We hear some very vivid readings this morning that describe Christ’s Ascension into heaven. In the Acts of the Apostles, after Jesus answers some of the disciples’ questions about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, about how we as Christ’s disciples are to be his witnesses here on earth, he leaves them as he ascends up to the heavens. We can imagine them looking up in shock and surprise and they see Jesus lifted up in a cloud right before their very eyes. Yet, as they are viewing this act with awe and wonder, the angels tell them that their place is not just to sit there watching Jesus and pondering his eventual return, but rather they are to pay attention to the present moment, to the mission they have here now on earth as Christ’s disciples. The Gospel from Mark develops this theme for us, telling us to “go into the world and to proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Wow, that is quite a mandate we are given. It is overwhelming for me at time to try to fulfill my calling as a priest to bring the Gospel right here to all the people in Yazoo and Humphreys counties. Imagine having the mandate to bring the Gospel to all living creature here on earth!
I thought of the six children who are receiving their first holy communion today: Bates Cader, Emma Lawrell Guthrie, Baker and Bryson Hornback, Henry Jernigan Williams IV, and Anna Fearon Yerger, We are full of so much joy as we celebrate this special day with all of you and your families. I heard Miss Diane and Miss Melissa explain to you last week that this is a wonderful day for all of you because of the special way you are going to receive Jesus in your lives in the Eucharist for the first time in your lives of faith. Your teachers went on to explain how that it does not end there, that because Jesus enters your life in a special way through the Eucharist, it will impact the way in which you live your life, the way you interact with your family and your friends.
You never know how you will impact others, boys and girls, by the way you live out your faith as followers of Jesus. I want to illustrate this with a story from my pilgrimage to Spain. The pilgrims have the custom of making marks and leaving things behind to show that they are on a journey of faith. Along the pilgrimage trail are cement markers showing the way; pilgrims often leave things on these markers to memorialize this spiritual journey that they are on. I got into the practice of putting little piles of rocks on these markers, and for each stone I would place, I would say a prayer. On the very last day in which we were walking, I was doing this when two ladies from Holland came up to me to tell me how touched they were by what they saw me doing. When I told them I was a priest, they told me that this made a lot of sense, because they could imagine the prayers I was saying in my mind as I placed these rocks. I did not even know that these ladies were watching me, and I certainly had no idea of what my actions might have on them.
I have really enjoyed seeing all of you in the first holy Eucharist class journey and grow together this year. And taking the Eucharist for the first time is really a beginning for you, not an end point, just as Jesus ascending into heaven was a new beginning for his disciples to bring his Good News to all the corners of the world. And this is a process that is never going to end. In fact, in the modern world, it is probably even more important than ever. So, as we celebrate the Ascension today, how is it calling us to action?
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