“And He led them out as far to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and
carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy”. (Luke, 24:50-52)
If there is no death in life, then there will be no Resurrection. If there is no Holy Week, if there is no complete exhaustion, then there will be no joy. If a person enters the church with inertia - he will hear nothing there.
This is why we must embrace the un-embraceable. On one side we have sorrow, on the other side is joy. Sadeness for our sin, for our ugliness… And joy for God’s love for us. There is always this advantage. One does not exist without the other.
The same is here: Christ goes; He leaves the Apostles, which means He leaves us all, too, but He does not abandon us. He leaves us to await the coming of the Comforter. He believes we can embrace the Holy Spirit. And this Holy Spirit will transform us into new people, the people of God. And this Holy Spirit will give us strength to tell the whole world about Christ. Just like the Apostles who came into the world because they no longer feared the Jews.
Priest Andrey Malakhovsky and a lay sister of the St. Elisabeth Convent
This also applies to those of us who are shy about going to church, who are ashamed to make the sign of the cross in front of others, who are ashamed to talk about God because, you know, the people around are very educated and all-knowing today. And it is so difficult to talk about a miracle, about Christ, about the simplicity with which Christ enters the human heart… in fact, everything is very simple in the church. A child, an old man, a scientist and even a fool - everyone can understand it. Everything is organized so that a person not only feels, but also unites with God.
Ascension Day means anticipation. It is a test. Christ spent forty days with the Apostles, preparing them for their journey. He leaves them to make a decision - will they follow Christ? Will they be able to fight against the whole world of temptations, the world of sin, with their own nature. Will they have to carry others or lead them? And we see how the Apostles respond, when they go into the world after the descent of the Holy Spirit. The same applies to people.
We see a person coming to church burning with sin. Suddenly, the Grace of the Holy Spirit reveals a certain beauty in this man, so that he cannot even recognize himself. He hates this sin and filth in which he lived before. Now he is talking about the Heavens. This is a miracle, which, of course, inspires us. This is a miracle, to which, unfortunately, people in the church are already used to. That's why we don’t trumpet it. It is natural that a person came and opened a whole new world for himself.
Convent parishioners at the entrance to the church in honor of the Reigning Icon of the Mother of God
The Lord ascends into the Heavens so that we can develop spiritually. That we may overcome this world and this time, overcome this worry of sin, this cage of sin in which the immortal soul is languishing; so that this soul can live and a person can talk about love and serve other people without asking for anything in return and knowing that the more you give - the more you receive.
Life is completely changing, when a person begins to believe in God, when he begins to seek God in his life, when he begins to understand that the meaning of life is neither in delicious food and long sleep, nor in constant entertainment and squeezing from your body as much as possible, but in finding the Kingdom of Heaven within yourself: “You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit”. That is why our preparation for the feasts, no matter what feast it is - a great feast or a saint’s feast - all this reminds us that we must follow Christ and come to another life, where there will be no sinful laws by which the world lives without God, where the truth will be different - and I will be different. I am not what the world is trying to make of me. But God wants us all to be saints.
In this magnificent time of spiritual joy and the blossoming of all living things, we invite you to send us your prayer notes for the health of you and your loved ones. Please follow the link:
https://obitel-minsk.org/prayer-request
