This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday we marked the Feast of the Ascension when, the Gospel tells us, Jesus took His place at the Father’s right hand; He took His place as the Eternal High Priest. This means something very powerful and very real for us today, for Jesus ascended and became the Eternal High Priest who leads all creation in the Eternal Divine Liturgy in Worship of God the Father, in the Communion of the Holy Spirit.

In our Gospel from the Ascension, we hear Jesus telling the 11 remaining Apostles clearly what His departure means for them. He tells them that they are going to receive power from on high — meaning the Holy Spirit. (And this coming Sunday we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.) Jesus tells the 11 that they are going to receive the Holy Spirit from on high, with power — the power to “handle serpents.”

We know, of course, of the image of the serpent through the Scriptures, even from the very beginning — the ancient serpent who brought down Adam and Eve — and so we know that Jesus’ Apostles received the power to, “handle,” in fact, the forces of evil. And we are still called to do that, especially when it’s needed through the Rite of Exorcism. But in a general way, even to this day we are called to handle those deadly serpents, the demons who seek to ruin people’s lives and to herald in the culture of death.