|
|
|
Sunday After the Ascension 2006 On Thursday, June 1st, the Orthodox world celebrated the Holy Ascension of our Lord. Your Priest participated and prayed for our Ocala Mission Family during the Divine Liturgy in his former Parish of St., Demetrios in Daytona Beach. He further prayed and envisioned for the dawning of the day, when we would have our own Edifice, to celebrate these Major Holy Days, which fall during weekdays. The Hymn of the Ascension, which I chanted after today's procession with the Holy Bible is as follows: "You O Christ our God ascended in Glory, causing Your Disciples to rejoice in the promise of the Holy Spirit; -- they were confirmed through the blessing, that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world." As we know, we live in a world of three dimensions; that is the length, the breadth, and the thickness. It has been stated though, that there is also a fourth dimension, which alludes to the spiritual, when it is almost difficult to grasp the full meaning of the spiritual. In the last chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we are introduced let us say, to a fourth dimension of experience. By the Lord's Resurrection He was able to triumph over death! His spiritual Body after the Resurrection was capable of living in another dimension, that is, of becoming visible intermittently to His Disciples and others. He is the same Lord, with the same love and tenderness, as well as understanding. He comes to Thomas with words, which vanish every doubt. He comes to Peter in the same way testing him as to his love and devotion to Him. Yet, He is not the same. He appears to His Disciples with the intimacy as of old, but even while they know Him, He vanishes at a moment from their sight. He appears to them through closed doors and windows in the Upper Room, and departs in the same manner. It is as if He was preparing them for the inevitable withdrawal of His physical presence. For forty days He was with His Disciples, and on the 40th Day He led them across a hill that they had often traversed, known as Bethany. There "He blessed them," as St. Luke states at the end of his Gospel, "and slowly He ascended and was taken up into Heaven. Then they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." (Luke 24:51-52) There was no sense of bereavement in that mood. While the references to the Ascension in the Gospels are scanty, they do shine like precious jewels in a noble setting. St. Mark completes his Gospel by stating that "the Disciples went forth, and preached everywhere, with the Lord working with them and bringing forth miracles through them." The abiding truth of our Lord's Ascension is, that He went away, that He might come nearer to them. He left them in bodily presence, that He might be with them everywhere, and at all times. And what was true for the Disciples, is true for all of us, at all times. The Lord explicitly told His Disciples, that He came into the world from God the Father, and it was for Him to leave the world and return to the Father. However, He would not leave them alone, but He would send the Counselor, that is the Holy Spirit, Who would guide them in all truth. And the Holy Spirit did come on that Great Day of the Pentecost, ten days after the Ascension to bless the Apostles with tongues of fire, so that they could preach to the world in all the known languages. It is the Holy Spirit, which oversees the Church, so that She cannot err in Council. What did the Ascension mean to Christ Himself, -- to His Disciples, -- to the early Church? What does it mean to us, living in these turbulent times? No proof of the Ascension of Christ is possible, to one who rejects the fact, of Christ and the supernatural element in this living universe. By the same token, no proof is needed for the believer in Christ. The Ascension is an historical happening, and was a fact witnessed by many, and recorded by the Disciples.. Conversely we have fiction writers, like the one who put together the DaVinci Code, who interwove fiction with slanted incomplete history, to present his novel, which became contagious in the world. This I think says something, about the mentality of the world. The book alone, sold over 60,000,000 copies, and the movie, to which millions rushed, wasn't anything by many reports. Relevant to the Ascension, the question could be asked, "could there have been any other conceivable ending to the earthly life of our Lord than this?" If Christ had simply ceased to appear, the Disciples would have assumed that He was absent from their locality, and that He was somewhere else in that land. The natural tendency would have been to await Him for His next appearance in their neighborhood. But the fact is, that the Lord's Ascension definitely ended His physical appearance on this earth, as they all witnessed and recorded. Henceforth their relationship with the Lord was to be spiritual, invisible, but with the grand feeling of His ever presence at all times. There is no need for pilgrimages to the Holy Lands to sense the living Christ. He abides, not only in Palestine, but wherever His loving people meet; He is at the side of every pilgrim, who turns to Him. If we ascend into the skies, He is there; if we submerge into the depths of the seas, He is there. For Jesus, His Ascension meant what amounted to "'homecoming." The Heavenly places which rang with Angelic songs when He was a newly-born in Bethlehem, must have resounded with Angelic praise upon His return into Heaven. It was also a seal of His having completed the work, which He was commissioned to do. There can be no doubt, that the reason "the Disciples worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy," was that the Ascension convinced them, that their Master was now exalted -- the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. St. Mark in his Gospel states that Jesus sat at the right Hand of the Father. What does that mean? It certifies the omnipotent energy of God, and that He is clothed with all the energy and power of omnipotence. Jesus ascended that He might reign. His throne is in the realm, where a thousand years are as one day. He reigns, but also He is constantly with us, Christians must push past all the confusing thought-forms, to digest the essential good news in Christ. He has not left us, but lives, to lead us. He is our eternal Contemporary. The Lord is not remote, but always at our side. One day the teenager was looking for his Grandmother in the kitchen, and in the den. Not having seen her, he ventured into her bedroom, and saw her rocking in her chair, and holding a prayer book. "Gramma" the teenager said. "You're all alone." "No, my dear child," his Grandmother answered. I'm never alone, because Jesus is always near me!" This was a most powerful message for life for the teenager, who related this to me at his Grandmother's Funeral, over which I officiated. That is the spirit of a true and dedicated Christian. God comes first, then all things follow in their natural sequence. Amen. +Fr. George Papadeas
|
|
Back to home page
Send mail to
epantaz@yahoo.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|