I look at the life of the Catholic and see seasons of preparation and waiting.  Waiting not in passivity but engagement.

• Advent, we spend four weeks in preparation and anticipation of the birth of Jesus.
• Lent, a six-week period of penance that culminates in the celebration of Easter.
• Sacred Paschal Triduum, the holiest three-day period in which we recall the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.
• Eastertide which spans the period from Easter Sunday until Pentecost
• Ascensiontide is that ten-day period that begins on the day that Jesus ascended to Heaven and ends at Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles of Jesus.

Each, a season of extraordinary grace.  Each, a season of Christ’s promise fulfilled.  But each, calls us to actively participate, to take our place in the promise of Christ and to make it our own.  As we move through the season of Ascensiontide I am reminded of the following:

 

Acts 1:6-11

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samar'ia and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 

With those words, in the eyes of the disciples, Jesus was gone.  They had abandoned all they had known, their families, their profession… and followed.  And now their beloved friend, teacher and master was no more.  They were told to wait.  I would think that they would be scared and grieving.  A short passage comes to mind from Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.:

 

The Introit reflects the feelings which the Apostles must have experienced during the time between the departure of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit : “ Hear, O Lord, my voice calling to You.... I seek Your face, O Lord, do not hide Your face from me.”

 

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 verses 52-53 we are told “ And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.”  They waited for the promise of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit shall come down upon them and they shall be filled with strength and understanding and they will be His witnesses.  Perhaps at the time they may not have fully understood what was being asked of them and what lay ahead, but in faith, they waited.

Jesus makes that same promise to each of us and asks: "wait and pray for the Holy Spirit, then be My witnesses to the ends of the earth."  What is really being asked of us?  What should we read between the lines?  What is our participation in the fulfillment of Christ’s promise?  We need not look far to find what we are called to.  We are reminded at Holy Mass.  Love.  Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind.  Love.  Love your neighbor as yourself.   1 Peter 4:8 clearly states our calling:

 

Above all hold unfailing your love for one another…

 

We are called to Charity. 

The Rule of Benedict should remind us that Christ and our salvation is not found merely through pious religious acts, but through how we encounter one another.  How we respond to the needs of our neighbor.  How we love one another.  Our active participation in the promise of Ascensiontide and Pentecost is that of Charity.   Be the witness of God’s charity through example.  Be hopeful, be joyful and pray for one another.  To paraphrase Fr. Gabriel:

 

“O Lord, do not hide Your face from me” or my neighbor.

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