“Goodbye”

The Ascension of Our Lord

Luke 24: 46-53

May 12, 2013

 

‘As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven (Luke 24:51).’

Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel, the main character of the movie “Life of Pi”, once beautifully said that life is actually as series of letting go, yet the hardest part is when we are not able to say goodbye. Indeed, the essence of this world is temporariness. People are born yesterday and gone tomorrow, or as the psalmist would write, “People disappear like sleep at dawn; they are like grass that dies. It sprouts green in the morning; by evening it is dry and withered (Psalm 90:6).”

Our relationship here on earth is bound to end. Even those persons whom we love most, sooner or later, we have to see them be away from us. I remember when I was about to enter the novitiate in the Philippines, my mother would cry and tightly hug me as if she would not let me go. Yet, she did. She gave me the freedom to live up my chosen vocation. 

Separation is inevitable and normally it hurts us much. Yet, our Lord today teaches us to embrace it, to learn to say goodbye and make it fruitful. As he ascends to heaven, he shows his disciples that separation is real and painful, but he also expresses his confidence in his disciples that they would fervently grow, precisely without he going around and policing them. Coming in and going out are two sides of the dynamism of life. Without one, we start decaying and human race faces its extinction. A pregnant mother needs to let her baby leave her womb and breathe with his own lungs and lives. Parents have to allow their children to go out from their home and build families of their own and lives. 

Let us go back to Pi. He reminds us to say ‘goodbye’ for a reason. Goodbye is not simply a word indicating separation, but ‘goodbye’ is actually a compressed version of ‘God be (with) ye’. It is originally a form of blessing and prayer. When we let ‘goodbye’ slip from out mouth, we entrust our loved ones to the Lord. We are assured that even without our real presence, they will mature all the more because God is with them. Jesus himself makes this gesture of blessing before his departure for heaven; a gesture that embodies Jesus’ love and trust in their disciples and Holy Spirit’s guidance. Indeed, after almost 2 thousand years left by Christ, the Church has transformed herself into the biggest living community in the world. In his deathbed, St. Dominic, whispered to his brothers that they must not weep because he will be useful for them in heaven. Undeniably, the Order of Preachers remains one of the most vibrant religious congregations up to now. 

In his Ascension, Jesus explains to us the deeper meaning of separation, of growth and of life. We are invited to embrace the moment of separation, to say blessing and make every letting go an opportunity of bearing fruits. We are Christians, and precisely we live as Christians because Christ dares to let us go and allow us to live and shine in the Holy Spirit.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP