for May 21
Ascension Thursday

Godspell, the musical loosely based on the Gospel of Matthew, might have been the very first Broadway show I saw performed live. Growing up in the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, it captured my heart. So of course, I saw the movie as soon as it came out—and on more than one occasion since then. One scene from the movie has always stayed with me. At the very end, as the disciples bear Christ’s body down the empty streets of New York City, they turn a corner. As the camera follows them around the corner, the disciples have (to echo the words of the first reading) been taken from our sight, and the scene dissolves into a busy midtown street scene.

It’s a powerful, and a bit unexpected, twist on what the disciples of Jesus are to do after his death. These disciples are not going on missionary travels to the literal ends of the earth. No, instead they go deep into daily life, as if they permeated it so thoroughly, that you could not pick the followers of Christ out from the crowd.

For most of us, that is exactly the commission we receive from today’s first reading from Acts and the third reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Few of us will go on missionary travels to the ends of the earth. Most of us face the equally daunting challenge: how to carry the Gospel into every corner of our lives.

But with this great challenge comes a great promise: as the evangelist Luke tells us, “we will receive the power of the Holy Spirit.” As Matthew has it, Jesus is quite clear that “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” From either perspective, we are given the firm reassurance that we will not be alone; wherever we go, whatever we do, we will do it in the company of God.
—BJ Brown

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.