Monthly Archives: May 2025

The Ascension in the Gospel

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The first reading for Sunday is taken from the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles. The gospel reading is taken from Luke 24.  Yesterday we considered the account in the Acts of the Apostles in detail. Today we turn our attention to the Gospel account.

From the earliest times in the church, there was a danger of docetism, the heretical belief that Jesus was God behind a thin veneer of humanity: thus his suffering was only play-acting, and the Resurrection was simply a return to a completely spiritual existence with no bodily effect. The Letters of John combated this error (1 John 4:2–3; 2 John 7). The narrative from the Upper Room which precedes our passage stresses that Jesus’ resurrection body is real. The disciples touch him; the marks of the passion are visible in his hands and feet; he eats with the disciples.

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The Ascension in Acts

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The first reading for Sunday is taken from the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles. The gospel reading is taken from Luke 24. Yesterday we considered a detailed account of the first part of the reading from Acts. Today, we continue our detailed look.

But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Verse 1:8 provides a “table of contents” for Acts. The witness “in Jerusalem” is Acts 2 to 7. “Throughout Judea and Samaria” is from chapters 8 to 12, and to “the ends of the earth” from Acts 13 to 28. “The ends of the earth” is an echo of Isa 49:6 (“I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” – quoted explicitly in Acts 13:47)) Both Acts and the Psalms of Solomon, a slightly earlier non-Biblical Jewish writing, apply the phrase “the ends of the earth” to Rome. Acts ends in Rome. And Pss Sol 8:15 calls the Roman general Pompey “him that is from the end of the earth.” Of course, it can simply mean the whole of the world, even beyond Rome.

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Naval Special Warfare

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I enjoy reading. While I read scriptural and spiritual books, I also read for my own entertainment, enlightenment, or just because that looks interesting. I just finished a book by Benjamin H. Milligan entitled, “By Water Beneath the Walls: The Rise of the Navy Seals.”  It is not a collection of SEAL war stories, although such accounts are present in the book to the extent they serve a larger question. The author is addressing a question of history, policy and “the way things turn out.” Here’s the question:

How did the US Navy – the branch of the US military tasked with patrolling the oceans – ever manage to produce a unit of raiders trained to operate on land? And how, against all odds, did that unit become one the world’s most elite commando forces, routinely striking thousands of miles from the water on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and even Central Africa.  Behind the SEAL’s improbable rise lies the most remarkable underdog story in American military history.

Mr. Milligan served with the SEALs for 8 years and it was a question that was in his mind as he operated. “So, how did this happen? How did the US Navy create a unit whose operational center of gravity is not only directed at a mission performed on 29% of the earth’s surface that its ships cannot touch, but on so fraught with difficulties that most units of the Army and Marine Corp – the US military’s tradition tenants of its land operations – are not able to perform it with any where near the same proficiency?”

You might be thinking “didn’t the Underwater Demolition Teams (UTD) just become the SEALs?” Hardly. The history is fascinating, convoluted, and even involves the CIA. It was a fascinating account, well researched and written. It is not a story that unfolds in a straight line, but runs through Little Creek VA, Ft. Pierce FL, Coronado CA, North Africa, Saipan, Korea, Vietnam, mainland China, and an itinerary that covers the globe.

And as it happens, 50 years ago Naval Special Warfare Group ONE was formed with its headquarters on Coronado Island, California. NSWG consists of Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC). NSWG-1’s legacy builds on a rich history of naval special operations dating back to 1942, when the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders and the Naval Demolition Unit were formed to conduct critical missions during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. These units laid the foundation for the modern SEAL teams. 

If you enjoy military history, it is well worth the read.

Persistence

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Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us a glimpse into the ordinary life of Saint Paul and how God’s extraordinary grace works through very human circumstances.

