Words Made Flesh—The Presence and the Absence of God

Reflecting on the gospel for the Feast of Jesus' Ascension this week, Fr. Thomas Rosica tells us that "the words ... 'I am with you always, even unto the end of the world' (Matthew 28:20) have a special ring to them. They send us back to the beginning of Matthew's account when Jesus is given the name 'Emmanuel.'

"In that name we find the answer to humanity's deepest longings for God throughout the ages. Emmanuel is both a prayer and plea (on our behalf) and a promise and declaration on God's part. When we pronounce the word, we are really praying and pleading: 'God, be with us!' And when God speaks it, the Almighty, Eternal, Omnipresent Creator of the world is telling us: 'I am with you' in Jesus.

"At the conclusion of [Matthew’s] Gospel, the name Emmanuel is alluded to when the Risen Jesus assures his disciples of his continued presence: 'I am with you always, until the end of the age' (28:20). God did indeed keep his promise in Jesus."

We might add that at other times when we pray "Emmanuel," we could be confiding our trust in Jesus’ promise. Or we might be expressing a hope that our lives be lived out in closer harmony with God. The wonder of the name Emmanuel is that it is so wide, encompassing a breadth of meaning that is at heart an expression of the most intimate of prayers, the deep desire of our hearts to dwell with Jesus.

But the reason we need to pray "Be with us" is at the center of our understanding of the Feast of the Ascension
and of this fragile moment between the Ascension and Pentecost. It is a fragile moment because Jesus seems to have gone away; the Ascension means precisely that Jesus has gone beyond our human physical sensing.

Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote about this as a paradox: in a way, our LORD is both "present" to us and "absent" from us. That is, Jesus the Christ is the one with whom we are already united in Baptism. He is also the one for whom we must wait to come in the fullness of glory.


For the rest of Fr. Rosica's commentary on the Feast of the Ascension, click here.

Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB is CEO of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada. He is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and writes a weekly commentary on the Sunday readings for Zenit.

*ZENIT is a non-profit international news agency comprising a team of professionals and volunteers who are convinced of the extraordinary richness of the Catholic Church's message, particularly its social doctrine. The ZENIT team sees this message as a light for understanding today's world.