[Pearls Ep. 121: Friday follow-up]
Suspend reality with us for a moment…
Say we come to you and tell you that this year is going to get much worse – food shortages, $10/gal gas, endless health fear mongering from the elites, war – everything but a plague of locusts.
BUT … in one year we will give you $1 billion. On May 27, 2023 we will give you $1 billion in whatever medium you choose – dollars, gold, bitcoin, gasoline, you name it.
There’s only one requirement, for the next year you must remain faithful to God and do your best to love your neighbor.
That’s it.
I think all of us would be able to weather a stormy year. We’d be thinking “in just a few more months I’m going to be a billionaire” – and that would carry us through.
This is a trivial example (let’s face it, a billion ain’t what it used to be) but it reveals some of the power of the Ascension.
We often refer to Christ as the “Risen Lord,” and for good reason – much hinges on the Resurrection, without which Jesus is nothing more than a charlatan, or delusional, or both. But in the mind and hearts of the great Saints He is also the Ascended Lord – because in His ascension He shows His plan for us. He ascends bodily – in His humanity, which He shares with each of us. He is blazing the trail for us.
We must cultivate this belief; meditate on it, think on it, deepen it, always keep our eyes fixed on it. That is what will sustain us through the trials of this life. Because even if we were given a billion dollars, it is the witness of lottery winner after lottery that it won’t bring happiness. It may bring a measure of security and solve some problems, but new ones would readily creep up. And ultimately death catches up with all of us regardless of our bank account balance.
It is this promise of following Jesus to Heaven that sustains the Saints. They had a very intimate knowledge and inner confidence in being brought to heaven. In comparison to that, the trials of this life were as nothing.
This brings us to St. Bernard of Clairvaux; he began his time of meditation with a simple prayer to turn his mind to Christ and away from worldly concerns and distractions. His prayer is included in the postscript, and through it, St. Bernard invites us to consider our time in meditation as ascending a mountain to be alone with God.
This offering isn’t just words. St. Bernard’s prayer sessions were “practice runs” – a spiritual ascension, in the trust that one day he would ascend body and spirit. St. Bernard had a deep understanding of the meaning of the Ascension – that it is the fulfillment of Christ’s promise that we will join Him in Heaven. Along those lines, here is a simple prayer composed by Bernard –
To complete your seamless role, and so to complete our faith, you ascended through the air into the heavens, before the very eyes of the apostles. In this way you showed that you are the Lord of all, and are the fulfillment of all creation. Thus from that moment every human and every living creature should bow at your name. And, in the eyes of faith, we can see that all creation proclaims your greatness. Amen.
But this scratches the surface. St. Bernard’s deep connection to the Ascension infused everything else he did, including his insights on the “four degrees of love” and the “three comings of Christ” and his stunning accomplishments as a statesman during the Middle Ages. He was also known to have a lively sense of humor in a period of history when that was in short supply.
Christ ascended to Heaven in His humanity – showing us what we’re made for. St. Bernard took that to heart on a daily basis and his life on earth came to resemble life in Heaven.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life
Postscript- The Daily Ascension of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
As part of his entry into daily mediation, part of his recollection, St. Bernard offered the following prayer: “Intentions, thoughts, desires, and my whole interior, come let us ascend the mountain, let us go to the place where the Lord sees or is seen. Cares, solicitudes, anxieties, labors, pains and external duties wait here for my return.”