October 9
The parting words
s Jesus was about
to ascend, he spoke the last words he was to utter on earth. At the moment
of going up to heaven, the head commended to our care the members he was
leaving on earth, and so departed. No longer will you find Christ speaking
on earth; in future he will speak from heaven. Why will he speak from heaven?
Because his members are being trampled underfoot on earth. He spoke to
Saul the persecutor from above, saying: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? I have ascended to heaven, but I stilll remain on the earth. Here
at the Father's right hand I sit, but there I still hunger and thirst and
am without shelter.
My friends, you have Christian hearts. Think, then; if the words of
one who is on the way to the grave are so sweet, so precious, so important
to his heirs, what must the last words of Christ mean to his heirs as he
departs, not for the grave but for heaven! When a person has lived and
died his soul is borne away to another place while his body is laid in
the ground. Whether his last request is carried out or not, it matters
little to him now. He has other things to do or suffer. His corpse lies
in the grave, feeling nothing. And yet his dying wishes are carefully obeyed!
If that is so, what will be the lot of those who fail to observe the parting
words of the one who is seated in heaven and who looks down to see whether
they are flouted or not.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
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