The Ascended Lord

In younger days I would occasionally feel envious of the disciples and those around Jesus. They had the enormous privilege of seeing him in the flesh! How special was that! Eventually, after I became a Catholic, it dawned on me that of course his earthly flesh was a limitation on what he could do. As a human being he could show example and give teaching and inspiration, but he remained external to others. Just as he had to come down to earth in the Incarnation, he had to leave us again in order to return to live within us. He had to shed the limitations of the earthly body and that was the meaning of the Ascension. To have seen him in the flesh was undoubtedly a monumental privilege, but we in subsequent generations who receive him into our hearts and minds and souls are in possession of an even greater gift.