It seems so long ago that back on March 31 we celebrated Easter Sunday and the beginning of the Easter season. In our Catholic faith, the Easter season lasts 50 days, all the way to Pentecost, which will be next weekend. With Pentecost Sunday, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ being celebrated on the next four Sundays, perhaps our celebration of the Ascension of the Lord today gets lost in the shuffle.
Our reading from the very beginning of the Acts of the Apostles today shows the disciples gazing up into the heavens, shocked and amazed as they see Jesus ascending. When two messengers appear on the scene, they ask the disciples: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” So what is the Ascension about? We can start be stating what it isn’t about: The Ascension isn’t defined in a literal sense of Jesus floating up into space on his way up to “heaven”.
Perhaps we could say that the Ascension can be best understood in the way that it is a part of the Paschal Mystery, which is comprised of: (1) Jesus’ suffering and death, (2) his resurrection, 3) his ascension, (4) and his sending of the Holy Spirit. Those parts of the Paschal Mystery comprise one reality. In the resurrection, we understand that Jesus still lives as our Savior and our Redeemer. In the Ascension, we better understand Christ’s relationship with the Father: that the living Christ has entered into glory, and that he shares that glory with the Father.
In our 2nd reading, Paul sees the Ascension in terms of God the Father raising Christ from the dead, of seating him at his right hand in the heavens, above every other principality, authority, power, and dominion, above every name that is named, in this age and in all ages to come. Pope Francis sees the Ascension creating a new reality of Christ with us where Christ is with God the Father, where he always intercedes for us. He is no longer in a definite place in the world as he was before the Ascension. He is now in the lordship of God, present in all space and time. I am always impressed by the words and images that Pope Francis uses.
I was once in the heart of the rain forest in Ecuador as a missionary, driving along on the passenger side in a truck to pick up some wood for the carpentry school that I managed. We came across a big pile of bamboo and small logs in the middle of the road, so the driver and I got out to move them out of the way. When I got back into the cab of the truck, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye on my bare arm, and out of my exhaustion from the hot tropical climate, I hastily brushed it off my arm without really paying attention. The driver looked at the floorboard of the truck cab, and in great haste, frantically, smashed what I had just brushed off my arm – a huge scorpion. I was both terrified and relieved. I said a prayer of thanks to the Holy Spirit, to all the saints in the heavens, to the Blessed Virgin Mary – to whomever was watching over me and protecting me that day. However, we should not be aware of God’s presence in just those times when we need him most. God is there with us always through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is the message we hear in the prayer of St Patrick, with which I will close my homily with today:
THE PRAYER OF ST PATRICK -
Christ be beside me, Christ be before me, Christ be behind me, King of my heart.
Christ be within me, Christ be below me, Christ be above me, never to part.
Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me, shield in the strife.
Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising, light of my life.
Christ be in all hearts thinking about me; Christ be on all tongues telling of me; Christ be the vision in eyes that see me; in ears that hear me, Christ ever be. AMEN.
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