Ascension Sunday 12th May 2013
Welcome to Ascension Sunday! ‘(God be with the days when we used to say welcome to Ascension Thursday)’. Who says the Irish Hierarchy don’t take decisions that affect a real change in Irish life’!! The Bishops’ decision a few years ago to topple the two ‘Thursdays’ (Corpus Christi being the other) to land on the following Sunday wasn’t seen by everyone at the time as one of the most pressing needs in terms of ‘change’ in the Irish Church – but there you have it!
The essential message of Ascension Day hasn’t changed though, despite the calendar move. Jesus of Nazareth has in fact put Himself beyond the limits of human space and time. The Jesus of history is technically beyond the grasp of human eyesight – but ‘Jesus as Lord’ is not beyond the wider grasp of those whose ‘insight’ searches for Him in Faith! The heart that knows the love of others, the life that knows the joy of peace, and the mind that rests content, can so much more easily know ‘His presence’, as the touch of God itself.
That’s what we each seek as individuals as well as being members of our Cabinteely Christian Community. And speaking of our faith Community in that way, we can’t ever forget that ‘grace builds on nature’ – it’s not an extra layer spread across the top of it! The better the quality of our daily life, the better will be the quality our reflective life because of it!
There is no denying that ‘daily’ life for many people at this time is proving to be very challenging – and a large reason for that (though obviously not in every case) is the ever tightening squeeze that is being put on personal finances. Mortgage commitments, the cost of children’s’ educational and other requirements, increase in the amount of charges, taxes, health insurance and/or pensions etc etc. Of course the old saying that says ‘our health is our wealth’ is still very true – but so too is the fact that a deficit of material wealth is equally likely to adversely affect our physical as well as our mental health. It is in the reality of that very real link between theory and practice, between external facts and inner peace that the truth of The Ascension is best experienced: that He who is gone beyond our sight is not beyond our presence!
A.O’N
PS Am writing this post script in red to emphasize that red is still the colour of our bank borrowings!!
The end of our financial year is June 30th at which stage we will be in a better position to tell you the exact state of our financial affairs. Fully conscious of the straightened circumstances I referred to above for so many I’m also very conscious of how much we are indebted as a parish to those whose ideas and on going generous contributions continue to make so many aspects of parish life possible.
No doubt this is a subject to which we will have to return again and again and again!!!!!