What the Future Holds

Of all the kinds of fear we can have, perhaps the most common is fear of the unknown. Whether in work or family life, we tend to not like it when things are outside of our control. Just consider our experience of the pandemic; so much of our discomfort and fear was because we didn’t know who was sick and who wasn’t, we didn’t know how bad it would get or when it would improve. Recently, as things have gotten better for us locally – thanks be to God! – we feel more secure because we feel we have a better sense of what the future holds.

In today’s first reading, the apostles ask Jesus what the future holds: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They want some sense of certitude about what is going to happen next. But Jesus doesn’t given them that; he says it is not for them to know “the times or the seasons” for those things which God alone can know. Instead, what he tells them is that they will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help them in what they must do here and now. The task at hand, the task that he gives them right before he ascends to heaven, is to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.”

The Ascension (c. 1530) by Dosso Dossi

There is an important truth to be understood here. When we look to the future, to things unknown, we can sometimes spend too much time and energy focusing on things that are outside of our control – things that may happen or may not – and not enough on the present tasks right in front of us. There is nothing wrong, of course, in planning for the future and trying to be responsible and prepared for what may come. But when we allow the unknowns to become our primary consideration – emotionally, if nothing else – then we miss out on doing is what to be done right now, in the present moment.

What is more, sometimes without even knowing it, we can give ourselves over to fear rather than to trust in God. Jesus assured the disciples that they will be given heavenly assistance in carrying out the work that he has given them to do. That divine help is not something abstract or impersonal but is the presence the Holy Spirit. In the trials of our daily lives, in the ups and downs of family, work, relationships, taking care also of ourselves and our own wellbeing, God himself, God the Holy Spirit, assists us in those things and gives us the consolation of his presence. It’s so important to always remember: we are not alone! That may seem counterintuitive to say when today’s feast is about Jesus no longer being physically present on earth. But the Lord ascended to heaven not to leave us alone but precisely to send us his presence in a wholly new way, through the power of his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit himself is invisible, but that he is active and present in our lives should be something visible for others to see. That’s what Jesus means when he calls his disciples to be his “witnesses” – witnesses not in the sense of passive onlookers, but in the sense of those who give witness, who testify to others about the truth and love of God. In all those situations of daily life that I mentioned, we have the ability not just to get through them, to make do in the best way we can – we have the opportunity to really make them moments of showing others the strength we find in the Good News. This doesn’t mean we have to be loud or showy; we can give witness to Jesus in simple yet profound ways. If those around us are filled with worry, perhaps we suggest the value of turning to God in prayer, and then offer to lead them in praying. If uncertainties abound, or there is the temptation to despair, maybe we remind ourselves and others that our hope lies not in anything in this world but in the life to come. Perhaps it means choosing in love to have mercy and seek the good of someone who has wronged us, when others would prefer to be outraged or seek vengeance. Often, doing what is right precisely when and because it is hard is just the way to be a witness to the world of the love of Christ.

Friends, while there are many unknowns we deal with each day, ultimately, we are moving always toward something we do know – that the Lord who ascended to heaven will one day return again. Until that day, let’s not let our fears hold us back from the present task he has given us – to be his witnesses, in all that we do. We may not always know what the future holds, but we know the one who holds it, for he himself is the future joy for all who trust in him. May this Eucharist provide us renewed confidence in the presence of his Spirit among us so that in all things we may bear his name to the ends of the earth.