Leave-taking of the Ascension
Psalm 111
I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will make all Thy wonders known
In the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord!
They are studied by all who have pleasure in them!
His work is glory and beauty,
and His righteousness endures forever.
—Psalm 111:1-3 (Christmas,1st Antiphon)The Lord has sent redemption to his people.
—Psalm 111:9 (Christmas, Communion Hymn)
Psalms 111 figures prominently in the Christmas services. It is read at the 9th Hour on Christmas, which also includes a reading from Hebrews that in a few short sentences helps unpack the meaning of the redemption we sing about.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. …
Therefore He had to be made like His brethren in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people.
For because He Himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.
(Hebrews 2:14-15, 16-18)
God redeems the human race from within. By sharing human life from birth to death, with all the sufferings, temptations and joys in between He completely and totally identifies with us as human beings. And by taking on our flesh, He transforms every stage of human existence. He destroys the power of fear, suffering and sin and turns even death into life. At the Ascension it is this transformed, redeemed humanity that Christ brings into the life of God. And through the Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost, He makes it possible for all of us to be “in” Him and share this new, liberated, transformed, human-divine communion.
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Here are the monks of Simonopetras Monastery on Mount Athos singing Psalm 111 (110 LXX): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul8s5Bs27P0.
D-Day, Pentecost and Peace
Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day. On that single day almost 10,000 soldiers were killed.
- Britain: 2,700 killed
- United States: 1,465 killed
- Canada: 500 killed
- Germany: 4,000 killed
Add to that the thousands of French civilians who died that day and we have a horrific snapshot of the violent world Christ came to redeem and to which he sends the Holy Spirit.
Contrast this with Pentecost and peacemaking this Sunday. Christians of East and West are celebrating Pentecost on the same day, and in Rome, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will join Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, a rabbi and a Muslim cleric for an afternoon praying for peace.
Pope Francis said, “It will be a prayer meeting. It’s not to do mediation or find solutions. We’ll meet just to pray, and then everyone will go home. But I think praying is important, praying together.”
Peacemaking of all kinds is to be lauded, and as a by-product this peacemaking effort again brings together the two leading figures of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. As St Basil the Great said in the 4th century,
I think then that the one great goal of all who are really and truly serving the Lord ought to be to bring back to union the churches who have “at different times and in diverse manners” divided from one another…for nothing is so characteristically Christian as being a peacemaker, and for this reason our Lord has promised us peacemakers a very high reward…