{"id":286532,"date":"2018-05-10T06:54:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T10:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=286532"},"modified":"2018-05-10T06:54:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T10:54:32","slug":"defying-gravity-homily-for-ascension-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/05\/defying-gravity-homily-for-ascension-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Defying gravity: Homily for Ascension Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the vault, my homily for Ascension Thursday<\/a><\/strong> 2015:<\/p>\n

This glorious feast of the Ascension\u2014one of the \u201cglorious mysteries\u201d we pray on the rosary\u2014asks each of us to do something glorious.<\/p>\n

It asks us to rise with Christ, to defy the laws of gravity.<\/p>\n

It asks us to defy the world. To change the world.<\/p>\n

Where do we begin? The answer has been before us all along. Over the last few weeks, what has been the one recurring theme in the Sunday readings?<\/p>\n

Love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Love one another.<\/em>\u00a0We have heard it again and again in the readings. And for good reason.<\/p>\n

That is where we begin. Making that choice. Living that choice. And making that choice visible to a doubting and disbelieving world\u2014a world that, as the Pew Study shows, is increasingly turning away from Christ.<\/p>\n

Our mission is to change that. St. Paul puts it beautifully in today\u2019s letter to the Ephesians:<\/p>\n

\u201cLive in a manner worthy of the calling you have received,\u201d he tells them \u201cwith all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, of course, love is not static. It is active.<\/p>\n

The first word Jesus speaks in the gospel today is our imperative: \u201cGo.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also one of the last words I\u2019ll say at the end of this Mass:<\/p>\n

\u201cGo in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The challenge before us is to do that, in every moment and in every choice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire thing here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the vault, my homily for Ascension Thursday 2015: This glorious feast of the Ascension\u2014one of the \u201cglorious mysteries\u201d we pray on the rosary\u2014asks each of us to do something glorious. It asks us to rise with Christ, to defy the laws of gravity. It asks us to defy the world. To change the world. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":286535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[113,11175],"class_list":["post-286532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","tag-ascension-thursday","tag-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\nDefying gravity: Homily for Ascension Thursday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From the vault, my homily for Ascension Thursday 2015: This glorious feast of the Ascension\u2014one of the \u201cglorious mysteries\u201d we pray on the rosary\u2014asks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/05\/defying-gravity-homily-for-ascension-thursday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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