Am in a writing mode this May; will have two columns and three editorials per week, and if you chance to wander into the Saipan Tribune website, the byline shows up on Mondays and Thursdays. Editorials are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Wednesday editorial: The ascent intoheaven The Vulgate’s AscensioIesu led Christian catechism to Jesus rising to Heaven in front of apostlesoccurring 40 days after he rose from the dead. Angels informed disciples that Jesus “will come again” in a similarmanner. The second coming and millennialreign equalized the playing field so the faithful were rewarded and theinfidels got their due. A metaphoricaltranslation of this medieval scenario is what Christians do when they encountercatechetical wisdom in graphic metaphors, in this case, a witness using apre-Copernican worldview with images out of Egyptian cosmology; Earth is flat,upstairs is Heaven, while down in the underworld, in the murky Nile waters liesdark Hades where the sun sets to rise again, i.e., if the Pharaoh is still ingood favor. Experts on cosmologicalsynthesis of economics, politics and cultures of the Balkan society carriedinto the Greco-Roman Empire that shaped our dispensation. The Creed recited on Sunday worship servicesdeclares Jesus ascent into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father fromwhence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. Read: he joined an on-going party, full of gladnessand glory, exuding spirit authenticity, of happiness begun (incarnate) even beforethe point of joining. Like Holy Writ,the meaning of the recitation is in doing the ritual rather than the literal meaningof what is declared; the significance is in the gesture rather than whatcognitive clarity the statement might make or imply. The emotive content of the doing is the communalidentity of the ritualizing folks committed to take care of each other incovenant. Whendiscipleship gets serious, what is said of the primal example also holds truewith the followers. The “ascent intoheaven” that as bodily true of the “savior” is also true of the “saved”. There is symmetry and justice in the schemethat makes life whole from the perspective of universal eternity. This was allfine until Galileo changed the imagery, turning cosmology so that Earth lostout as the center of the Universe. Newtonproposed a force called “gravity” that reduced the “will of God” to a naturalforce, and Einstein relativized life as in flux, a process of change called“evolution” rather than dictated from a heavenly “realm upstairs”. Progressives dub the change as a happeningfor the better! This metaphorprevailed for two millennia. What itmight mean today depends on who takes the pulpit at Mass, that is, if the Padre is honest. But that is only for the numbered Church-goingschizophrenics awake to the authentic present but mouth the symbols andmetaphors of old. For many, theascent into heaven escapes the corporeal terminus with the worms at 6 ft. belowthe ground. It denies authority ofapparitions seen while under influence of mental or liquid spirit, aconsequence of indigestion, or from sleep deprivation. Ten days after ascending into heaven in the liturgy,the Holy Spirit descends, infuses common creatures and become whole. Rehearse thereality of life, in its authenticity where lies its splendor. Ascend into heaven! j'aime la vie yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!