We live in hope because we have been blessed with the opportunity of participating in the exaltation of Jesus. This hope is based on promises: the promise that we will not be left orphaned when Jesus returns to his Father; the promise that we will be comforted by the Spirit whom Jesus will send. It is trust in God that enables us to live in this world as if the promises have already been fulfilled, for in fact, it is precisely such living that fulfils them.
We have not celebrated the Ascension, and yet all three readings speak of the Spirit. The same Spirit, who quickened the resurrected life of Jesus, enlivens us. This Spirit strengthens, comforts, guides and inspires us. Life in the Spirit requires that we conform our lives to the commandments of God, not in a legalistic or constraining way but out of love. The love that comes to us through the Spirit will then overflow into the lives of others, and we will be agents of God’s love in the world.
The Spirit given by Christ is mediated through the laying on of hands. This still happens in our day in the gentle touch of friends, in the loving touch of parents, in the healing touch of those who cure both the body and the spirit. The liturgical year is preparing us for the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, and Jesus is preparing us for life in the Spirit here on earth. This is the reason for our hope.
© Dianne Bergant CSA, https://www.liturgyhelp.com/calendar/date/2026May10/0/RefDiBer