Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Fr. Ronald Knox: The Ascension: from the London Oratory, 13 May 1956



Since the Ascension, we have found it easier to realize the love of God, because it is mirrored for us in the human sympathy of Jesus Christ. But there is something else—since the Ascension, it has been easier for us to imagine heaven as a desirable goal. Try as we will, the idea of heaven eludes us. Are we to think of it as place, from which every element of unhappiness is excluded? But we know how much our love of places is conditioned by moods and sentiments, by the desire for change, by association and by history! Or are we to think of it as a state? But then, how are we to think of a state except in terms of selfish enjoyment? Or should we look forward to being reunited with those we have loved? But how frail they are, these earthly bonds; how time impairs them! No, when we have tried everything, we shall find no better window on eternity than St Paul's formula, "to depart and be with Christ". If he has left us, and gone to heaven, it is so that we may no longer be disconcerted by the barrier of cloud that stands between us and it. We are not concerned to "go" here or there, to be in this or that state of existence. We want to find him. So little, and so much it is given us to know about the ascended Christ.

No comments:

Post a Comment