By KLEIN FAUSTO EMPERADO
Iglesia Filipina Independiente

Acts 1:1-11
Psalms 47:2-3,6-7,8-9
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

My childhood days were filled with fun activities with my father. We went fishing together, and he taught me how to fly a kite. In my teenage years, I learned to make and fly my own kite. Such activities gave me good memories that I continue to treasure up to this day.

As I grew in consciousness of the situations of the people, especially of the children and youth in conflict situation areas, I realized how difficult it is for them to even fly kites or even just play on the ground and in the fields. I think of children in the hinterlands of the Philippines, the children of Gaza, and the children of Myanmar. When will they have the chance to make and fly their own kites? When will they see their kites soaring across the skies?

As kites fly, I could imagine how the disciples of Jesus Christ looked at him while he ascended and how he slowly disappeared from their sight. I could imagine how they looked in awe at Jesus Christ, their loving Teacher and Guide, Friend and Savior, soaring to the skies in all his glory and might.

What seems to be similar with Christ’s ascension and with flying kites? The disciples gazed at Christ ascending to the skies, and we looked up to the kites flown across the skies with our hopes and prayers. Like how we fly kites, we usually use strings to hold us not to lose connection with the kite we are flying.

Like the visible strings of the kite, Christ gave us invisible strings that continue to connect us with him through prayers, through the Church and the sacraments, through the world where we dwell, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit—whom Jesus Christ promised to send to the disciples after his Ascension.

Here we look at the Ascension of Jesus as not a way of saying that God has drawn far from us or from the world or escaped the world from all its concerns. When people sing the popular song “From A Distance” and treat it as a religious song that bears the line “God is watching us from a distance,” it would be good for church workers to refute that idea since, for us, God is not distant but lives among us. In fact, God continues to struggle and journey with the people. God has continued to accompany the people who are struggling and suffering from the unjust systems and structures.

In commemorating Christ’s Ascension, we lift our hearts and souls to the Risen and Ascended One along with our visions and hopes as a people who continuously long for peace and justice.

What then is the meaning of Christ’s triumph of his blessed resurrection and glorious resurrection to the farmers who are deprived of owning lands and threatened with displacement? What would these glorious Christ events mean to the displaced fisherfolk of Manila Bay who are struggling with their livelihood every day? How will we preach of Christ’s Ascension to the poor and the deprived of basic necessities?

We must be steadfast enough to preach of Christ’s glorious ascension as an event that reminds us that God’s justice and peace must prevail and reign over all the powers and the systems that continue to take advantage of and perpetuate the poor. We must remind the marginalized that God in Christ ascends to give them hope for the future as a God who is not distant but a God who journeys and accompanies them through the victories and defeats of the struggle for life abundant and just peace. That they must not lose hope and fear not to continue working to build God’s reign of peace and justice here on earth and in our own small communities. They must not forget that God is on their side, with those who are unjustly treated and marginalized. That their hope of glory springs from the Christ who lived and sided with those who are deprived and underprivileged in the society.

In closing, we as church workers must be challenged to preach Christ’s triumph over the evils of this world as an anchor of hope for the downtrodden and the poor. They must know that they are the center of Christ’s Gospel and that the women, children, youth, and those despised by society are close to Jesus’ heart. Siya Nawa!

Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of Promotion of Church People’s Response. The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action. As we nurture our faith by committing ourselves to journey with the people, we also wish to nourish the perspective coming from the point of view of hope and struggle of the people. It is our constant longing that even as crisis intensifies, the faithful will continue to strengthen their commitment to love God and our neighbor by being one with the people in their dreams and aspirations. The Title of the Lectionary Reflection would be Balik –Tanaw , isang PAGNINILAY . It is about looking back (balik) or revisiting the narratives and stories from the Biblical text and seeing, reading, and reflecting on these with the current context (tanaw).