Paul arrives in Corinth, a bustling, morally complex city (a nice way of saying it was a typical naval port town). Apart from its activities in support of Mediterranean trade and shipping, because of its international flavor it was a center of a wide variety of temples. One of the larger communities was Jewish, in part because of political persecution in Rome. It is there that Paul  meets Aquila and Priscilla, refugees from Rome. It seems as though they met in the course of their ordinary work: tentmakers. Of course, we remember them as great evangelizers.

This passage reminds us that evangelization often begins and happens in the ordinary. Paul’s partnership with Aquila and Priscilla is not just practical—it’s providential. It’s a reminder for us: our workplaces, our homes, our daily routines can become sacred spaces if we allow God to work through them.

Later in the passage, we see Paul’s persistent preaching. Despite rejection in the synagogue, he doesn’t give up. He simply moves next door, to the house of Titius Justus. And what happens? Crispus, the synagogue leader, comes to believe in the Lord, along with his entire household. Paul’s endurance, guided by the Spirit, bears fruit—just not in the way or place he may have first expected.

Paul is “kicked out” of Corinth, but he has sown the seeds of faith. Someone else will harvest the fruit of his work – as it often is and will be.

So, what does this mean for us? Few of us are preachers, but your example of faith in your job, in your family, or among your neighbors, can touch hearts. Maybe you’re facing rejection or disappointment, but, like Paul, be persistent; don’t give up. New possibilities exist in the very next session of ordinary. And don’t convince yourself that your life is too ordinary to matter in God’s plan. The history of CHristianity is a story of butchers, bakers, candlestick makers – and tentmakers, too – being used by God as a springboard for the Gospel.

Ask for the grace today to be faithful in the ordinary, open to the Spirit’s prompting, and persistent in love, so that like Paul, we trust that God is at work, even when we can’t yet see the full fruit..

Image credit: Saint Paul Writing His Epistles | attributed to Valentin de Boulogne | Houston Museum of Fine Arts| PD-US

The Mission Ahead

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The first reading for Sunday is taken from the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles. The gospel reading is taken from Luke 24. Yesterday we considered a high-level view of the unity of the two volumes as a way of showing the centrality of the Ascension as a connection of the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. Today we consider the Ascension itself.

I think it may be a fair statement that we modern readers are more engaged by the actual ascending into heaven, but I would suggest that is not Luke’s central focus. Luke is more concerned with what was said than with what happened. The vital question was the one posed by the disciples: now that Jesus had been raised from the dead, was God going to complete his purpose by finally establishing his rule? The answer given was twofold. First, the time of this event remained God’s secret; what was more important was the immediate task of the disciples which was to act as witnesses to Jesus from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. The spread of God’s rule was to take place by means of the disciples, empowered by the Spirit. This was the final command of Jesus before he left the disciples. 

Secondly, the departure of Jesus was interpreted as a pattern for his ultimate return to the earth to inaugurate the final establishment of the rule of God. These verses spell out God’s purpose and the place of the church in it. They postulate that the period of witness and mission must precede the return of Jesus. They were in effect a warning to the disciples not to expect a speedy winding up of history. For Luke’s readers some forty or more years later they were a reminder of an ongoing task: the gospel must still be taken to the end of the earth. At the same time the words contain a note of promise in that the departure of Jesus is compensated for by the coming of the Spirit, given by Jesus himself (2:33).

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7  He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.  The question about restoring the rule to Israel in 1:6 also shows continued misunderstanding about what the kingdom of God meant. Acts 2:3 will show that God’s promise was about the coming of the Holy Spirit, not an earthly empire. The prohibition against trying to compute the times of the end is meant to discourage Luke’s readers from guessing what cannot be known. Rather, they should focus on the power of the Spirit as the sign of living in the promised final days. Luke says Christians are to use this power during whatever time is left to witness to Jesus to the ends of the earth. They should not waste energy trying to figure out when the end of the world will be….to be continued. 

