Reflection from Fr. John for Feast of Ascension: Acts 1:1-11; Mt 28:16-20

Up till now we’ve been told to stay home during this time. On this Feast of the Ascension Jesus tells us to “Go.” He says, “Go make disciples of all nations.” He’s challenging us to move out of our comfort zones.

Staying at home can make us feel comfortable. We can get comfortable with ourselves not reaching out to others in need.

Going out of ourselves moves us beyond those comfort zones. It moves us to discover more of ourselves, be witnesses. Jesus is telling us don’t be afraid to witness to my love in word and in deed. Jesus says “make disciples of all nations.” Jesus is telling us to live in a way that transforms the world.

Just before Ascending Jesus said to the disciples, “You will be my witnesses.” We’ve witnessed a lot during this time. We’ve witnessed suffering and grief. Now it’s time to and be witnesses to His love.

The child psychologist Alice Miller talks about what it means to be “Enlightened Witnesses.” She says it means returning people to their best selves thru kindness and love. That’s the way spouses, friends and parents witness best. It means witnessing, helping loved ones to return to their best self thru kindness and love.

As we think about returning to work, to church and everyday living, we need to think more about how our acts of kindness and love can help people return to themselves. For it’s not just about getting back to church. It’s about getting back to being church, to being witnesses of His love.

A Maryknoll missionary witnessed that while leading a bible study in a prison in China. She said one of the women who came was not Christian. But the woman said she came because “they have something that I don’t have and I want that.” Being a witness means living in a way that people will want what we have.

Bonhoeffer said that means living lives of cruciformed love. That means living lives shaped by the cross of Christ---sacrificial love much like we have witnessed by the sacrifices made by doctors, nurses, and first responders during this Pandemic.

That kind of love is measured by Jesus’ arms stretched out on the cross for our sakes. A young man in a wheel chair was asked how tall he was. He didn’t know how to answer because, being confined in a wheel chair, he couldn’t stand up. So the person told him to extend his arms out side to side. She measured the span of his arms from tip to tip and said you are six feet tall.

I don’t know about measuring height by extending arms out to the side, but I do know that extending our arms out to others in love and compassion is the measure of one’s heart.

When Jesus says “Go make disciples of all nations…” he’s telling us to extend our arms out to those beyond our boundaries. He’s telling us to reach out to those on the margins, to all those in need.

As businesses and churches begin to open up, it can be a sign that things are beginning to look up—hopefully. The disciples were not as hopeful as they were looking up and witnessing Jesus being taken up and away from them.

Jesus was leaving them. That was unsettling. He promised to return, but it was the between time that was unsettling. Living in this between time before all is back to normal is unsettling for all of us. The challenge is learning to live in the space of those between times.

I heard a story of someone using sidewalk chalk to draw two big hearts six feet apart. Between the two hearts they wrote, “Love is in the space between us.” During this time of social distancing love has been in the space between us. Who would have thought that keeping space could be a sign of love and care?

Just as love enables us to keep space between us during this time, love will enable us to live in the space of time till Jesus returns. For it’s our love that makes Him Present in this time and during the times we experience His absence.

NBC carried a story about children using sidewalk chalk to communicate with loved ones and neighbors. They titled the story “Transforming Concrete into a Canvas of Hope.” That’s what we become when we witness to His love. We become canvases of hope to others.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Walk and talk in a manner of love.”

If we do that, we will be His witnesses.