‘Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven’

This last Sunday of Easter offers us  a prayerful pause between the great feasts of Ascension and Pentecost. There is a spirit of anticipation and encouragement throughout the liturgy.

In the Gospel, we hear part of Jesus’s prayer for his beloved disciples, both then and now. The teaching of Jesus, his words, his actions, his very presence, all give his disciples a part in his glory.

After Jesus ascends to his Father in heaven, the disciples return to the upper room in Jerusalem and devote themselves to prayer (First Reading).

In the Second Reading, Peter gives encouragement to the early Church, counselling them to rejoice when they face persecution or suffering. By their sufferings, they share in Christ’s glory; the glory about which Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel.

We can imagine both those gathered in the upper room after the ascension of Jesus, and the early Christian community to whom Peter was writing, joyfully praying lines from today’s Psalm: The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?

This week, let us remember our own communities of prayer; those who pray on their own and those who are members of Prego groups. United with the whole Church, and especially Church communities that face persecution, we are all gathered up as one in the Body of the risen Christ. To him be the glory for ever and ever, Amen!