Homily Notes Feast of Ascension May 28

Feast of the Ascension/Jesus is Not the Only One Who Will be Lifted-up

“What happened 40 days after Easter? I asked this question at last Friday’s school Mass. I got various answers. Was it Pentecost? Was it Lent? The real answer proved to be a little bit allusive. Ascension is kind of the forgotten feast between Easter and Pentecost. Perhaps that is why the commemoration has been moved to a Sunday so that we can reflect more fully on this event in the life of Christ.

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional time for priestly ordinations in the Peoria. Priests tend to have two paths they follow in ministry. We can be like St. John Vianney staying in one area our whole life but then again, we can be like St. Paul moving from place to place. In my time as a priest, I have moved a lot. I have moved six times in 35 years. Whenever a person moves that much you realize that you usually do not want to take a lot with you. Somehow it is hard for priests to become hoarders. Whenever anyone moves you are left with a choice. What do you take with you what do you leave behind?

When you must think about moving all those old Christmas decorations, suddenly, they are not so precious. When you contemplate those three extra pairs of shoes they look more worn than they did before. A dumpster becomes your best friend. Old financial records, books, nick-knacks, all can be disposed of.

But there are things that anyone who moves can’t leave behind. Close relationships will continue. Memories of the events that have taken place where we have lived before will always be with us. Vocational choices will probably stay with us as well. If we are a parent we are going to remain a parent. Our Christianity will also go with us. If we are true followers of Jesus we will adhere to that value system wherever we go. We will take our weaknesses with us. Our talents will be something that we cannot leave behind either.

When we reflect on Jesus’ Ascension we might get caught up in the unimportant aspects of what happened. We may ask how it happened? The scripture does not give us much of a description. We hear in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus gives his disciples the great commission. “Go out and make disciples of all nations.” And that is the end of the story. We have no mention of how Jesus left. At the end of Gospel of Luke, it says simply, “And as he blessed them he was taken into heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles says that Jesus goes to the mountain with the apostles and he was lifted up with a cloud taking him from their sight.

How we picture the Ascension is by what we have seen in religious art. We remember the great paintings of the disciples looking up as the feet of Jesus disappear. The look on the faces of the disciples usually ranges from shock, to horror, to serenity. We do not know much about the how of the Ascension.

But what about the why of the Ascension? Perhaps we would feel that this event was necessary to end the story of the earthly Jesus. He needed to be moved off stage so the Holy Spirit could come. Jesus had to leave so the Apostles would be ready to move on with the creation of the church. The apostles could not become leaders if they kept looking to Jesus for leadership. Perhaps this is the reason for the Ascension.

But there is another possibility. Jesus needed to complete the story of the Incarnation. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church there are two lines that can cause us to look at the feast we commemorate today in another way. One sentence in paragraph 460 says that, “The Son of God became man so that we might become God.” The teaching comes from St. Athanasius. A line that follows that says, “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he made man, might make men gods.” The teaching comes from St. Thomas Aquinas.

Jesus came into the world to make us divine. The Ascension completes that mission. Because there was something that Jesus could not leave behind when he moved into heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand. He took his humanity with him. His glorified body went with him. His human intelligence went with him. His love for all of us went with him. His forgiving character went with him. All of us have been lifted up because Jesus united himself to us. We are special, we are glorified because of our brother Jesus, and we will become more glorious when we die, when we are resurrected. Where Jesus went, we will follow. Jesus has shown us the way.

Some baggage will be left behind when we ascend, like our faults, like our failings. But we will one day sit with the father. And that is our destiny. Let us rejoice and be glad in this face of our faith on it this Easter day.