by Rev. Edward Correia

On Thursday, we celebrated the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles. This weekend we are between these two celebrations.

There are many times in our lives when we are between. We may be between jobs. We may be graduating from eighth grade and going to high School. We may be between graduating from high school and going to college. Some are between an operation and recuperation.

We are between Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension that began our salvation and the completion of that salvation when the Lord comes a second time.

We are also between the church that we have known all our lives as ending and the new church that is emerging. The Church that we have known for so many years is definitely ending. What the Church will become is still to be seen.

What do we do in this between time? Jesus in the gospel prays that we will be one as He and the Father are one. Yes we are called to cling to one another as we wait for the Holy Spirit to guide us. That is what Mary and the Apostles did between the time of the Ascension and Pentecost. They gathered in the upper room and waited. They prayed together and shared their faith with each other.

We need to cling to one another, be one in our prayer, and in our sharing of our Faith.

Labeling people in the Church as conservatives, liberals, orthodox, traditional or progressive doesn’t bring about the unity that we need and for which Jesus was praying. The reality is that all of us are a combination of all these categories in different parts of our lives. The reality is also that no one holds the fullness of truth. We all need to learn form one another. The reality is also that no one way is the perfect way of expressing our faith. We need one another’s expression.