'Ascension' by Raffaele Caruana at St. Julian's church. |
Today we celebrate the feast of the
Ascension, a celebration that has been transferred in many Dioceses to the 7th
Sunday of Easter. This is the day that the Lord gave his final “Goodbye” to his
followers, although it was more like a “So Long.” This feast has special
memories for me as a child, because of a painting that is in my childhood parish, dedicated to the Ascension
of Jesus. It was painted by the Maltese artist Raffaele Caruana (1820-1886.) As
a child and especially as an altar-boy I frequently reflected on this painting,
even connecting the faces of the apostles to men in the parish, whom they
resembled. The actual church was dedicated to Saint Julian, the old parish
church until 1969, but was always known as the Lapsi Church (Ascension Church.)
The feast of the Ascension opens officially the swimming/summer season, and the
weather usually warms up steadily from now on, with all the beaches filling
up with swimmers and tourists. They are longing for some warmer weather as it’s
been unusually very cool throughout May this year.
And as Jesus leaves us today,
He is also empowering us to continue His work, as He did with the Apostles 2
millennia ago. They have not let Him down,
and neither did the many saints and holy people that have followed. Let us not
let Him down, but continue this enticing relay race of Christianity, passing
the proverbial baton to our children and children’s children, as our
forefathers have done over the centuries.
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