Sunday after Ascension - 22 May 1955
22 May 1955
The Collect: O God the king of Glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ has gone before who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
In the Collect for today we pray for two things: That Christ by his Spirit may come to us That we may go to Him
Leave us not comfortless, but send to us thine Holy Spirit to comfort us. – You will remember what our Lord told His disciples in the talk He had with them before His passion. “I will not leave you desolate.” I will not leave you desolate – as orphans. We can realise to some extent the feeling of helplessness with which the disciples contemplated the departure of our Lord. He promised not to leave them as orphans.
Send to us thine Holy Spirit to comfort us, we pray.The work of the Holy Spirit is to comfort us. The word ‘comfort’ comes to us from a Latin word which means ‘to make strong, to confirm’. What our Lord did for His disciples was to draw out into vigorous exercise all the spiritual faculties of their nature, and that is still the special work of the Holy Spirit. Baptism plants in us the seed of the new life. But it has no strength to grow apart from the constant activity of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are feeble and ineffective till they are confirmed or strengthened. In the Confirmation Service we pray for those who are confirmed , that they may be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. ‘Strengthen them, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.’ But let us remember that such a prayer as this requires preparation. There must be the cleansed heart and consecrated will.
Exalt us unto the same place. Wherever God is, there is heaven. Christ is with God and we pray that He may take us to be with him. Our Lord said, ‘And I, if lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.’ Last Thursday was Ascension Day. Next Sunday is Whit Sunday on which we celebrate the coming down of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Let us prepare ourselves for the festival and pray that we may receive the Power of God’s Holy Spirit and that we may be strengthened by Him.
The Ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are two events that brought home to the disciples the truth of the perpetual presence of Christ. During Christ’s life on earth they had relied upon His companionship and help. But now after the Ascension and Pentecost, they came to realise that Jesus was nearer to them than he was while on earth.