(The seventeenth in a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. Addisalem T. Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus).
Why did Jesus reveal Himself before His disciples ascending into heaven?
I read an article about a boy anxious to play with his father because his mother was getting many things ready for the Christmas season. The boy waited impatiently all day by the window for his father to finally arrive after work. Once his dad arrived, he embraced his son and tried to get a nap in on the couch, while his son pestered him to play with him. The father took a page out of a magazine that had an image of a detailed intricate map and ripped it to pieces before handing it to his son explaining to him that he would play with him only after he put all the pieces together. The son came back after a few minutes with the map perfectly taped together and the father was in awe of how quickly he was able to accomplish this puzzle. Apparently there was an image of Santa Clause on the other side of the map and this is why the son was able to complete this puzzle so easily. The son understood he needed to not be discouraged with the difficulty of this challenge, but rather to turn to the other side of the page in order to see another perspective that would greatly help him accomplish this task. The first Adam who is the father of the human race took the one commandment and shredded it to pieces which then made the map to heaven become impossible to read on our own.
Jesus said in the Gospel of John “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6). Our Blessed Lord the eternal Son of God reveals Himself as the Way when He patiently put all the pieces together of this heavenly map of eternal salvation by obeying His heavenly Father in all things. The truth and life He revealed to His disciples was the teaching on the Blessed Trinity. The disciples understood very well in the Torah that God is truly only one and there is no other yet now they were seeing Jesus reveal Himself as equal with God the Father by ascending into heaven. The fact our Blessed Lord commanded them to baptize in the Name of the Blessed Trinity reveals their distinction and equality. This mystery of the Blessed Trinity was like ripping apart their image of the heavenly map into a thousand pieces and then realizing without faith in Christ it is impossible to make sense of this map. Our Blessed Lord gave His apostles the authority He Himself received from His Heavenly Father to minister the Sacraments so that these sacraments may become the guiding posts and markers that always point up to Christ as Lord of heaven and earth.
Fr. Addisalem Mekonnen