Sequels. We know what they are! The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated today in the U.S., replacing the 7th Sunday after Easter. Ascension is a sequel feast. The main character of our salvation story, Jesus, is leaving the story, but the story is continuing. Luke, author of both his Gospel and of Acts of the Apostles, links the end of his Gospel and the beginning of Acts with accounts of the Ascension. Luke is telling us that the story of Jesus is continuing — there is a sequel — and we ourselves are characters in it, we people of the kingdom, people of the church. This sequel will have many chapters as human history continues to unfold, but it will have continuing themes flowing from Jesus’ own words and deeds. Unlike Star Wars or Avengers sequels, this sequel won’t die out. It will remain always new, fresh, current, because the Holy Spirit, the transforming breath of God, keeps stirring the waters and writing new chapters. What is your part or my part in this sequel? We ponder that as we, like the apostles in Acts, wait for “the promise of the Father about which you heard me speak,” and prepare ourselves for Pentecost next week.
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia