Mass was offered on Wednesday in thanksgiving, on account of J, and again today for the repose of the souls of Ann and Frank Spencer (++), may they be all blest.
I've been thinking very much in the last few days about the Acts of the Apostles, which has provided first readings for us at Mass. And the stories are fascinating. However, it's Ascension day, and I'm going to talk about the gospel readings, which have been coming from the Gospel of Saint John. It's mostly our Lord's farewell speech to his Apostles. Chapter sixteen of the Gospel of Saint John. Christ has been saying some quite scary things: Jewish Christians will be expelled from the synagogues and people will come hunting for Christians, thinking they are doing God a favour, etc. But, then, He says to them that He has to go, that it is better that He leaves before all of this comes to pass, before the persecution of the Christians begins. Why?
The answer is, of course, that He must depart before the Holy Spirit is bestowed on the Church, for reasons that He didn't disclose and that theologians may guess at. It got me thinking of that last part of the great Creed that we recite in church on Sundays:
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified.
The Spirit of God that would pour upon the Church would strengthen her to suffer the persecutions and the sufferings in joy and tranquility. And we see that clearly in the Acts of the Apostles.
"'It will be for Him, the truth-giving Spirit, when He comes, to guide you into all truth. He will not utter a message of His own; He will utter the message that has been given to Him; and He will make plain to you what is still to come. And He will bring honour to Me, because it is from Me that He will derive what He makes plain to you. I say that He will derive from Me what He makes plain to you, because all that belongs to the Father belongs to Me.'" - the Gospel of S. John, 16: 13-15
We were not to be alone and abandoned by the Ascension of Christ, by His physical departure from this world. God comes to us in different ways and for different reasons. Now the Son departs in order that the Spirit may arrive. And as the Church begins to grow and suffers the inevitable reaction from Jew and non-Jew alike, the help of the Holy Spirit is more important. For, as Christ says,
"'...it is better for you I should go away; he who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send him to you.'" - Gospel of S. John, 16: 7
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