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In the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

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Amen. 
My Lord and my God, I firmly 

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believe that you are here, that 
you see me, that you hear me. 

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I adore you. 
With profound reverence. 

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I ask you for pardon of my sins 
and grace to make this time of 

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prayer fruitful. 
My mother, Immaculate Saint 

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Joseph, my father and Lord, my 
guardian Angel, intercede for 

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me. 
Today we celebrate the Feast of 

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the Ascension of the Lord, and 
it's a very special occasion. 

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It's the culmination of our 
Lord's life with us here on 

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earth, and the day that he 
leaves the apostles and ascends 

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to be with the Father. 
And in the last, the discourse 

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that Jesus made at the Last 
Supper. 

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In Saint John's Gospel chapter 
14, he says that he encourages 

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the apostles to rejoice. 
They're slightly apprehensive 

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when He speaks about how He's 
going to be leaving them, and 

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you can understand that they 
might well be apprehensive at 

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that. 
How on earth are they going to 

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manage and so on if Jesus were 
to leave them? 

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But he says, you heard me say to
you, I go away and I will come 

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to you. 
If you loved me, you would have 

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rejoiced because I go to the 
Father, for the Father is 

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greater than I. 
So the apostles should have 

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rejoiced. 
They should be happy for Jesus 

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on this day that he's going to 
be with the Father. 

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Obviously in his divine side 
he's always with the Father, but

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his human side, which he shares 
with us, his humanity is going 

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to be with the Father now. 
And this should be an occasion 

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for rejoicing for for him that 
we should be delighted for him 

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that this day has come and that 
the resurrection, which is the 

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triumph, the the fruit of the 
cross, has now reached another 

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milestone whereby his human 
nature has ascended to heaven 

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and sits at the right hand of 
the Father. 

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So that's what we're 
celebrating. 

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And let's celebrate this feast 
day. 

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It's one of the great feast days
of the year. 

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I suppose we could say there's 
Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, 

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and Ascension Thursday are 
really the central mysteries of 

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faith that we celebrate every 
year. 

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There are many other great feast
days, but these are so much part

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of what we're celebrating. 
And the other feast days seem to

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be, uh, come as a result of the 
these central four days in our 

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year. 
So it's a day to be happy and to

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rejoice with our Lord. 
And for our Lord, it's also a 

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day to rejoice for ourselves, 
because the liturgy of today's 

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Mass keeps on reminding us that 
this is a day for us too, not 

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just for Jesus. 
Where the head has gone before 

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in glory, the body is called to 
follow in hope. 

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They are words from the collect 
of today's Mass. 

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During the day. 
The Ascension of Christ is our 

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exaltation as well, and so we 
rejoice with devout 

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Thanksgiving. 
And then during the Roman Canon,

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which has a special little 
insert for this day, which only 

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occurs on very special occasions
like Christmas and Easter and 

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Epiphany and, and today, the 
special insert for the Feast of 

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the Ascension puts it as 
follows, Celebrating the most 

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sacred day on which your only 
begotten Son our Lord, placed at

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the right hand of your glory our
weak human nature, which He had 

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united to himself. 
Our weak human nature has been 

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placed at the right hand of the 
glory of God, seated at the 

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right hand of the Father, as we 
often say. 

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So it's as though we all have 
ascended to heaven on this day. 

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Obviously we haven't yet, but 
it's promising us that our human

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nature is going to be placed 
also at the right hand of God. 

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Obviously not quite in the same 
way as Christ's human nature is,

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but still we are in Christ and 
so we receive the same reward, 

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the same great privilege as he 
has has done on this as we 

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celebrate it on this day. 
Jesus didn't discard his 

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humanity at the end of the work 
of redemption. 

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He didn't sort of think, well, 
I've, you know, I've used this 

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human body to die and rise again
and well, that's it's performed.

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It's it's it's task. 
So now I can leave it aside and 

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return to heaven, my divinity. 
But no Christ seated at the 

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right hand of the Father with 
his human body, with the wounds,

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those wounds which even after 
the resurrection are still 

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visible. 
And Thomas is invited to place 

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his hand in Jesus wounds and to 
touched them so as to be 

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convinced of the resurrection. 
We're not so much being 

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convinced of the resurrection by
the wounds remaining in Christ's

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hands, feet and side, but we're 
being convinced of his love for 

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us. 
And every time we see a 

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crucifix, we know that we're 
seeing that and that crucifix is

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retained, that crucified. 1 
still in heaven with those with 

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those wounds. 
They haven't been sort of 

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sanitised, airbrushed out of 
history. 

