CONTINUING THE WORK OF THE MASTER
Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53
The great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wrote his final opera “Turandot” when he was stricken with throat cancer. Puccini seemed to have had an inkling of the seriousness of his condition. Before leaving for Brussels for treatment, he visited his favourite student—Auturo Toscanini—and begged him: “Don’t let my ‘Turandot’ die.” He died a few days later. After his death, his disciples studied the score carefully and completed the opera.
On 25 April 1926, Toscanini directed the world premiere of “Turandot” in Milan’s La Scala opera house. When the opera reached the point at which Puccini was forced to stop, Toscanini put down his baton, and tearfully told the audience: “Here the opera ends, because at this point the maestro died.” There was silence throughout the opera house. After a few minutes, Toscanini picked up the baton, smiled through his tears and said: “But his disciples finished his work.”
The story of “Turandot” is like the story of Christianity! Before Jesus completed his work of establishing the kingdom on earth, he died. But he rose again and before his ascension, asked his disciples to continue his work.
The first verses of the first reading connect the Acts of the Apostles with the Gospel according to Luke: Jesus commissioned his disciples to be his witnesses and to continue the work of the Master.
Right through the Acts of the Apostles, Luke will describe the way in which the disciples continue the work of the Master. It is a sort of déjà vu experience! The life of the disciples in the Acts mirrors—in striking ways—the public life of Jesus.
The Solemnity of the Ascension reminds us that Jesus calls us, like he called the disciples, to continue the work of the Master.
To continue our Master’s work, we—like Puccini’s disciples—must understand the score: the life and ministry of Jesus, as it has been handed down to us through scripture and tradition.
However, unlike Puccini’s disciples, we are called to perform our Master’s opera not occasionally, but to live it every day; not in auditoriums, but in our families, work places, communities, churches, and society.
Unlike Puccini’s disciples, we cannot say that we have finished the work of the Master; we can only continue it as best we can. The Master will finish it when he comes again. Until that day, “the disciples continue his work”!
Will I make the effort to understand the work of the Master? How will I continue the work of the Master?
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