Coming to the end of the Easter Season with its accounts of the Resurrected Lord in the midst of a revitalized community, we are aware of Christ’s imminent departure and how we can be with him in a new and “ordinary” way. The three readings in this Sunday’s lectionary suggest three different ways to remain with him.

The reading from Acts describes the apostles returning to Jerusalem “after Jesus had been taken up to heaven from the Mount called Olivet.” At that moment, the apostles must have felt Jesus’s absence acutely and presumably steeled themselves to find another way to live with him. They went to the upper room where they “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” Note two points: they prayed, which means they felt they could still speak to Jesus, and through him to the Father and the Holy Spirit. In other words, they still expected him to listen attentively to their words, perhaps borrowing the psalmist’s cry, “Hear us, O Lord.” In other words, they regarded prayer as a privilege and a gift: they speak, and God listens. On the other hand, we sometimes regard prayer as a duty and a burden, and indeed it can be, and sometimes must be. But the apostles and the women persevered in confiding their needs and hopes to God.

The second point, they joined in praying” with some woman, and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers” (other community members). Without being aware of it, these early followers of the Lord were laying the basis of what today is called The Liturgy of the Hours, the official daily prayer of the church, built around Morning and Evening prayer, though including other moments of the day. This prayer is available to all Christians via the Internet, manuals, or simply personal pray.

The second characteristic of Christians coping with the departure of Jesus to heaven is from 1 Peter, which urges us to orient our sufferings and limits to God who knows our frame and will help us bear our daily burdens.

The third point to notice is Jesus’s prayer.  It reminds us that all prayer is theocentric, directed to God, and reminds us with enormous affection that we, Jesus’s followers, are the Father’s gift to the Son. As such, Jesus will hear us.

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.