A Gift in His Absence

The Day of the Ascension is celebrated in the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary  For Luke, the Ascension marks a transition Friar Jude Winkler comments on this passage as an index to the second volume of the writing of the Evangelist. He notes that the description of the Ascension is part of a resume of events which occured after Jesus resurrection. The Who, Where, When and Why of the Ascension is probed by Alyce McKenzie as she describes two images of Jesus from her childhood. Carl Gregg begins a discussion with the statement of this day as just another Thursday and he ends with some thoughts from Thomas Merton on the spititual experience of Ascension.The need to conclude the narrative of Jesus physical Presence among us with symbolic references or the deisre to refute heresey of the spirtiual being superior to the material are elements of Ascension. The gift identified by Friar Jude of Jesus absence is behind the description of our mission described by  Kiel Lierk wherein the actions of the followers of Jesus Way are evidence of the gift of the Spirit to us to be the physical Presence of Jesus