In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Sunday 2 June 2019

Ascension of the Lord – Year C

Word for today
The Gospel of Luke 24:46-53

Winding

It winds itself in books to get dressed with culture. It winds itself in chatter so it always has something to say.
It winds itself in prejudice to have an opinion.
It winds itself in the wardrobe to get dressed.
It winds itself in any sort of extravaganzas to be original.
The mind winds itself.
It winds itself wherever and no matter what: in itself, in ideologies, religions, principles and beliefs.
It winds itself in humiliations, guilt, wounds, insults, failures, loss, but also in praise, success, flattery, victory and triumph. It winds and clothe in itself and in everything the other minds around wish, expect, look for, wait for.
The mind winds itself and gets dressed in whatever is winded in, and doing so it can turn itself into anything and its opposite. The mind clothes itself of any possible weakness calling it ‘quality’. It clothes itself of any possible slavery calling it ‘new options’. It clothes itself in any possible rubbish calling it ‘virtue’. It clothes itself in any possible deception calling it ‘rights’.
The mind winds itself, and nothing seems enough. Just a bit too much salt in its dinner’s soup and it looses the sense of gratitude, it starts shouting, loosing serenity and seeing all black. The mind winds itself in nothing but in a time and space consistent with cosmic measures. The mind can agonize for decades on a word, a promise, a slander, a judgement, an accusation. The mind is capable to wind itself for an endless time on one single failure, an unexpected gesture, a blackmail. One single bad word, after years of marriage, is enough to turn a small fault in a sidereal space that engulfs the entire life and the cosmos, destroying any peace, slowing down any activity, ending any relationship.  
And while the mind is winded it does not let go. While it is winded in a worry, a desire, a revenge, a hope, it does not let go, not for a second. Doing so, it remains winded and wrapped in itself until it is exhausted, until it generates a self-swallowing vortex.  Then, after having eaten itself to death, it explodes and becomes insane. But this is not the mind cloth we need to live and be happy.
Our person needs to be clothed, but of something else, it is another kind of cloth that we need to live happily. We need something nobler and more scented to praise the Lord of life with dignity, we need something strong and sturdy against the world’s persecution, something slippery like oil against the attacks of attachment, something to cover ourselves up against the worries’ storms and yet light enough to remain agile.
Jesus ascended into heaven.
The apostles’ and disciples’ temptation is to start winding themselves in memories, resentments and easy enthusiasms, short of breath. None of that. Jesus asked them not to move a finger until they will be clothed with power from above.  This is what defeats the mind constant winding: being clothed of power from above through the effusion of the Spirit, the Spirit which is given us beyond measure. Being clothed with power from above is what Jesus, with determination and clarity, opposes against the usual winding into conventions and beliefs
If there is something in which our mind can stay set, unmovable, determined and precise, day and night, with no harm, is the constant prayer of the Consoler Spirit to remain dressed in every moment with the power from above. 
Kneeling, with our arms up, in the silence of our intimacy, amongst tears of joy or of pain, in community, with the most moving song, in the street, in the higher mountain or the deepest sea, praising the Spirit without ever getting tired to be dressed in the power from above. This changes life forever.