Twelfth Station

TWELFTH STATION: THE ASCENSION OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN

P  We adore You, O Risen Christ, and we bless You.

A  Because by Your resurrection, You have given life to the world.

R  From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:6-11)

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Reflection on Pier Giorgio from a letter written upon his death by Clementina Luotto

It is the first night that Pier Giorgio is out of the house… Beside that bed, which seemed like an altar to me, I felt for the first time, with a dismay I can never express, that death came down from above and he was taken up… It was his goodness that kept us united… Who will wipe away his smile from our memory and who will ever smile at us like that again?… Now who will go to the mountain again?… Oh the marvellous youthfulness that emanated from him and floated around him, which made us so light-hearted, ready to take a plunge, so free of any mortal hindrance, so close to God who was in him! Who will ever give us this purifying joy again? Who will renew not only under our eyes but in us the miracle of joyful holiness, carefree and fresh and reviving as water from an Alpine spring?… To think that I was close to this miracle of grace and my obtuseness did not make me realise it… The moon is shining now, the moon we hoped would shine for us on our climb. And he is no longer with us. It is enough to drive you mad. Nevertheless he gives his poor relatives the strength to go on living. He will give us the active love we ought to have, above all because he gave us the priceless gift of his friendship… Let us cling to the cross and love each other in his memory, as if and more than if he was still with us. Perhaps that way we shall see his smile shine among us again.

P  Let us pray

A  Oh Risen Jesus, you have gone to prepare a place for us. Keep our eyes fixed on that place of eternal joy. Comfort those who mourn with the realization that someday we will be united again in the fullness of everlasting life. Amen.

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