I have been working on a homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension and struggling with it some. Part of what I am trying to convey is that Luke's way of telling the story with its various stages, time frames, and images of leaving, absence, and eventual return are a paradoxical way of speaking about a new and challenging Presence in a new and sacramental world --- if only we have the eyes of faith to see it! In the midst of this work I received the above picture with a brief note from my Director.
One can see a foolish child, mistaken in what she sees, misguided in her futile attempts to assist with something she would be too small and insignificant to help with even if this weren't a statue --- and maybe allow "how cute" such foolishness is! Or, one can see what it means when Jesus says we must become like little children and view the world with the eyes of faith. Yes, this is a tableau of Jesus' way of the cross, not merely because of the suffering, struggle, and failure associated with the scene, but because it is simultaneously a tableau of two hearts, blind to their very human limitations, and united in their alertness to the infinite potential of Love.
This "little one" may not have moved this statue but there is no doubt in my mind she moved God with compassion and delight --- and deeply touched the hearts of whoever has seen this.
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