Towards the end of Jesus’ long speech to his apostles at the Last Supper, he says, “I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away” (John 16:7). Naturally the apostles are filled with panic and grief:  How can that possibly be true? What are we going to do without you? Indeed, that is the very point. We know what would have happened had Jesus not gone away. They would have continued to follow him around, nursing their own dreams and ambitions, and picking up some useful tidbits from their teacher. The School of the Rabbi Jesus would have closed when Jesus died of natural causes. If they themselves were not too old by then, some of them could have gone back to fishing. Instead, Jesus entered into what the Church calls The Paschal Mystery: the passion, death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus, which culminates in the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is because Jesus entered into the Paschal Mystery and the Holy Spirit descended upon them that the apostles were able to assume their role as teachers, shepherds, and missionaries. It is because Jesus entered into the Paschal Mystery that we are part of this community of faith.  Yes, truly, it was better that he went away.

The word “paschal” is taken from the Hebrew word for “Passover.” Jesus’ pass-over from death to new life parallels Israel’s escape from Egypt, when the angel of death “passed over” the homes of the Children of Israel. It was during the annual Passover Festival in Jerusalem that Jesus had his Last Supper with the Apostles. A mystery of faith is not a problem to be solved but something that is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Scriptures describe how Jesus was different after he rose from the dead; they offer a visual description of his ascension; and they recount the impact of the descent of the Spirit; but our Scriptures cannot fully explain the event itself. In church we have been celebrating the Paschal Mystery for the past six weeks, since the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday April 17. This weekend is the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Next weekend we complete the paschal cycle with the Feast of Pentecost. Yet at every Mass we renew our belief in the Paschal Mystery. We experience once more Jesus’ Last Supper and in communion we receive the Body of the Risen Lord. At the end of Mass, we are sent forth on mission, guided by the Spirit of Pentecost.

The Paschal Mystery, though, is not just about what happened to Jesus or what happens in church. It also describes our own experiences of loss and grief, with the hope that we will discover something new that will outshine what we lost. We speak of losing a loved one, but we believe that they are not really lost. Our hope is to be reunited with them in a better place. In smaller ways, we also experience the Paschal Mystery.  As parents, we can experience a sense of loss when our teenagers go away to college or move out of the house. Our hope is that the college experience will lead them to discover their path in life and that will ultimately be good for them and for us. We do not want them return home after college and live in our basement for the next thirty years. The aging process also offers us the opportunity to live out the Paschal Mystery. Can we let go of some of the physical freedom we once had to embrace a more reflective and more carefully chosen life open to us now? Professional athletes are considered “old” at 35. Can we find a new identity and purpose in “retirement” when most people our age have not yet reached the prime of their career?

It has often been said that change is inevitable while growth is optional. Sometimes we resist letting go of something that has served us well in the past but is not working for us anymore. We become the fifty year old still living in our parents’ basement because we are afraid to take flight. We are the forty year old athlete still trying to revive his or her career. We stay fixated on one dream we had for our life in our youth and overlook the blessings of the life we now have. We are the addict whose life is so centered on drinking or drugging or shopping or gambling or pornography or eating that we cannot even picture what life would be like without alcohol or drugs or sports betting or porn sights or amazon or ebay or Big Macs. As in so many things, Jesus shows us the way. We can let something die; grieve its loss; let it go; and open ourselves to something that is better for us now. We can enter into the Paschal Mystery and wait, as the apostles did, for a new Spirit. As we look forward to Pentecost next weekend, what new spirit do we need?

                                         Fr. Joe