Image credit: detail of “Ascension of Jesus” | John Singleton Copely, 1775 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | PD-US

The scorpion and the fox

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A well know fable:

A scorpion wants to cross a river and asks a fox to carry him across on its back.
The fox hesitates, afraid that the scorpion will sting him.
The scorpion argues, “If I sting you, we’ll both drown.”
The fox agrees, and they begin to cross the river.
Halfway across, the scorpion stings the fox.
As they both begin to sink, the fox gasps, “Why did you do that?”
The scorpion replies, “I couldn’t help it. I am what I am.”

The fable teaches that some people cannot (or are unwilling) change their fundamental nature—even when it’s self-destructive or goes against logic. It is with that in mind that I recommend the the article: Why Americans Don’t Understand Vladimir Putin.

Evangelization Masterclass

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The account of St. Paul’s address on the Areopagus in Athens is a masterclass in the evangelization of the culture – a skill surely important for our day and age. His arrival in Athens is, in its way, the introduction of Christianity to Europe. It was an event, while of no particular note or importance to historians, thoughts leaders, or philosophers of the day, was one that shaped the history of Western Europe and eventually the world.

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Ascension Account Compared

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The first reading for Sunday is taken from the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles. The gospel reading is taken from Luke 24. Previously we considered the Acts of the Apostles as a whole, Today we take a high-level view of the unity of the two works of scripture.

Luke begins Acts as he begins his Gospel, with a foreword to his patron Theophilus, reminding him that the “first book” covered the time until Jesus was taken up by God to heaven. The Gospel ends with a brief reference to this incident (Luke 24:51), which was preceded by important teaching given by Jesus to his disciples. So important was this teaching that we have three accounts of it. Luke records it in the Gospel (Luke 24, especially vv. 44–49); he then summarizes it briefly in this introductory part of Acts, and then he covers certain aspects of it once again in the story of the ascension which is the first incident in the main narrative in Acts (1:6–11). The repetition is partly for emphasis, and at the same time it indicates that the period from Easter Sunday to the Ascension is both the conclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus and the beginning of the work of the church. This period had two important characteristics. It provided evidence that Jesus was alive (1:3), having risen from the dead, and it was the time when Jesus gave his mission orders to the apostles (1:4f.; cf. 1:7f.).

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Faith that Frees

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In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Silas are stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison. Their only “crime” was setting a slave girl free from possession by a spirit – and interfering with the men who profited by her oracles. But what stands out most in this passage isn’t the injustice they suffered — it’s what they did while imprisoned: they prayed and sang hymns to God.

Paul and Silas were not only physically bound, but also humiliated and wounded. Yet, “about midnight”, when things seemed darkest, they chose to pray and sing. This is more than optimism — it is deep trust in God. They didn’t wait for their chains to fall off before worshiping. They worshiped while still in chains.

What about us? How often do we wait for our problems to be solved before thanking God? Paul and Silas show us that praise is not dependent on our situation — it needs to be rooted in our relationship with God.

“there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose” (Acts 16:26)

But Paul and Silas don’t run — and neither do the other prisoners. Something about their prayerful presence kept everyone calm and centered.

What about us? I hope you realize that your quiet prayers, your long years of trust in God might be helping others just by being steady, faithful, and present. It is witness and can influence those around us. The jailer, who was ready to take his own life thinking the prisoners had escaped, finds hope because of their witness. Paul says, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” (v.28)  The jailer, shaken to the core, falls before them and asks: “…what must I do to be saved?”

Paul responds with the Gospel in its simplest form: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” That very night, the jailer and his whole household are baptized. He who once held Paul and Silas captive now washes their wounds. This is the power of grace: it reverses roles, heals enemies, and brings salvation where there was despair.

When we find ourselves “in prison” — whether through suffering, discouragement, or uncertainty — may we remember this lesson from Paul and Silas. Let us choose prayer over panic, praise over bitterness, and faith over fear. God still opens prison doors and loosens chains — sometimes not by removing the problem, but by transforming hearts, starting with our own.

Image credit: “Paul and Silas in Prison” | Joseph Mulder (ca.1725) | Museum of Fine Arts Ghent | PS-US