The Last Thing They Saw Was a Blessing
Why the Ascension may be more comforting than it first appears
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Yesterday, the Church celebrated Ascension Day. Here I delve into what it has meant to me this year.
I have two teenage children still living at home, so there are days when I might be forgiven for wishing they would grow up a little faster.
Teenagers have a remarkable ability to fill a house with noise, shoes, and questions answered with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Yet I know that, however challenging these years can sometimes be, they are an essential part of becoming the adults they are meant to be.
I know this from experience. My oldest daughter left home a couple of years ago. Not a day goes by that I do not think about her and wonder how she is getting on. Is she happy? Is she coping? Has she remembered to eat something other than toast?
It seems that we never stop being parents.
Something changes when your children leave home. They are no longer physically present in the same way, but your love for them does not diminish. If anything, it becomes more conscious and more deeply woven into who you are. Presence changes, but love remains.
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That thought came back to me recently as I reflected on one of the most overlooked events in the Christian story: the ascension of Jesus of Nazareth.
