Jesus told His disciples, and us, that it would be better for us if He left, so that another Advocate could come (cf. John 16:7). At first glance, this doesn’t make sense.

Mark explained what he was going to do and then exposed the Lord in the Eucharist and slowly placed the stole around the monstrance on the altar. Almost immediately, in my mind’s eye, I “saw” Jesus standing there on the altar, the one and only true Priest.

It’s not unusual to hear prayers for “a new Pentecost.” Do we really want that? Do we really want the Holy Spirit to fall on us, consume us, overwhelm us, set our hearts on fire, move us to surrender everything to Jesus in faith, and catapult us out into our streets to do now what the apostles did then?

We need a Church unafraid of going forth into their night. We need a Church capable of meeting them on their way. We need a Church capable of entering into their conversation. We need a Church able to dialogue with those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren, fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning.