Saturday, May 11, 2024

What comes down must go up.

Sermon for the Sunday in the octave of the Ascension

Ten days.

We now have ten days wait
after the Ascension 
until the Birthday of the Church
when the Holy Ghost descends
and causes order 
from chaos.

What were the Apostles doing
for those ten days?

Were they sitting 
drawing up blueprints 
for the Church,
putting together 
codes of Canon Law,
and making sure that 
the priests will wear
the right colour
in the right liturgical season?

No. That's not what they do.

They meet together,
pray,
and wrestle with what they 
understand of the memories
of Jesus.

But they don't build a church.

They have realised that 
building a Church is a 
top-down activity.

[PAUSE]

If you think about it,
it's an odd way to build.

Can we really 
build a church 
starting with the spire
and building down 
to the floor?

Well, we can't do that.

We're subject to 
all the limitations of gravity.

But we need 
to realise these limitations.

The Day of Pentecost 
is not yet with us
and the Day of Pentecost 
is the undoing 
of the tower of Babel.

It's in these ten days
before Pentecost 
that we witness 
the deconstruction of Babel
and the safest way
to deconstruct a tower
is from the top down.

The building of the Church 
starts with the demolition 
of all that opposes it.

The crooked has 
to be made straight 
and the rough places plain
for the Gospel to be preached.

This demolition 
is a form of repentance.

These ten days of prayer
and preparation
in which the Apostles are silent 
are a form of repentance.

Of course,
you remember that 
repentance is not just
turning away from sin:
it is a turning towards Christ.

If we turn to Christ
then we necessarily 
turn away from sin.

The Apostles reflect 
upon the Ascension 
and what it means
and thus they turn their minds 
to Christ.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord's Ascension 
proves to us 
that He has descended 
from Heaven.

It strengthens our minds
that, truly, Jesus is the Son of God,
fully human and fully divine.

The Apostles see
exactly how Our Lord is the Way.

In ascending,
He has punched 
a human-shaped hole
in the veil
that separates us from God
and it is through this gap
that we see the Glory of God
and the joys of Heaven.

This shows them how
they are to build top-down.

[PAUSE]

When we try to build 
bottom-up,
the result is confusion
because we can only bring
earthly things 
into the building.

If we try to build a church
based on human ideas
of justice and mercy
all we will get is
confusion, conflict and 
consternation.

But,
to reach into the heavens
through Christ's Way
we build something 
that comes down from Heaven
to us.

This Church
separates Christians
from the World
and sanctifies their lives 
because it is built 
from the top down.

A building 
that does not separate 
from the World
bur rather blurs the
distinction between
the Church and the World.

It allows sin into 
the sanctuary 
and thus the sanctuary 
loses its sanctity.

[PAUSE]

That which is built 
from the bottom up
falls down.

That which is built 
from the top down
falls up.

Just as Christ descends
for our Salvation 
so He must ascend
so that we may too.

What comes down 
must go up.


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