We are still in the Easter season: the gospel reading of this Sunday and the gospel readings we heard during the week give us profound images for lectio, indeed for our lives. Some of these images are peace, abiding, the commandment of love, and the vine.  In emphasizing that these words are images helps us to see the depth of their meaning, a meaning which is expansive and will continue to illicit life as we encounter them in prayer. 

We meet the Risen One in the encounter of love, an encounter that includes forgiveness, receiving a deeper, fuller truth, and a way of being that is broader than the one we are living now.  The encounter is about meeting the One who ‘makes all things new’, new in seeing, new in terms of a fresh perspective on how God meets us and enters our lives, new in terms of how we see ourselves and our sister and brother.

If we are truly friends of Christ we hear, we listen to His voice.  It is our faith that leads us into the posture of ‘listening’, trusting that the Divine voice will be speaking His silent word.

Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar comments on Sunday’s gospel: “‘Remain in my love.’  These words are to remain alive in the hearts of believers, permitting Jesus to address us inwardly in heart and conscience long after he no longer lives among us outwardly” (Light of the Word, p.193).  ‘Remain in my love’: these words are to be alive in and upon our hearts; they also are to be alive upon our daily consciousness and conscience.

The solemnity of the Ascension: now there is no more separation between heaven and earth, they are one…now there is no separation between our earthly lives and the heavenly life….all creation and humanity are now contained within the total mystery of God. The sending of the Spirit, of Christ’s Spirit will confirm this profound unity and will be our link to this profound communion and unity of God’s life. In Pope Francis’ words: “Jesus declares that there is a power ‘in heaven and on earth’. It is, first and foremost, the power to connect heaven and earth. Today we celebrate this mystery because when Jesus ascended to the Father, our human flesh crossed the threshold of heaven: our humanity is there, in God, forever. Therein lies our trust, because God will never distance himself from mankind” (Homily, May 27, 2017).