Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought for the Day
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 24.05.2007 (Article Archived on 07.06.2007)

This week, we celebrated Ascension Day, a very important occasion, not only in our faith, but in the life of this island. Ascension was discovered (or re-discovered on Ascension Day.

The first line of the entrance antiphon this week seems very suited for those of us on Ascension.  “Men of Galilee, why do you stand there looking at the sky?”  Well, we might not be from Galilee, but everyone here spends time looking at the sky.

The sky here is beautiful.  It is blue most days, sometimes a little cloudy, but very rarely dark with storms.  The sun shines, the wind blows, the sky in all its glory.  The sunsets are some of the most beautiful you will find anywhere.  How many times have we enjoyed the beauty of the sky when the sun is sinking low, all hoping to catch the “green flash”?  And how amazed we are if we are lucky enough to glimpse that brief moment when another wonder is given to us?  Last Sunday evening, the sunset was glorious, and I just sat at the Grotto and stared into the brilliant colours.  To me it is absolute proof of God’s existence.

At night, we are treated to the very best of midnight skies, a beautiful moon in all its phases, satellites passing overhead, and millions of stars in a sky not obscured by the artificial lights of the city.  It is a most impressive sight.  When the moon is small, I can attest to just how dark it gets around here, after the lights on the Land Rover failed a few weeks ago on the way back from a night dive at English Bay.  We had just made the turn off the English Bay Road and still had a long way to go to get back to the base.  Imagine driving by the light of a dive torch being held out the window!  It’s hard to keep it focused on the road while bumping along the road in an old Rover, but I managed to illuminate enough of the road that we stayed on it!  Quite an experience; just another unique Ascension adventure!  But it made me realize just how dark it can get here on Ascension. 

Looking to the sky is the reason that many of us are here.  Many of the organizations that are here on Ascension are doing exactly that.  Looking at the sky, listening for the sounds and signals filtering through the atmosphere.  So many radar domes, antennas, transmitting stations; all looking towards the sky.  If it wasn’t for this, most of us would never have discovered this piece of rock in the middle of the ocean, this remote spot where we can truly learn to discover and appreciate the sky.  It’s amazing to think that something as vast as the sky, something that appears so empty, is as full of life as it is.

In this little known, rarely visited spot, how many of us look to the sky when we hear the sound of an airplane?  I bet everyone does.  We look for the plane to land safely.  It brings us foodstuffs, goods we’ve ordered, and more importantly letters and packages from our family members.  And sometimes, if we’re really lucky, it brings a loved one to visit.  What a great reason to look to the sky.

Wherever we believe heaven to be, to most of us it is a wondrous place that is somewhere “out there”, high above this earth.  Why else has the sky above us always been referred to as the heavens?  Heaven is where the Lord went to on the day of the Ascension.  Heaven is where the men from Galilee were looking to after Jesus had disappeared from their earthly gazes.  But they were promised that He will return.  And this promise has been passed down to us, another of God’s great gifts to His people.

As well, we as believing people know that the souls of our loved ones are with God in the heavens.  What better reason to look to the sky, to look into the heavens in remembrance and with honour, and to be grateful for the gift of their presence in our lives.  And to know that one day we will be reunited.

So this week, on this special island named for the Ascension of our Lord, pause for a few moments, in the day, at sunset, and in the dark of night, and look to the sky.  Simply look into the heavens, and feel the presence of God in your life.