Have you ever given a child a task to do and they just stand there staring off into space or look at you as if you have been speaking a foreign language?
It can often take some prodding to get children to follow instructions. Their silent staring can denote different things – reluctance to complete the desired task, confusion about the instructions, sometimes even laziness or not wanting to abandon whatever it was they were doing previously. It can be difficult to spur a child into action.
I’m reminded of this scenario when we hear about the Apostles’ reaction to our Lord’s Ascension into heaven.
In the first reading on Ascension Sunday, when Christ’s Ascension into heaven is being described, we hear, “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:10–11).
Don’t we all have those moments when we are frozen in place, staring up into heaven, wondering what to do next? Perhaps our new Pope Leo XIV experienced one of these moments as he stood on the loggia gazing over the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, having just been named Pope less than hour earlier. As I, and much of the rest of the world, looked on at this Chicago-born Augustinian, I couldn’t help but think – or perhaps it was actually a prayer for our new Pontiff – “It’s okay, take a breath and wait for the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus told the Apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit. They would have wondered what that even meant, but they must have had confidence that Christ would not abandon them. In fact, he told them not to start their public ministry until they received the Holy Spirit. The Apostles were human. In that interval between watching Christ ascend into heaven and Pentecost, there could have been moments of anxiety, maybe even questioning.
Whether we are a first-century apostle, a parent getting out of bed in the morning, or the newest Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, we all have moments of uncertainty, of facing uncharted territory. And like those first Church leaders, we are called to set out in faith.
Think of those Apostles standing on the ground, gazing up at the sky, watching Christ leave them. They didn’t have the benefit of the big picture like we do as we read how their story continues on in the book of Acts. They had no idea how the early Church would grow by leaps and bounds in such a short time. They might have been filled with fear. They might have been unsure, maybe even tempted again to go back to their old lives. But they moved forward, as Christ told them to do. They built up Christ’s Church, step by step. Their faith was never perfect, but it allowed them to move from that temptation to just continue gazing up at heaven.
The Acts of the Apostles paints a picture of a newborn Church, the first action of which is to gather to choose a replacement Apostle to fill the vacancy left by Judas. It was not unlike the recent conclave we just witnessed that chose our new Pope. Those 11 men had never been bishops before. They had never made an “executive” decision without Jesus. But they prayed, counselled with each other, and trusted in God’s will. Thus, St. Matthias was chosen as the 12th Apostle.
It’s easy for us, especially laypeople, to feel “unqualified.” But God doesn’t require that we all have theology degrees in order to spread the good news – the first 12 bishops did not! While we do have an obligation to inform ourselves about what our faith teaches, it is more important to have the confidence that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ gives us. This confidence allows us to pass along a sense of deep joy and hope to others, especially considering we are all still being called to build up the Church.
The next time we find ourselves a little dumbfounded or frozen in place, maybe gazing up to heaven looking for answers, we can recall the Apostles’ faith-filled steps in those early Church days. We can ask for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and fill us with the confidence that following the Lord should give us.
Lazzuri writes from her home in Nova Scotia, where she lives with her husband, four of her six children, and her mom. She can be reached at clarelazzuri@gmail.com.
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