Magyar Egyház, 1958 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1958-04-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH MOTHERS On Mothers’ Day in deepest gratitude we raise our prayers to God Almighty. He is the Lord of Life — but in His wisdom He creates new human lives through mothers and fathers (I am sure, mothers won’t mind if in our Mothers’ Day’s thoughts we include fathers, too). God is the author of talents and virtues — but He commissioned mothers and fathers to shape and to develop them. God revealed Himself to man through the Gospel of Jesus Christ — but the first from whom we hear this Gospel is mother and father. God protects and guides us throughout our earthly course — but for so many years mother and father are His outstretched hands, His tender voice, His loving concern. Our head may have turned into hoar-frosty grey already — for mother and father we are still children; five or twentyfive or fortyfive, we still can bring joy or sorrow, hopes or anxieties into mother’s and father’s life. Blessed are the mothers and fathers whose children see in them their next link to God! Blessed are the mothers and fathers who are able to relay God’s love to their children! * Our Heavenly Father, on Mothers’ Day we pray to Thee because we are in need — in need of fitting gratitude towards our parents. O Father, who hast created us through Thy love manifested in our parents, teach us to be faithful, grateful and loving children to them and through them to Thee. Thus make us fit to be good parents to our own children — tender but not soft, strict but not harsh, understanding but not pampering. Kindle in us, O God, the love towards our spiritual mother, the Church. May the mutual love and respect of parents and children create a fellowship where Thy will prevails and Thy grace is experienced by all. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen. Ascension Day — What Is It? The fortieth day after Easter has been traditionally called Ascension Day in the Christian Church, as its people remember the return of the Christ to the heavenly kingdom. In Acts 1:9, Luke writes, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” In this age of rockets and satellites, the scripture here presents a problem, because the question is most appropriate, “Which way is up?” The early Christians were not bothered by flying machines of any type, and they pictured heaven as bright new world high in the sky above a flat earth—almost like the icing on a layer cake. Times have changed, but our language has not. Although we know the earth is round, people all over the world speak of heaven as up. Is it up above Palestine, or above the United States, or above Australia? If it is in all these places, it must be situated like a big ball around our little earthy ball. And what about the distant planets and stars? Is heaven above and beyond them too? The only way out of the dilemma is to make a distinction the ancients could not nor had not to make, between the heavens and the skies. Sky is the atmosphere of the universe, filled with planets, meteors and stars. But heaven is not bound by measurements, being a place of the spirit. Therefore, when we speak we ought to remember that heaven is not up in the sense of direction, but that it is a picture way of speaking to say that hearten is above our understanding, appreciation, and passing earthly desires. It is in this sense that we speak of Christ being lifted up, not into the skies like a spaceman, but into a spiritual world. This story of Jesus’ ascension is a human way of expressing a God given truth. The disciples had seen Christ the victor enter into his heavenly world. No. not by sight, but by insight. They knew that when he had parted from them that Jesus, so alive and everlastingly present, could be in no other place than in the glorious heavenly kingdom. The Ascension Day message is that Jesus has gone away, as is the way of all flesh. We may wish that he had stayed, but there is a good reason for his leaving us on earth. As he said. “It is expedient for you that I go away.” The Father wants his children to grow into mature Christian people, and this could not be if they were to be continually tied to His apron strings. Although it may not be the safest way, the good parent lets the child do things for himself, lets him make his own friends, and lets him fight his own battles. He knows his child can never grow into maturity until he learns to think and act for himself on his own responsibility. This is why Christ had to leave earth, so that man could learn to carry his own load and shoulder his own cross. To do less would be to stunt man from growing into the fulness of his capability. But, in a sense, Christ did not go away, since he is the everpresent guide. As a child goes out on his own, he has the guidance of the parent to assist him in his judgement. He remembers the words of caution of the parent to stay off the streets, to be careful by fire, and to respect other people’s property. He has learned from the parent positive attitudes which will help him to make friends and maintain