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They're very much part of the 
real physical, material body of 

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Christ seated at the right hand 
of the Father, from which from 

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where he intercedes for us and 
helps us. 

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Saint Stephen at his martyrdom. 
So heaven opened and Jesus 

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standing, not sitting at the 
right hand of the Father. 

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I suppose he was standing 
because he was there to help 

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Stephen and to encourage him and
to keep him going as the first 

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of all the martyrs. 
Well, Jesus is sitting and 

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standing at the right hand of 
the Father for us too, to help 

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us in our struggles and to 
intercede for us in the Mass of 

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the penitential right. 
We often can say you are seated 

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at the right hand of the Father 
to intercede for us. 

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So the church formally declares 
this as being the case, that 

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he's there at the right hand of 
the Father as our intercessor 

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par excellence, A mediator 
between God and man, because he 

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is both God and man. 
And the church always prays 

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through Jesus, all those prayers
at Mass and other liturgical 

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occasions, it's through Jesus 
Christ our Lord or some, some 

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phrase like that. 
That's how the the prayers 

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always end. 
Because Jesus is true God, but 

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also true man. 
And we can turn to him as to our

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brother who understands us and 
lifts us up and helps us to 

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relate to the Father in him and 
through him. 

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So you have placed your only 
begotten Son, placed at the 

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right hand of your glory, our 
weak human nature, which he had 

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united to himself. 
So it's a it's a day to 

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celebrate this exaltation of our
weak, frail, sinful, not Jesus, 

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of course, but in our case, 
sinful humanity, which we know 

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is able to overcome those sins 
with God's grace through the 

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sacraments and to be touched by 
Jesus healing hand and to join 

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him at the right hand of the 
Father eventually. 

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So with all that in mind, we 
could look at the readings of 

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today's Mass and see what they 
have to tell us about the 

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mystery of the Ascension. 
Because it is a mystery in the 

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sense, not in the sense that 
it's a puzzle, but I suppose 

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it's a mystery in the sense that
while we, on the one hand, we 

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know it very well, it's part of 
our faith. 

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We say it every time we recite 
the Creed, send it to Heaven, 

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sees it at the right hand of the
Father. 

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We know it off by heart. 
But mysteries are funny things 

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that the more you think about 
them, the more you can find out 

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and the more you realise that 
there is still to be found out. 

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Even those mysteries in the 
rosary which we meditate upon 

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and contemplate or try to 
contemplate, we, we don't ever 

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think now. 
Yeah, now I understand that. 

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Perhaps I do. 
Perhaps I have a good 

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understanding of various 
mysteries of the Rosary, but 

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that doesn't mean I've managed 
to exhaust all its meaning. 

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There's much more there. 
There's I'll never be able to 

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completely make understand and 
make my own of. 

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Which is great because we'll 
never run out of ideas and never

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run out of new insights that the
Holy Spirit can inspire in US. 

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And the feast of the ascension 
is like that. 

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We could always find out more 
that more aspects of it which 

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can encourage us and help us to 
ascend with Jesus. 

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The first reading of Mass talks 
about the Acts of the Apostles. 

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When the apostles at the very 
beginning of that book, chapter 

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1, verses 1 to 11, meet with 
Jesus and after the 40 days he 

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had continued. 
St Luke tells us he had 

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continued to appear to them and 
tell them about the Kingdom of 

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God. 
So when he had been at table 

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with them, he told them not to 
leave Jerusalem, or sorry, He 

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had told them not to leave 
Jerusalem, but to wait there for

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what the Father had promised, 
which of course we know in 

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retrospect now is the Holy 
Spirit. 

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The apostles had heard their 
words, but they still didn't 

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know what was going to happen in
a few days time. 

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Not many days from now is how 
Jesus puts it. 

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So perhaps a few days later, 
after that meal, we don't know 

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exactly, but they meet together 
and they asked him, Lord, has 

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the time come? 
Are you going to restore the 

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Kingdom of Israel? 
Because they still were 

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hankering after something like 
the Davidic Kingdom, like the 

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the good old days, the golden 
age of the Kingdom, the United 

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Kingdom around King David in 
Jerusalem. 

