Ponder and Magnify: A Rosary Podcast

S2, E5 - The Ascension Bible Study (Luke 24: 36-53)

• John and Jessica Helling • Season 2 • Episode 5

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The mission of the Ponder and Magnify Podcast is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. Join us as we dive into the Second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary! In this episode, Jess, John, and Fr. Archer discuss the account of Jesus' Ascension from Luke 24: 36-53. Praise be to God!

Jessica:

Hello and welcome to the Ponder and Magnify podcast, where our mission is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the Rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. I am so happy that you are here. Welcome everyone. Today's episode will be focused on the second glorious mystery of the Rosary the Ascension of Jesus. It's going to be great, Come, Holy Spirit. I'm joined again by my husband, John, and Father Archer, and we are excited to jump in. Father Archer, would you mind opening us up in prayer?

Fr. Archer:

I would be delighted. A prayer was just coming to mind from St Paul. I believe it's a letter to the Colossians. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed upon us, in Christ, every spiritual blessing in the heavens. God chose us in him before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight. He predestined us to be his adopted children. Amen In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Jessica:

John, What's your one word or phrase to describe where you're at right now?

John:

Well, I just want to put in a formal protest that I have to lead this one off every time. But I would say fatherhood is just something that's been on my mind lately. I'm in the middle of doing a consecration to St Joseph and obviously a lot of parallels between St Joseph's fatherhood to the human nature of Jesus and then my relationship with God and St Joseph, but then also between me and our daughters and just what that looks like. So that's just been on my mind lately. So we'll see how that plays into any reflections today. Father Archer?

Fr. Archer:

I would say rejuvenated. That word comes from juventutus, which which means youth to be made a youth again. And it's this funny combination right now of having many busy days and so lots of activities and so physically hitting that point of being a little tired, but at the same time there's a lot of joy that comes when you know you're kind of leaving it, leaving it all in the pool, as you taught me, John, when I, when you, were my swim team captain in high school.

John:

Lifelong lessons.

Fr. Archer:

Oh, everything you ever said really sticks with me. I don't remember you saying much, but everything that you did say really does stick.

John:

I said you know if I'm talking, you know everybody should listen.

Fr. Archer:

But I would say, yes, rejuvenated is what's coming to me now. How about you, Jess?

Jessica:

I am going to say uplifted, which I think is pretty appropriate for the Ascension. No, I'm just thankful for the ways that the Holy Spirit is coming and working and, yeah, it's just uplifting for me.

Fr. Archer:

Very good and I will do the reading from the Gospel, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them Peace be with you. But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them why are you troubled and why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones. As you can see, I have.

Fr. Archer:

As he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed. He said to them, They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, "" Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending you the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany raised his hands and blessed them. As he blessed them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple praising God. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ.

Jessica:

All right. After pausing and reflecting, John, what's sticking out to you? What's hitting your heart?

John:

So I think it was last episode you mentioned, Jess, that I went on a retreat and I feel like one of the things that can be a blessing and a challenge too is after a retreat you kind of ride that retreat high afterwards and you're excited, you're motivated and there's kind of like an inner peace. And then it's back to reality and it's trying to kind of stave off that just like the inertia of daily life, kind of slowing you down and kind of slowing down that momentum that you built up from the retreat. And I'm just imagining what it must have been like for everyone after they went out to you know as far as Bethany and were blessed and Jesus ascends back up into heaven. And then they just are. I just can't imagine like the high that they were riding and the joy in their conviction and just being so excited and that inner peace of knowing that they're they're going to experience that fully one day and it's just a kind of a good reminder to kind of do what what they do where they were continually in the temple praising God and so just trying to do that in our daily life, whatever. Whatever that looks like.

Fr. Archer:

John, I don't know why, but for some reason around you I just keep getting analogies from swimming pools. But you said a line in there which I used to use until an older priest called me out on it one time, which is that after a retreat you come back to reality. And when I was using that line this older priest said to me he said no, that's, he's like, retreat is reality, that's when you have the spiritual vision and the clarity, and then so it's kind of like, you know, being in a swimming pool where when you're underwater, especially without goggles, you can't see most of the world all that well, and for much of our life we can kind of be in that place. But it's the Lord ascended who sees with clarity, like he's like the coach outside of the pool, um, who sees everything that's happening, um and so, uh.

Fr. Archer:

But I I do think that there's there's that labor to stay within the, that space of recollection that as we return, you know, kind of descending from the mountain, uh, to use the great image of Moses, and coming back to the people where the self-gift of our life is made, praying with the Ascension, it's a reminder that like, okay, lord, for much of my life. I'm kind of hanging out on the bottom of the pool, but it's good to know you're on the outside and that you're my coach. You're kind of telling me how this life is supposed to go.

John:

That's awesome. Anytime you can bring it back to our swimming days too. That's some serious bonus points. But now, anytime I hear someone say after a retreat, okay, when you get back to reality, I'm going to have to say a wise and talented swimmer once told me what's it got to any of you guys?

Jessica:

Okay. One of the things that was really sticking out to me was pre the ascension moment, when Jesus says look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, and I just love. I love how Jesus is identifying himself. Jesus, Father Archer, correct me if I'm wrong means God saves right.

Fr. Archer:

Yes.

