Short and Sweet Headlines are Best!
June 1, 2025
The Ascension of the Lord
Acts of the Apostles 1: 1-11
Psalm 47
Ephesians 4: 1-13
Luke 24: 46-53
The Void to be Filled
Have you ever sensed a void within yourself?
Perhaps it is somewhere in your stomach or in your heart. It seems with every step you take you still need to go one more step. No matter how good the current project you have been working on turns out you look at it and determine it could be even better “only if….” Each of us is incomplete in some way. We need to be made whole.
Imagine being recruited by a great and up-and-coming leader. You spend three or more years with him. You prepare to take on a whole new world order as a part of his leadership team. Then, this great figure leaves you! You feel abandoned. “Where are you going?” you might scream.
Now you may place yourself in the footsteps of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Might this not be how they felt as they witnessed Jesus’ ascension to the Father? They stood there “looking at the sky” (Acts 1-11).
Stepping into the place of the Apostles we think Jesus has gone away. Yet, He is preparing us for what comes next. In Jesus’ absence, so we think He is absent, we sense a void. We become eager to fill it. This urge to fill the void drives us. Yet, be careful what is let in to fill the void.
This “moment” of emptiness opens our senses looking for something to bring guidance toward fulfillment. Such a personal moment experiencing the void elicits the forty-day desert experience that is found in the Bible. There are the forty days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil. Moses spent time on the Mountain of God (Ex. 34:28) and Elijah spent time walking through the desert to the Mount of Horeb (1Kings 19:8). In each episode the person finds fulfillment in God the Father. He is made known to them.
In the continuing biblical story, the Holy Spirit is given after the Ascension of Jesus. Understanding comes to the Apostles. Likewise, understanding may come to us. We live by faith inspired by the Holy Spirit that keeps the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. By the Spirit’s presence we continue to live as Jesus, making present the Father’s love for us and all others.
Every tool, every part of the body that is needed to fill in the void is given and is present. The parts come together to form the Body of Christ. We experience the Body among us and within us as a community of faith. The Holy Spirit bestows the gifts needed to sustain and advance the whole body. This Feast Day teaches and reminds us Jesus descended to earth and finally ascended giving us all the Grace needed. We are His body now.
In essence, the experience of the ascension of Jesus, with its momentary pause between the time of ascension and the coming of the Spirit, awakens us to the void that is there when God is absent from our life. The apostles and we look intently up to the sky. We yearn for something special to fill the void. God does not disappoint. He sends the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity of the one God.
Through, with and in the Holy Spirit we as the one Body of Christ continue the mission God set in motion long ago. As every other messenger of God experienced in their forty-day experience we come to recognize God’s calling. We make the connection between belief in Jesus Christ and salvation. We focus on the mission of filling not only our own void but the void experienced by everyone else. We receive all we need to spread the Good News of a God who is present. Together, by the Grace of God we fill the void to be filled.
Imagine being recruited by a great and up-and-coming leader. You spend three or more years with him. You prepare to take on a whole new world order as a part of his leadership team. Then, this great figure leaves you! You feel abandoned. “Where are you going?” you might scream.
Now you may place yourself in the footsteps of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Might this not be how they felt as they witnessed Jesus’ ascension to the Father? They stood there “looking at the sky” (Acts 1-11).
Stepping into the place of the Apostles we think Jesus has gone away. Yet, He is preparing us for what comes next. In Jesus’ absence, so we think He is absent, we sense a void. We become eager to fill it. This urge to fill the void drives us. Yet, be careful what is let in to fill the void.
This “moment” of emptiness opens our senses looking for something to bring guidance toward fulfillment. Such a personal moment experiencing the void elicits the forty-day desert experience that is found in the Bible. There are the forty days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil. Moses spent time on the Mountain of God (Ex. 34:28) and Elijah spent time walking through the desert to the Mount of Horeb (1Kings 19:8). In each episode the person finds fulfillment in God the Father. He is made known to them.
In the continuing biblical story, the Holy Spirit is given after the Ascension of Jesus. Understanding comes to the Apostles. Likewise, understanding may come to us. We live by faith inspired by the Holy Spirit that keeps the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. By the Spirit’s presence we continue to live as Jesus, making present the Father’s love for us and all others.
Every tool, every part of the body that is needed to fill in the void is given and is present. The parts come together to form the Body of Christ. We experience the Body among us and within us as a community of faith. The Holy Spirit bestows the gifts needed to sustain and advance the whole body. This Feast Day teaches and reminds us Jesus descended to earth and finally ascended giving us all the Grace needed. We are His body now.
In essence, the experience of the ascension of Jesus, with its momentary pause between the time of ascension and the coming of the Spirit, awakens us to the void that is there when God is absent from our life. The apostles and we look intently up to the sky. We yearn for something special to fill the void. God does not disappoint. He sends the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity of the one God.
Through, with and in the Holy Spirit we as the one Body of Christ continue the mission God set in motion long ago. As every other messenger of God experienced in their forty-day experience we come to recognize God’s calling. We make the connection between belief in Jesus Christ and salvation. We focus on the mission of filling not only our own void but the void experienced by everyone else. We receive all we need to spread the Good News of a God who is present. Together, by the Grace of God we fill the void to be filled.
Peace and blessings,
Father Bob
Father Bob
Father Bob's
Video Reflections
Each week Father Bob posts a Video Reflection on the Spiritual readings for the weekend Mass. These Videos are not intended to replace your prescence at mass each week! Much like Scripture Sharing on Thursday evening from 7 pm - 8 pm, these videos act as a point of reference to enhance your knowledge and better prepare you to participate in each weeks celebration.
Each week the videos are archive and can be streamed by clicking on the Bulletin/Videos button above.
Each week the videos are archive and can be streamed by clicking on the Bulletin/Videos button above.
The Jesus Prayer...
Lord Jesus Christ
have Mercy on me a Poor Sinner.
have Mercy on me a Poor Sinner.
Sacraments of Christian Initiation
Sacraments of Healing
Sacraments of Service
Click on the links below for more information
This Weeks Scripture Readings
June 8, 2025
Pentecost Sunday
Reading I
Acts 2:1-1
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
"Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God."
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 104
R. (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures;
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
Reading II
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
Brothers and sisters:
No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
John 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."