7th Sunday of Easter
First reading Acts 7:55-60
The Ascension marks not an absence, but a deeper presence: Christ, now seated at the right hand of the Father, draws all creation into His glorified humanity. As the disciples stood gazing upward, they were not left alone but entered a sacred time of waiting, a novena of silence and expectancy, preparing to receive the Holy Spirit. This time between Ascension and Pentecost is emblematic of the Christian life: we are caught between the vision of glory and the struggles of earth, between the promise of the Kingdom and the pain of witness. In the First Reading, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, does not flee from persecution; rather, he gazes into heaven and beholds Jesus standing in glory. The Spirit does not remove suffering but grants the vision to see beyond it, the heavens thrown open, the Son of Man not seated in rest but standing in active intercession. So too for us: to live in the Spirit is to live with unveiled eyes, seeing beyond what the world offers or threatens, and anchoring our lives in Christ’s victorious presence. This period of waiting is thus not idle, it is the Church’s upper room, where hearts are kindled with longing and prepared for mission, where suffering is not meaningless but becomes a window into eternal glory.
Don Giorgio