G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “It is our perennial spiritual and psychological task to look at things that are familiar until they become unfamiliar again.” This is so true. How have we become used to these mysteries we’ve been celebrating in the Easter season? How can it be that we find these realities…dry, boring, dull, of little to no real interest?

What, then, does it mean to say that Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the Father”? Most succinctly, it means He reigns. To profess in the Creed that Jesus is seated right now at the right hand of the Father means that Jesus, the God-man, Lord of the universe, is “in charge.” It means to profess that He holds the world, the Church, history, and each one of us in His hands. This position is rightfully His because by His loving self-offering on the Cross He defeated the powers of Sin, Death and Satan himself who had held the world captive since that dark day in Eden.

God is not bound by trends. They mean nothing to Him. And thus, while we certainly don’t want to be unaware of them, they should mean more or less nothing to us. The Spirit of God is power. We are not orphans. The mission of the Church is not dependent on our own strength, our own wisdom, or our own initiative. It is the Father’s desire that His creation be rescued and renewed. That’s what Jesus began with His death and resurrection. That’s what the Church continues until that glorious day of the King’s return. 

In listening to Jesus, in watching Him interact with people, and above all in His freely laying down His life for each one of us on the cross, the enemy is exposed as a deceiver and God is revealed to be a good Father, whom we can trust. Jesus repeats in many ways that He only does what He sees the Father do, and only says what He hears the Father say. Over 180 times He speaks explicitly of His Father in the Gospels. The Father is the Lord’s “one homily.”