May 8, 2005

Right now we are in the short liturgical season sometimes known as Ascensiontide. It is the time between Ascension and Pentecost, when we are expected to make a novena to the Holy Spirit commemorating the nine days when the apostles waited in the Cenacle after Our Lord’s Ascension. At the end of the nineteenth century Pope Leo XIII asked all churches to have a novena to the Holy Spirit at this time.
For the past two years the feast of the Ascension has meant something very special to me. Last year on Ascension Thursday I was released from the hospital after four months. This year on Ascension Thursday I was able to walk a mile — slowly, of course. Christ’s Ascension gives us the hope of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting, which we profess in the Creed. The Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord and, later, the Assumption of Our Lady are the promises given to the human race that we will not only survive death but also have eternal life with God in heaven. We do not have even a remotely clear image of eternal life, but we know that Jesus has promised it to us and died so that we might have it. Eternal life with God is the “abundant life” (see John 10:10) He speaks about; it is what He refers to in John 14 when He tells us He goes to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house. In Ascensiontide lift up your hearts. When I was in the hospital and unable to speak, I could at least say the glorious mysteries of the Rosary. My attention turned often to the Ascension of Our Lord and the Assumption of Our Lady. Whatever else happens — no matter how bad — we have the great promise of eternal life to look forward to, and we see the fulfillment of this in Our Lord and Our Lady. We have so much, therefore, for which to be grateful to God.

— Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R.

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