Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

This past Thursday marked the Feast of the Ascension. We get more of the story in the readings for this morning, too. The Ascension is one of those days which has deeper meaning for us than appears on the surface.

It says something about our kind of blasé life in the Church when we can say, “The Son of God, crucified and brought back from the dead, was taken into Heaven to reign in glory” and we sort of collectively yawn a bit. We don’t get Ascension baskets or Ascension stockings or the like.

I think that’s one of the most remarkable things about faith, though. We become intimately comfortable with the miraculous.

When I was in Nepal, I was amazed by the first monkey I saw. After a few days I didn’t notice them much anymore—it was the same with saguaros and lizards when we moved to Arizona. We quickly come to have the wonderful things as part of the background when they captured our full attention at some point.

It is a wonderful thing that we can live so comfortably alongside the miraculous that unfolds in the life of Christ. But there are also times when we need to step back and once again let ourselves be enchanted by the utterly upending love that is shown forth in those very comfortable miracles.

It is a good thing to remember that while the miraculous may become common so, too, can the common become miraculous.

By the power of the Spirit, bread and wine become more. Water becomes a sign of something more. These common things become vessels of divine revelation.

The common and the miraculous are often one when we learn to see with the eyes of faith.

Let us look all around us this week with the eyes of faith and search afresh for the common miracles always unfolding.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert