Readings (Year A):
Acts 1:1 – 11
Psalms 47:2 – 3, 6 – 7, 8 – 9
Ephesians 1:17 – 23
Matthew 28:16 – 20
Reflection: Embrace the change which is now ours
Dear Friends: Today we celebrate Christ’s infinite oneing with the Creator, creation, and creatures.
It is good!
Cut from the Tree of Life, the branches of Jesus’ unbraided crown of thorns lay silent upon the
earth in the garden basecamp.
Poison no more.
Decoupled from violence through divine restoration that surpasses all understanding, the Infinite
with eleven invites us to collaborate in becoming twelve, the fullness of time. In each moment,
with each breath, word, and deed we are called to respond by aligning the beauty and the
suffering of our lives in this garden with Jesus’ teachings of willful ascension to the creator, led
and accompanied by the Holy Spirit.
As they climbed from the basecamp, they surveyed the rock. Its constitution they knew to be inviolable, made for sure footing. Despite this, they doubted as we often do. Christ provided instructions through the Holy Spirit whose presence would soon be with them by second baptism for all time in all places. Go tell and baptize the world with love.
After they rose above the tree line and reached the summit, after the last word was spoken, a cloud took Christ from their sight. His earthly body, too, was from dust. Did he return to the divine constellation? The eternal guardian of the galaxies?
He is the brilliant one in her crown of stars, el Señor del cielo (the Lord of heaven).
As in the annunciation, it is with our openness to the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that God may be seen and known. Such accompaniment is necessary to traverse life in this garden, nurture our Family and enlarge the space of our tent.
Reliance on Christ offers strength amid the poison that remains in our garden; our brothers and sisters being cut from the Tree of Life like the branches of Jesus’ crown of thorns. The depth of this sorrow was well-known by Christ and his mother. The apostles knew it. Those who loved them knew it. We know it as we grieve these losses of life, different from the mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and friends of those taken. Lord have mercy. As St. Paul prays, May God “exercise His great might in you.”
Can we transform the poison by adding Love to its chemistry? Is it possible for us to heal the pain and prevent destruction by turning towards, facing, and taking a few steps closer to one another? Would it make a difference if we stepped up and said, “I was wrong,” followed by another step, “I’m sorry,”? Would it make a difference if we stepped up and said, “I was hurt,” followed by another step, “I forgive you,”? Is it possible for us to take these steps together and repeat them until we’re dancing in peace and love?
As the eleven descended the hillside and returned to the garden basecamp, they embraced their charge which is now ours: sow Love in the image and likeness of the creator. On earth as it is in heaven. Align and ascend through compassionate individual and communal responses to difference and suffering knowing all are sacred, held by grace; all are revered, held by truth; and, all are loved unconditionally, held by the creator.
In this we can rely upon the brilliant one dancing in the crown of stars.
Ven,
Luz Divina,
Ven!
Haznos amantes en la jardín de la Santa Cruz.
Come,
Divine Light,
Come!
Make us lovers in the garden of the holy cross.
(The term “oneing” is Inspired by the publication title, Oneing, from the Center for Action and Contemplation, Santa Fe, NM.)
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