The Eyes of Our Hearts

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Acts of the Apostles, Ascension, enlightened, Ephesus, eyes, heart, miracle, Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Today Christians celebrate the feast of the Ascension, remembering the day when Christ left the earth after commissioning his apostles to “go into the whole world and tell the good news.” The gospels vary in their descriptions of the event and the book following these accounts, the Acts of the Apostles, opens with its own variation of the fact that “he was lifted up” and disappeared from their sight. It’s one of those events that I think “you had to be there” because it seems like something that has to be seen to be believed. Yet, for over 2,000 years, people the world over have heard and believed and followed the instructions that Jesus gave at that time. That is, perhaps, the best testimony to the truth of what Jesus was all about here on earth – the fact that those he commissioned did what he asked so effectively that the message has endured through all this time.

It’s a miracle, really, given that those same accounts add details about the event that reveal the on-going lack of understanding of the message on the part of the apostles. One says they asked if this was the moment when Christ would restore the kingdom of Israel. Matthew’s gospel says today that as they came to the mountain, summoned by Christ, “when they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.” There is a level of comfort – or maybe relief – in those accounts on days when it all sounds impossible to me, never having seen anyone disappear into thin air.

Once again it is Paul who gives the key to a solution today in his prayer for the early community in Ephesus. He says, “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call…” So, no matter how hard we try, our minds cannot grasp these mysteries; it is only by opening our hearts and seeing from that place that we can know and trust in a deeper way what Jesus, the Christ, was doing here on earth and continues to do through us in “a Spirit of wisdom.”

The Household of God

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Ephesus, gift, global community, greater consciousness, listen, Pope Francis, psalm 19, refugees, Richard Rohr, St. Paul, the household of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It must’ve been an amazing experience to hear the impassioned messages of St. Paul. This morning I can only imagine the gathering in Ephesus catching fire when he proclaims to them that they are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God! (EPH 2:19-22) When he adds the claim that – in Christ Jesus – they are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit, I wonder how many in the crowd were convinced right away, which ones had to ponder and discuss the message and who turned away finding it all too difficult to believe. Once again I am thrown back to images of the crowds lining the streets in our country (or anywhere) to get a glimpse of Pope Francis. There is something palpable about the energy of an event like that and about the outpouring of love that accompanies the one bringing the message.

What does it mean to us today to be “members of the household of God?” Clearly we are called to a greater consciousness, as Richard Rohr says, that “everything belongs” and that we have responsibility in the global community. The psalmist reminds us today of the reach of that responsibility when proclaiming in Psalm 19 that “the heavens proclaim the glory of God and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork…” Just as we are to hear the words of our brothers and sisters in need (perhaps especially the hordes of refugees in Eastern Europe at this moment), we need to be attentive to the groanings of Earth, working to correct our misuse of her resources. And we can’t depend on daily reminders of our place in this household. It’s time for us to act as mature members, listening to the inner promptings of love and recognition, caring for this dwelling place of God that has been given to us as gift.