Ascending_Together

Radio New Jerusalem

Ascending Together

Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 4, 2008

By Philip D. Ropp

     Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven where, we are told in Scripture and Creed, He sits at the right hand of God the Father, and from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. In these past few days in which I have been learning the routines of the Saginaw County Jail with Chaplain Sue, I’ve noticed that there are times and places within this facility in which “living” and “dead” almost seem like relative terms. From a Bible Study in the North Dorm that was so alive that Brother Scott aptly described it when he said that, “The Holy Spirit was thick as a cloud,” to the tormented eyes of men looking out from a darkness that is so physical and so spiritual and so hopeless that it seems as if death itself is lurking in the darkened corners: The emotional and spiritual range of this place is like no other place I’ve ever been.

     The Ascension of Jesus into heaven is an occasion of great celebration. Because He has returned to the Father, He has sent to us the Holy Spirit that He promised. In the older English versions of the Bible, this Holy Spirit is referred to as the “Comforter,” and so we are told that our “Comforter cometh,” and the comfort that we have is found in the truth that because Jesus has gone to the Father in glory, we will also one day join Him and be glorified with Him and in Him, and our joy will be complete. And when we turn our hearts to Him in study, in prayer and in meditation, the promise of the Holy Spirit that was made to those first Christians becomes our prize as well, and we claim it in victory knowing that, as our brother Paul tells us in Romans 10:9, “Jesus is Lord, and… God has raised Him from the dead.” And so this spirit descends upon us like a cloud and we are given a foretaste of that glory divine, and we know, even within the walls of the Saginaw County Jail, that God has neither forsaken nor forgotten us. The challenge, then, becomes to take this spirit of Jesus, who as the apostle John tells us is, “the light of the world” and shine this light into the dark corners of this jail and send that lurking spirit of death running back to hell where it belongs. While our joy will only be totally complete in heaven, the joy we feel in here will only be complete when every soul in this jail complex – and that includes the staff – knows and celebrates that Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ as we do today.

     My title here is Catholic Chaplain. This is because I work for Catholic Family Service, which is an agency within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. I know that many of you attending today (and God Bless you for coming) are not Catholic. And that is fine and, of course, you are welcome. My presence here with you is not about denominations or agencies. It’s not about which church, but it is, rather, about THE Church: the one true, holy and apostolic Church that began at Pentecost (which we will celebrate next week) and which continues in our midst, even, and may I say especially, within this facility down to this very day. It is Paul again that teaches us that, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Allow me the liberty to modernize this just a little by adding that neither is there Protestant nor Catholic, for we, too, are one in Christ Jesus. In these trying times in which we live we must all learn to hang together as Christians or, to paraphrase the American statesman Thomas Paine, we all will indeed hang separately.

     For the past 35 years Chaplain Sue Jones has served as your Jail Chaplain. She has dedicated her life to you, for the purpose of saving yours, for one reason. Love: Her love of Jesus Christ and her love of each person that has ever passed through these gates; her genuine and sincere love for each one of you. It has never mattered to her what church a person attended on the outside only that each person come to know the love of God on the inside. And that will never change.

     My presence here is the result of her prayer that the Catholic Church should send her someone faithful. She is the answer to my prayer that God would find something meaningful for me to do in jail or prison ministry. And so do not let the fact that she is Protestant and I am Catholic matter to you, for it certainly doesn’t to us. What matters is that God answers prayer. What matters is that we all come to know the saving grace that is found in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who saves us all regardless of the human barriers that the world tries to put between us. So my goal here is both simple and profound: to try to love each of you as you are loved by Jesus and by Chaplain Sue. A tall order indeed! And so I ask you to pray for me as I pray for you. And I’m going to ask you to pray, as I know you do, for Chaplain Sue. The outpouring of love I have witnessed here for her is a reflection of the love that she pours out for you, and it is a thing of beauty, and it is that which not only makes this place special in its own unique way, but also keeps it from plunging all the way into hell. And so a vital part of my ministry within these walls, as well as yours, is to support Chaplain Sue in everything that she does and follow her example by loving Jesus as she does and loving each other as she loves you. Do this, and one day this jail experience will be behind you and you will emerge from this darkness into the light of a new day in which Christ Himself will lead you onward towards that heavenly New Jerusalem, and you will walk the golden streets, drink from that river of living water, partake of the fruit of the tree of life, and live together in unspeakable joy with God in heaven forever. This is the victory in Jesus that you have been offered. And it is offered to us regardless of race, color, creed, or religious affiliation. And we claim this victory by loving each other as God loves us. Today, I invite you to take this victory that Jesus earned for us on the Cross, hold it dearly within your heart as the most precious possession that you have, and never let it go.

     Now, this is not to say that the needs of our Catholic brothers and sisters won’t be met. To the contrary, I am also here today with a message for those of you who are confirmed Catholics. This message comes from our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and from your Bishop, Robert Carlson and from all of your loving and caring brothers and sisters in Christ that either serve this ministry directly by generously offering their time, or by making this ministry possible through there generous donations of materials and cash. This message is simple and it is heartfelt: You have not been forgotten and you have not been abandoned. Mother Church extends her loving arms to you even here and especially here. And while it will take some time to reach the goals that we have in mind for you, rest assured that we will do all that is humanely and divinely possible to bring to you the full access to the sacraments of the Church that are your due as Catholic Christians. Pray for us and for yourselves that God’s will be truly done, on earth as it is in heaven.

     The message today, then, is simple. Through God’s two great gifts to us of love and prayer we can bring the Holy Spirit down upon this place, and as unlikely as it may seem and as daunting a task as it may be, we can win the Saginaw County Jail for Christ. God has truly brought us together here for nothing less. And if we can win the Saginaw County Jail for Christ, we can win the world. Praise God! But, we have to do it together: All of us.

     So, I will leave you with this challenge: To love in here as you are loved in here. To spread the light of God through the power of the Holy Spirit into every dark corner this place has (and we all know there are many!). To illuminate the dark souls as you have been illuminated. To be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and to know that if you can do it here, you can do it anywhere. Together we can bring the Holy Spirit down upon this place like a cloud, and through prayer and love we can take this jailhouse for Christ. Do it for Chaplain Sue, do it for Jesus, and most of all do it for yourselves and for the greater Glory of God that has been shown to us through the Ascension of Christ and the outpouring of His love through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And that brings us to next week.

     Thank you and God bless you.

Readings

May 4, 2008

Seventh Sunday of Easter
Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Acts 1:12-14

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven the apostles
returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day’s journey away.

When they entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8

R. (13) I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Pt 4:13-16

Beloved:
Rejoice to the extent that you share in the
sufferings of Christ,
so that when his glory is revealed
you may also rejoice exultantly.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let no one among you be made to suffer
as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer.
But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed
but glorify God because of the name.

Gospel
Jn 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.