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Could this happen once more? 
And now that Jesus has risen 

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from the dead, why, why 
shouldn't, why shouldn't it 

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happen once more? 
So there's still a little bit a 

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little bit inaccurate and not 
very clear about what Jesus task

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of redemption has come to do. 
They still see it in a slightly 

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political way. 
And Jesus answer is very 

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eloquent, not so much by words 
but by actions. 

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He's he replies to them that St 
Hose Maria puts it in his homily

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for the day. 
His reply to them is to ascend 

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to heaven. 
In other words, well, no, I'm 

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not going to restore the Kingdom
to Israel. 

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That is not my task. 
And as he before he actually 

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ascends to heaven, he tells 
them, you will receive power 

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when the Holy Spirit comes on 
you, and then you will be my 

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witnesses, not only in 
Jerusalem, but throughout Judea 

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and Samaria, and indeed to the 
ends of the earth. 

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So he corrects their slightly 
limited perspective of the 

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redemption and of their fate. 
It will only be fully corrected 

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when the Holy Spirit comes, 
actually a few days later. 

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That's when they, it will really
click and they'll understand 

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what's involved in a complete 
way, in a totally rounded way, 

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that it's not a, a social or 
political liberation, even 

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though it will have an impact on
this world, on society and 

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politics. 
Because, well, our Lord's 

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message refers to every aspect 
of human life. 

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And he's still going to be 
present in all those features of

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life, but not in a sort of 
partisan way, but rather 

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inspiring people at all levels 
to be have a new approach to all

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of those realities. 
So as he was saying this, he was

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lifted up while they looked on, 
and a cloud took him from their 

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sight. 
They were staring into the sky 

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when suddenly two men in white 
were standing near them. 

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And they said, why are you men 
from Galilee standing here 

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looking into the sky? 
Jesus who has been taken up from

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you into heaven? 
This same Jesus will come back 

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in the same way as you have seen
him go there. 

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So you can imagine the apostles 
wistfully looking after Jesus as

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he disappears from their sight. 
Nostalgia just missing him 

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already wondering what are we 
going to do now? 

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Who will look after us and and 
the angels help them to not be 

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looking so much into the past 
and not to be thinking of Jesus 

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as a a figure from the past, but
rather remember that he is with 

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them now that it's here and it's
now that they can do good and 

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they can be witnesses of all 
these things. 

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They're going to have to roll up
their sleeves and bring what 

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they have received to the whole 
world, even though they still 

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feel totally unable and the fact
are totally unable to do so 

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until the Holy Spirit really 
comes and helps them to first of

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all see and then also to love 
with a love that overcomes all 

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the difficulties and fears that 
they may be feeling. 

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That moment has not yet come, 
but the angels are sort of 

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saying to them, the two men in 
white, presumably angels are 

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saying it's now it's here. 
You can go tea to all nations 

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and be witnesses. 
So start now. 

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Don't be looking upwards, don't 
be looking after him. 

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But he is with you all days, so 
whatever you're going to be 

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doing, you won't be on your own.
And eventually we assume this 

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convinced them and they set out,
as they definitely will on 

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Pentecost Day to to do all of 
this. 

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And well, I suppose we wouldn't 
have what we have today if they 

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hadn't managed to do so. 
The second reading then goes on 

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to talk about in more detail 
where has Jesus gone? 

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The Hebrews it is not not as 
though Christ had entered a man 

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made sanctuary which was only 
modelled on the real 1. 

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So they're alluding to the 
letter of the Hebrews is often 

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about the sacrifices and the 
temple, that in the centre of 

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Jerusalem, centre of the Jewish 
faith, and trying to show that 

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there is a greater temple, a 
greater sacrifice that has 

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fulfilled that promise of the 
old dispensation. 

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And this moment of the Ascension
is when Jesus entered not an 

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unmade sanctuary modelled on the
real one, the Holy of Holies in 

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the temple for instance, but it 
was heaven itself, so that he 

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could appear in the actual 
presence of God on our behalf. 

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And he does not have to offer 
himself again and again, like 

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the high priest going into the 
sanctuary year after year with 

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blood that is not his own. 
No, he has made his appearance 

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once for all, now at the end of 
the last age, to do away with 

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sin by sacrificing himself. 
In other words, brothers, 

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through the blood of Jesus we 
have the right to enter the 

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sanctuary by a new way which He 
had opened for us, a living 

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opening through the curtain, the
big screen in the temple which 

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screamed off the holy of Holies,
and nobody could enter except 

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the high priest on the great Day
of Atonement. 

