What use to me, O Lord, are all the solemnities and rituals of worship?

I did not see you hanging on the cross.

I did not suffer with you,

   nor follow you to the grave,

   my tears bathing your wounds.

I did not see you rise to the heavens.

On earth you never greeted me,

   and when you ascended into heavenyou never bid me farewell.

I missed your first coming, and my soul is bitter and sad.

But your angels comfort me when they promise

   that you shall return in the same manner that you left,

   as King of kings.

When you first came to Bethlehem you were humble and lowly.

When you return the fullness of your glory and power shall be revealed.

Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090 – 1153, French abbot and Cistercian mystic

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After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”