Ascension of the Lord, Year B – 2021
Time, moments in time, seasons… they rule our life.
But we need to learn how to live according to their rhythm.
The 1st reading of this Feast of the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:1-11) shows him teaching his apostles for the last period during which he will be visibly present with them.
We are told that he is speaking to them about the kingdom of God – in other words, the way God wants to welcome people into relationship with him.
But the apostles ask Jesus:
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Obviously, they are not on the same wavelength…
Jesus corrects them in no uncertain terms:
“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”
I wonder if we, ourselves, would not sometimes deserve the same correction…
What concerns us most, very often, is the time when our own plans are going to be fulfilled.
God’s plan may seem to us more remote, distant, not very real or concrete.
We focus on the goals we set for ourselves, the realizations we want to see achieved.
Our moments are those of the immediate, we look for instant gratification…
We find is so difficult to adjust ourselves to God’s timetable.
Peter, the apostle, was reminding the first Christians:
“Beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day”. (2 Peter 3:8).
A lesson we are in constant need to learn…
And learning together with it patience and the meaning of TIME…
Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/ascension-du-seigneur-annee-b-2021/
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