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Well, Jesus has entered in to 
the true Holy of Holies, and we 

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can all enter with him and in 
him and after him he's entered 

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into heaven itself. 
And as we've been saying earlier

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on, we, our humanity, our human 
frailty, is joined with him and 

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has entered into that same place
with him because we are sharers 

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somehow in his divinity, because
we share in his humanity. 

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So in that sense, it's a great 
day for us to to. 

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Think that we have been brought 
into God's presence. 

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And this of course happens in so
many different ways. 

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We think of the Blessed 
Eucharist, how we can have this 

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familiarity with Jesus, and we 
can think of how Jesus has given

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us Mary to be our mother too, so
that we can be in Christ, sons 

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and daughters of the Father. 
So we really have entered into 

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this holy of holies, even though
we're living in the midst of 

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everyday life. 
But as St Josemaria puts it, the

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divine paths of the earth have 
been opened up. 

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And so whether it's work or 
friendships or family or joys or

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sorrows, all the different 
things that occur to us, they 

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have a new meaning because Jesus
has touched all of these things 

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and he has brought them with him
to heaven so they can sanctify 

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us. 
Saint Joseph Maria was very keen

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on saying, you know that the the
the feast of the Ascension tells

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us that all human life can be 
sanctified because Jesus has 

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touched it. 
He worked, he had friends, he 

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lived, he died, he had joys, he 
had sorrows, he had a family. 

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He had everything that we have 
except sin. 

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And even he touched the horrible
after effects of sin in his own 

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life, everything. 
And he has brought all of that 

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00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,640
with him to to heaven, brought 
all of us there too. 

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So this feast day really does 
help us to be able to follow 

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with Him and rejoice with that. 
The divine paths of the earth 

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have all been opened up. 
Everything is now different, 

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even though it remains exactly 
the same. 

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We don't expect little miracles.
We expect to. 

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We expect the the miracle of 
doing, living ordinary life in 

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an extraordinary way with God's 
grace. 

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Finally, we have the Gospel, 
which of course deals with the 

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ascension as well. 
So we're lucky in this feast 

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00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:51,200
day. 
We have the Acts of the Apostles

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which has an account of the 
ascension, and we have Saint 

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00:22:53,720 --> 00:23:00,760
Luke's Gospel written by the 
same writer and he has a 

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00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,520
slightly more truncated version 
of the ascension in the Gospel. 

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As he blessed them, he withdrew 
from them and was carried up to 

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00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,200
heaven. 
He blessed them. 

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00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,120
Can imagine Jesus with his hands
outstretched, blessing them. 

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00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,080
Perhaps not the sign of the 
cross as we're used to, but just

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00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:28,920
blessing them, you know, hands 
outstretched, symbolising all 

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00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,680
the graces and all the blessings
that He was bestowing upon them,

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00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,040
potentially which would emerge 
as time went by. 

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00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,240
He was carried up to heaven and 
they worshipped him. 

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00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:51,400
And he explained just before he 
ascended to heaven that you see 

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00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,320
how it is written that the 
Christ would suffer and on the 

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00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:59,200
third day rise from the dead, 
and that in His name, repentance

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00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,400
for the forgiveness of sins 
would be preached to all the 

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00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,280
nations beginning from 
Jerusalem. 

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00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:14,920
And this is a constant kind of 
chorus in what we read after the

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00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:20,800
resurrection that Jesus 
explains, and then the apostles 

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00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:26,160
afterwards from their in their 
turn after Pentecost day, when 

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00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:31,680
they're explaining things, they 
always underline this is exactly

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00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,160
what was written in the 
Scriptures. 

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00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:38,200
This is what we were expecting 
for centuries and it has now 

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00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,040
happened. 
And so they link up the 

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00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,280
prophecies with what actually 
happened to Jesus. 

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00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,400
Remember when Jesus was speaking
to the two disciples on the road

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00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,960
to a mosque, was it not 
necessary that the Christ should

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00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,880
suffer these things and so enter
into his glory? 

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00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,600
And then he explained to them 
all those things in the 

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00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:04,880
Scriptures concerning himself. 
It would have been lovely to 

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00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:09,240
have heard of that explanation. 
But in a certain sense, the 

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00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,200
Church is always giving us that 
same explanation. 

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00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,680
We hear it all the time from the
very first preaching of Peter on

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00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,760
Pentecost day right down to our 
present day. 

