The Ascension of the Lord; May 29, 2022

Acts 1:1-11.  Ps 47.  Eph 1:17-23.  Lk 24:46-53

Deacon Jim McFadden

         Today we are celebrating the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, which occurred 40 days after the Resurrection and is the culmination of the Easter season in which Jesus is “lifted up” to full participation in the life of God.

            Two things are happening: first, in his resurrected and glorified body, Jesus enters fully into the Trinitarian community.  As the Son of God, He was always co-eternally united with the Father and Holy Spirit.  But, how he is doing so in his glorified humanity for the first time.  Jesus, God, is true man, with his human body, he is in heaven!  This is our hope as well.  As we look to heaven  and gaze upon the Risen Christ, we are firm in our hope  that we will enter Heaven, not just our soul, but in the fulness of our humanity—in our glorified body.

            Second, Jesus is now present to the Church, to the People of God, that is not restricted by space and time.  He is not limited to the spatial confines of ancient Palestine, but is present to the Church in a new way.  That is why he is present among us because “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

            To understand the Ascension, we need to clarify some misunderstandings.  The Ascension is not some kind of spatial voyage.  He is not taken a journey within space and time a la Star Trek at warp speed.  What if we imagined that Jesus did travel up to heaven at the speed of light, at 180,000 miles/second.  Even with that, he’d barely be beyond our galaxy after a few thousand years.  And, keep in mind that science tells us that there are billions of galaxies, which cautions us that Jesus’ Ascension is not a journey within space and time. The spatial “up” is only a figurative expression for something spiritual. 

            At the same time, we want to dispel the notion that the Ascension is some kind of a mythic construct without an objective and true reality.  No, the Heaven of the Ascension is the very life of Trinitarian communion.  Our Lord is fully united with his Father and the Holy Spirit in his glorified humanity.  Indeed, as Romano Guardini notes in his classic, The Lord, “Not until Jesus Christ has entered into the intimacy of the Father, is he the perfect God-man.”  That’s not a myth; that’s what is ultimately  Real!

            While Jesus is no longer with us physically, his Ascension does mean that he is more fully immersed in the community of his disciples than he was prior to his Death and Resurrection.  That is why he is able to pour the grace of his divine love to all people for all time because he is not restricted by space and time.  Jesus remains for us always the God-with-us, Emmanuel, and he never leaves us alone! We can look to Heaven in order to recognize our future before us.  In the Ascension of Jesus, Crucified and Risen, there is a promise of our participation in the fulness of life with God.

            The Ascension is so fitting; there is a logical coherence that is unfolding before us.  Jesus has completed his earthly mission; it is time for him to move on.  In John 17:1,4-5 we hear, “Father…I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.  Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.”  Jesus’ redeeming work is done.  The Ascension brings to closure his human, physical presence among us.  “I…have come into the world.  Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (16:28).

            Before departing from his friends, Jesus, referring to the recent event of his death and Resurrection, said to them: “You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:48).  In other words, the disciples, the Apostles, were witnesses of them and the Ascension.  That is why that after the Lord ascended into Heaven, they returned to the city as witnesses joyfully proclaiming to all a radically new life that comes forth from the Crucified and Risen One, in whose name “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations” (v. 47). 

            This is our witness as well.  We not only proclaim the Good News with words, but in our everyday life.  What happens at Eucharist in which we “fully, consciously, and actively” participate in the mysteries of our Faith, we bring into our homes, our schools, our workplace, our hospitals, our refugee centers crowded with immigrants, in the margins of the poor and destitute.  We must bear this witness every day, every week.  Christ is with us in a new way;  Jesus rose to heaven in his glorified humanity.  He is with us here and now!  The Risen Christ lives which should be evident in the way we live our lives.

            Jesus assures us that in this witness we shall be “clothed with power from on high” (v. 49), that is, with the power of the Holy Spirit.  For what purpose?  To continue his Mission!  The presence among us of the Risen Lord, who gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, continues to open our minds and our hearts so that we can convincingly  proclaim his love and mercy even in the most resistant areas of our life.

            Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ work is not complete.  He needs you to bring to fruition his work.  Can’t you sense that in the question of the angels to the Apostles: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky” (Acts 1:11).  There is work to be done, a world to be evangelized.  We’ve got our marching orders!  “You are to be my witnesses” is Jesus’ final command.  The disciples’ Mission will be to proclaim Jesus as the saving Lord (Acts 18).  On this Feast of the Ascension we are being challenged to explain and defend our faith, to participate in the New Evangelization here and now, and to pray with Jesus that the Good News be effectively spread and heard to the world that so desperately needs to receive it. Amen.