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Ascension
Optimism
Fr.
George Smiga
23
- 24 May 2004
Luke
24: 44-53
A
young couple gave birth to twin boys and they named one Peter
and the other Paul. The parents could tell from the very start
that these two boys were very different. Peter was a happy
baby whereas Paul seemed dour and very seldom would smile.
As the boys began to grow they polarized even more. Peter
was the eternal optimist, always seeing good in every situation.
Paul was negative and complaining. Nothing was able to make
him happy. By the time the boys reached their 8 th birthday
their parents knew they had to do something to make Paul more
positive and Peter less so. So they decided to use the boys'
birthday presents to accomplish this end.
They
told the boys that they would each receive a very special
birthday present, and they set aside two rooms in their house.
One room they filled with all the gifts, toys and clothing
that they could afford. All of this was to be Paul's birthday
present. They were hopeful that at least something would make
him happy. The other room was for Peter. In that room they
brought in a huge pile of animal manure from the nursery.
They were confident that even Peter could not find anything
good in such a birthday gift.
When
the time came for the boys' celebration, they directed each
boy into the appropriate room and closed the door. After about
an hour they went into Paul's room “Honey how do you like
your birthday presents?” “Not very much,” he said. “My bike
is the wrong color. All these clothes are dorky, and my friends
already have these video games.” The parents were discouraged.
At least half of their experiment had failed. Paul was as
negative as he always was. But there was still hope that Peter
had become more balanced. As they approached the second room
they could hear the squeals of Peter laughing in delight.
As they opened the door there he stood in the middle of the
room covered with manure and gleefully digging into the pile.
He looked up and said, “Mom and Dad thank you for this gift.
I am sure with this much manure, there has to be a pony in
here somewhere!”
It
is our common experience that some people are optimists and
others are pessimists. But the feast of the Ascension reminds
us that if we are Christians, if we are followers of Christ,
we are called to be optimists. Because what stands at the
center of our faith is not warning and fear, not rules and
commandments. What stands at the center of our faith is good
news—the good news that Jesus who was crucified has been raised
up and has entered into glory. That entering into glory is
what we celebrate today. It is what we mean when we talk about
Jesus' ascension. But the good news does not stop with Jesus.
We believe that the same pattern that shaped Jesus' life is
now our own. We who follow Christ, who have been baptized
into him, believe that our lives are now patterned on his.
We believe that there is a movement in our life that is not
downward toward death but upward towards life and glory. Our
conviction that such a movement is our own is what supports
Christian optimism.
Now
not all optimism is Christian. Not all optimism is even healthy.
There is a kind of optimism that is blind, that refuses to
admit that there is evil in the world. Such an optimism is
out of touch with reality. It is not Christian optimism. Christian
optimism recognizes that there are many things wrong with
our world, but it refuses to let that which is wrong negate
that which is good. Christian optimism holds onto the hope
that our lives and our world are in fact modeled after Christ's,
that we are indeed moving towards glory.
Is
it easy to live this kind of optimism? Not at all. It is difficult
when there are problems in our family; when we worry about
our children or our parents; when there is misunderstanding
and hurt. It is difficult for a Christian to believe that
when we love and forgive, things will work out for the best.
It is difficult when we experience sickness and loss to continue
to trust that we can find the courage to continue and once
again be happy. It is difficult when we live in a world where
so many lives are controlled by violence and war and hatred
and injustice to believe that women and men of goodwill can
make a difference, that working together we can find a road
to peace.
It
is difficult to remain optimistic in the real world in which
we live, but that optimism is at the center of the gospel.
We who follow Christ are challenged to believe it. Yes there
is much that is wrong about our world. But we who follow Christ
believe that the world and our lives have been patterned on
Jesus' own life, which changes everything. We who celebrate
this feast today believe that we know the pattern and the
movement of our lives. We believe that that pattern is not
downward but ascending.
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