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00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:27,040
The Church is always saying this
is what was promised and it has 

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00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,360
happened. 
This is the fulfilment of what 

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00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:36,080
God had undertaken to His chosen
people. 

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00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:45,880
Now it has truly happened, and 
you can imagine how for the 

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00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:52,480
apostles, they would suddenly 
understand a kind of aha moment 

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00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:57,760
when everything clicked, all the
things that they knew but still 

322
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:05,000
were in sort of a kind of 
potential state, all those 

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00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,120
promises that have been made, 
but the Messiah and how what he 

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00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:10,960
would do. 
And now it had happened. 

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00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,920
At the time, perhaps they 
weren't all that clear that it 

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00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,040
was happening because for 
instance, the crucifixion, they 

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00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,440
thought this was disaster. 
Saint Peter had said before and 

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00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,840
this can't happen to you, Lord. 
And then when it did happen, we 

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00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,680
can imagine, we know that he 
denied Jesus three times and ran

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00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,440
away and so on. 
So they, they found it hard to 

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00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,960
take it to heart. 
But now they're beginning to see

332
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,120
this was what was promised. 
This was, this is what it was 

333
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:39,880
all about. 
They take it on board and 

334
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,760
they're able to pass it on. 
But still the feast of the 

335
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:46,960
Ascension, the day of the 
ascension must have been hard 

336
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,200
for them because they knew this 
was Jesus to finish of leaving 

337
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,920
them. 
I mean, after the resurrection, 

338
00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:53,800
he hadn't been with them all the
time. 

339
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:55,400
He appeared to them from time to
time. 

340
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,200
Saint Paul gives us a list of 
the appearances of Jesus, two 

341
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:05,000
groups, you know, all the 
apostles together, just Peter, 

342
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,160
500 disciples all at once, 
etcetera. 

343
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,360
And then finally the appearance 
of the ascension. 

344
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,400
And you could say finally, 
finally his appearance to Saint 

345
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,960
Paul, to Seoul, on the road to 
Damascus. 

346
00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:24,720
But now they know this is it. 
He's gone. 

347
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,520
He's not going to be with them 
even in that intermittent way 

348
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,000
any further. 
And it must have been tough for 

349
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,320
them. 
But what do they do? 

350
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,120
They turn to, they go back to 
Jerusalem. 

351
00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:41,720
Saint Luke in the Acts tells us 
exactly how this goes. 

352
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:47,080
They go back to Jerusalem and 
they go to the upper Room, where

353
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,080
presumably the same upper room 
where they'd had the Last 

354
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,400
Supper. 
They go up to the upper room 

355
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,400
where they were staying. 
Peter and John and James and 

356
00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,760
Andrew, Philip and Thomas, 
Bartholomew and Matthew, James 

357
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,680
the son of Alphaeus, Simon the 
Zealot, Judas the son of James. 

358
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,080
All these with one accord 
devoted themselves to prayer 

359
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:14,680
together with the women and Mary
the mother of Jesus and with his

360
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:19,160
brethren. 
So it's not by chance that Mary 

361
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:25,200
is at the heart of the church, 
the church that's still waiting 

362
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,480
to be born on Pentecost morning,
you might say. 

363
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,560
But Mary's at the heart of it 
because she's always at the 

364
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:36,520
heart of the church. 
And in her, the church finds her

365
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,400
faith, her hope. 
She never lost hope, even at the

366
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,880
crucifixion. 
And her love, because she's the 

367
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,840
mother. 
Son, behold your mother, woman, 

368
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:58,840
behold your Son as Jesus had 
said to to them, even from the 

369
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,960
cross, and even to say anything 
must have been a huge effort. 

370
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,440
He said that he left us. 
Mary and the apostles realised 

371
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,240
that she was the one to whom 
they must turn, and we always 

372
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,960
continue to do that. 
And as the month of May 

373
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:23,560
finishes, we want to keep on 
turning to her and asking her 

374
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:28,680
for all the things that the 
church, the work and each of us 

375
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:34,040
needs. 
I give you thanks, my God, for 

376
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:39,120
the good resolutions, affections
and inspirations which you have 

377
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,720
communicated to me in this 
meditation. 

378
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,360
I ask you for help to put them 
into effect. 

379
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:51,960
My mother, Immaculate Saint 
Joseph, my father and Lord, my 

380
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,000
guardian Angel, intercede for 
me.