Monthly Archives: May 2026

The Ascension – Jesus with the Father/Jesus with Us

17 Sunday May 2026

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Taken from the movie “Risen”

One of my favorite movies to watch during the Easter season has become the movie, “Risen”.  The story is a fictional account of a Roman soldier assigned to investigate the claims that a proposed Jewish messiah by the name of Jesus had risen from the dead after being put to death by crucifixion.  In the course of his investigation and tracking down of the apostles, the Roman soldier comes face to face with the risen Jesus and his world and all his beliefs are turned upside down.  The soldier begins to follow the risen Lord and his disciples and (spoiler alert) eventually becomes a follower himself. 

Even though fictional, there are many things that the movie does right.  One of the elements I enjoy is how the movie portrays many of the resurrection appearances.  A few times, the risen Lord is with his disciples even as other people (people who are not followers) are around going about their day.  For these people – it seems – all they see is a group of people talking and walking together, unaware that in the midst of that group is the risen Lord himself.  These people do not notice, even as Jesus is right there in their midst. 

In Matthew’s account of the Ascension, we hear the risen Jesus assure his disciples that he is with us always, “…until the end of the age.”  In the first reading from Acts, we hear that the risen Jesus, “…presented himself alive to “his disciples … appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  The disciples want to know if God is now going to restore the glory of Israel but Jesus responds that they should not concern themselves with such things.  As the Lord is being lifted up, two men appear and ask the disciples, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” 

Do not concern yourself about such things.  Why are you standing there looking at the sky?

The truth of the Ascension of our Lord is grounded in the truth of the Incarnation of our Lord.  The transcendence of God is made known not despite of the incarnate but within the incarnate.  There is a danger in the spiritual life that we can get stuck in our “looking to the sky” or pondering things beyond ourselves that we fail to recognize the risen Lord within our very midst.  Even how the Lord comes to us every day!  When Jesus says that he is with us “…until the end of the age,” he means it. 

Where else do we find the truth of this connection between Ascension and Incarnation expressed?  Throughout the season of Advent.  In Advent, we proclaim the three comings of Christ – his birth, his return in glory and how he comes to us each and every day!  In faith it is not so much a matter of either/or.  Rather it is both/and.  Jesus is risen, he has ascended to the Father and he is with us, “…until the end of the age.”

Going back to the movie “Risen” …  Even though other people did not recognize him, the risen Lord was in the midst of his disciples, and he remains in the midst of his disciples.

Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians,

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.  May the eyes of your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call … for us who believe … (Eph. 1:17-18)

St. Kateri Tekakwitha and my “Aspen Grove”

11 Monday May 2026

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Sometimes it is hard to determine when a friendship actually began.  You meet someone, common interests are discovered, you begin talking and enjoying each other’s company and before you know it, you have a new friend!  The friendship just grows.  
 
I am not really sure when my devotion to St. Kateri Tekakwitha began nor when she became one of my favorite saints that I turn to for inspiration and intercession but the friendship is real.  
 
My mother (may she rest in peace) would always make sure to support the Black and Indian Mission appeal each year remarking how tragic the history of Native Americans has been.  My father (may he rest in peace) would tell my brothers and I that we have some Native American heritage in our family.  (My father’s father moved to East Tennessee from an area of Mississippi where the Choctaw nation once thrived.) When I served as Vocation Director for the diocese, I was able to arrange a visit to Rome to visit with (then) seminarian Michael Hendershott at the same time St. Kateri Tekakwitha’s canonization was held at St. Peter’s Basilica.  It was a beautiful, blue sky fall day on October 21, 2012 when I sat with priests and laity from around the world in a crowded square for the Mass and canonization of a number of saints one of whom was the Lily of the Mohawks.  I even helped to distribute communion to the vast crowd of faithful who were gathered.  I count that day as one of my best as a priest.  
 
When I first began to dream of a possible sister parish for St. Dominic Church that served a Native American community, it was only after a novena to St. Kateri that doors finally began to open that led to Little Flower Parish in Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation.  This sister parish relationship has now been going for more than three years and is an ongoing blessing for both communities.  I have visited Little Flower many times and hope to continue visiting. A beautiful statue of St. Kateri stands near the front entrance to Little Flower Parish.
 
Now, as I prepare for a change in assignments, I have just concluded a novena to St. Kateri.  St. Kateri remained faithful in her love for Christ and the Catholic faith even as she had to endure hostility and suspicion that forced her to leave her own village in order to journey to a different one where Christianity was accepted.  She made a vow of perpetual virginity and devoted herself to prayer and living according to the tenets of the faith.  She died at the young age of 23 or 24 with her final words being, “Jesus, Mary, I love you.”

In my novena I asked St. Kateri to pray for me that I always remain rooted in my commitment to Christ just as she was throughout her life and to walk with me during this time of transition as I leave one community to journey to another. Saints are good journey companions.

Some dear friends recently gave me the book, “From Strength to Strength” by Arthur Brooks. The book is about finding fulfillment and purpose in the second half of life (which I am now in) and realizing this is done by making use of a different skill set than what enabled one to achieve in the first half of life – what Brooks calls “crystallized intelligence”.

Brooks devotes one chapter in his book to cultivating your “aspen grove” which means those interlocking networks of friends, family and relationships that strengthen and sustain us. This cultivation is important and critical work and should be allowed the time and attention it deserves even in the midst of all of life’s other demands and responsibilities.

Our Catholic understanding of saints and their role in our lives is a beautiful component of our unique “aspen groves”. The saints along with our family and friends form that network that support, sustain and call us to growth. I like the idea of having St. Kateri and some other saints as part of my aspen grove.

In the side yard of the rectory at my current assignment, I have a 3 to 4 ft. statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. I will be taking the statue with me to my next assignment. I will find a place for her in the rectory yard and will cultivate the area around her statue and ask that she continue to walk with me.