. I have no doubt that most of us would do the same thing. Yet the angels said, What are you looking up there for? It’s easy to look in the wrong place. We should be looking for Christ where he is now, not where he might have been yesterday!

So: where do we find Jesus Christ so we can tap into this power?

First and foremost, right here in the Eucharist. Jesus is really and truly here—body and blood, soul and divinity.

We know that one of Jesus’ titles is that he is the Word. He’s the living word, not just sentences in a book. You can therefore find Jesus when you read his words in the Holy Scriptures or when you hear the teaching of the Church.

Jesus also taught, When two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst. So Jesus is also present within us weak, imperfect, sinful human beings. Remember that our souls are living tabernacles.

Without a doubt, this last category is the place where we have the most trouble. Instead of loving one another, we do so much to harm each other, through our judging, condemnation, indifference. We forget that when we look at another human being—any human being—we are looking at a child of God.

I love the story about a junior high school boy who was constantly getting into trouble. One day, once again, his parents got a call to come in and meet with his teacher and the principal. They figured, “Here we go again.”

The teacher sat down with the boy’s father and said, “Thanks for coming in. I wanted you to hear what I have to say.”

The father crossed his arms and waited, trying to think what excuse he could come up with this time. The teacher then proceeded to list ten good things about the boy—all positive affirmations about this so-called troublemaker. When she was done, the father said, “And what else? Let’s hear the bad things.”

The teacher smiled and said, “That’s all I wanted to say. Thanks again for coming in.”

That night, when the father got home, he repeated the conversation to his son. And not surprisingly, almost overnight, the boy’s attitude and behavior changed dramatically. All because a teacher looked past the negatives.

Jesus loves people by forgiving them… overlooking an awful lot of very obvious sins and shortcomings… giving them a kind word and an incentive to turn themselves around. He’d like us to treat each other just the same. Remember, that’s his main teaching: love God and love your neighbor.

I don’t know about you, but I feel especially encouraged today. If the Lord can wake up a firefighter from a ten-year sleep, which the experts say is impossible, maybe he can sweeten even my stubborn heart. Let us pray that our ascended Lord will bless us all that way.


Today’s Readings:
Acts of the Apostles 1: 1–11
Psalm 47
Ephesians 1: 17–23
Matthew 28: 16–20