Jessica:

Okay, so now the marks on his hands and his feet are another testament to his identity and his very name that God saves by his wounds. We are saved by his crucifixion and his passion. We are redeemed and I just love that when he's trying to convince those around him or trying to show, like it's me, that that is the sign that it is him. Of course it makes sense like it's me because I would have these wounds based on what just happened to me. But when I read that it was so much deeper, like it is me. I here revealing the heart of God that God desires to save you. You hear it in my name, you hear it in the way I speak to you, the way I interact, and now you see it on my body and the marks that I have willingly taken on in order to save and redeem you for all eternity. So I just found that to be really beautiful and this whole kind of thinking about Jesus's identity and how he's presenting his identity. It also really made me think about. I love how, in this version of the Ascension, it says that as he blessed them, he parted from them. So Jesus was in the very act of blessing the apostles when he was leaving them, and a couple years ago in my women's group through church, with just a wonderful group of women, we read the book Be Transformed by Dr Bob Schutz, and the premise of his book is that we all have these wounds on our hearts, things like the wounds of fear, rejection, abandonment, powerlessness, hopelessness, these kind of things, and we've all experienced them to different degrees, maybe some of them are deeper than others, but that the seven Sacraments correspond with seven wounds, if you will, and really pour healing into those places. It's a really beautiful read, but in one of the early chapters he talks about the blessings that we receive from the Sacraments and he really opened my eyes, in the way he wrote and pulled in the catechism, to what it really means to be blessed by someone.

Jessica:

A lot of times I feel like I throw it around of like oh, that was a huge blessing, like when I received something from the Lord or from someone else, kind of acknowledging God's providence through someone else. But I also in our family we have a tradition of blessing each other before we leave for the day, in the morning, and just this idea that the heart of blessing is to affirm our identity in the Lord and to affirm. When I am blessed, it's affirming my identity, that I am a daughter of God, and when I receive something from God, that blessing reflects the fact that I am a daughter of the Lord and that he desires to provide for me, and even just being in his presence then can be a blessing. And so I just think that so much of our faith journey and where we are at different points in our faith can really be illuminated by how we see ourselves or how deeply we connect with our identity that we are the Lord's, and just this idea that every time we're blessed it's meant to be a reminder that we belong to him, and I just love that.

Jessica:

Jesus leaves the apostles blessing them. The line after that they did him homage and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. He just departed from them, but he departed from them in blessing. They knew they were his, they knew he would provide for them, they knew to whom they belonged, and that is the greatest gift that we can receive from the Lord and from those around us. His love through them is just this reminder of our truest identity in Him. So that really spoke to me too. What stuck out to you?

Fr. Archer:

Just the very last phrase, that they returned to the temple and in the temple that they were praising and blessing God. And what kind of what the Lord is moving me is that praise, praise, praising God is one of the most profoundly healing things. Praise is different than prayers of gratitude. Gratitude we say thank you to God for the good things he has done for us. Praise is when we simply lift our hearts to God and we tell God that he is good simply for who he is. And I kind of realized that there's a good chance that a number of people listening to this podcast maybe have never really entered into that kind of prayer, the prayer of simply praising God for who he is. So I was just feeling moved to pray a prayer of praise. Say that 10 times, fast. Pray a prayer of praise in order to lift my heart, to lift your hearts to the Lord, because he is good and he is worthy of our praise.

Fr. Archer:

Dear God, we praise you and we bless you. We praise your infinite knowledge of every part, every detail of our lives, that even the smallest creature that exists, the tiniest ant, the worms that are underground. These things you know and you delight in them. We praise you, Father, for your knowledge of all of creation. We praise you for your knowledge of every human heart, the wounds, the holy desires, the hidden nobility and sacrifices of so many lives. Father, we praise you for the fact, simply, that you know. We praise you, Father, also for your power, that all the most majestic and wondrous things we see in this world the Milky Way at night, niagara Falls, the delight of watching the snow fall in different patterns on the ground, the delight of looking at a baby's face and seeing a smile it's your power that brought each one of these things into being. And as much as we delight in the goodness of all of your creation, Father, you delight all the more. We praise you, Father. We praise you for your power. And, Father, we praise you for your mercy and for your love, for you enter into every crack or crevice, every smallest bit of goodwill that we give you and as you enter, you open wide the doors so that we can know who you are and we can delight in you for all eternity. So, father, we lift our hearts to you in praise. We delight in you. For you delight in us

Fr. Archer:

The words that St Augustine once said in the beginning of his confessions Great are you, o Lord, and worthy to be strongly praised. Great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no number. And man, a portion of your creation, longs to praise you. Man carrying around his own mortality, carrying around the testimony of his own sin, the testimony that you resist the arrogant, and yet man, just a small part of your creation, longs to praise you. You rouse us so that it delights us to praise you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

Fr. Archer:

Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Jessica:

Thank you, father Archer, for that beautiful prayer and that beautiful example of praise and just being able to enter into that with you. It occurred to me while you were praying. You talked about Father we bless you, and just this idea of mutual blessing, mutual affirmation, mutual delight whenever we come to prayer, and just how beautiful it is to sit and be received by the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit, to be received by God and also to receive God. And we just pray for all those who are listening that you can enter more deeply into this in your prayer. Come Holy Spirit, please fill all the hearts of those who are listening. We promise to be praying for you, please, please, pray for us as well.

Jessica:

Praise be to God.