Pentecost

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    Day 2 – They Returned with Great Joy

    ByJobin

    Day 2 of our Ascension to Pentecost series is now on the blog, and today I have been sitting with one of the strangest verses in Luke’s Gospel.

    After the Ascension, the disciples walked back to Jerusalem with great joy. Not after receiving explanations. Not after things had settled into clarity. With great joy, in the middle of the unknown, carrying nothing but a promise and a direction.

    Ephrem the Syrian teaches us that the hidden God humbles the one who tries to investigate, but magnifies the one who simply worships. The disciples had learned, through three years of following, to be the second kind of person. And that is what produced their joy.

    Today’s reflection asks us: what would it look like to return to our own Upper Room with that same quality of trust? Not waiting for feelings of certainty to arrive before we pray, before we gather, before we show up?

    The oil lamp does not wait until it feels ready. It simply burns.

    Come, Holy Spirit! Come!

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    Day 1 – The Cloud Received Him

    ByJobin

    We begin today nine days of waiting, from the Ascension to Pentecost, and Seeking Theosis will be posting a short reflection for each of these days drawn from our Syriac Fathers and the liturgical tradition of our Church.

    Today’s reflection centres on a beautiful image from Jacob of Serugh: that when Christ ascended, He did not leave our humanity behind. He carried it with Him, wounds and all, to the right hand of the Father. The glorified Body that sits at the throne of the Majesty on high is still marked with the nails and the spear. Not as blemishes, but as glory.

    “He did not leave behind what He had taken from us.”

    That is the ground of our hope as we wait for the fire of Pentecost.

    You can read the full reflection here.

    Let us keep these nine days in prayer together.