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Monday, May 29, 2017

May 28, Ascension of the Lord

May 28, 2017
Ascension of the Lord
Acts 1:1–11; Ephesians 1:17–23; Matthew 28:16–20

There was this story of an astronaut who had a successful travel to outer space. When he returned to earth, he told his wife, “We’ve gone up to heaven, but we did not find God there.” Obviously, the astronaut was talking about heaven from the physical and material level. The heaven that can be seen by our bare eyes. But is this the kind of heaven that Jesus refers to as we celebrate today the feast of the Lord’s Ascension?


I invite you to reflect on the meaning of this mystery in three points:

THE LORD’S ASCENSION IS THE HOMECOMING OF JESUS TO THE FATHER. Our readings today tell us that Jesus ascended not to the outer space. He ascended not to the heaven that can be seen by our bare eyes. He ascended to the throne of God the Father in heaven. He went back home to be with the Father. What does this mean for us? My brothers and sisters, let us remember that in the imagery of Church as Body of Christ, Jesus is our head and we are the body. If Jesus who is the head of the Church is now in heaven, then there is hope that we who belong to the body of Christ will one day be with Him in heaven. Jesus has opened the gates of heaven, the gates of paradise for us. Isn’t that beautiful? We are certain that there is a place called heaven, there is a place called paradise because Jesus, our head, already went there ahead of us to prepare for our homecoming. We are made for heaven. We are not made for this earth. The Lord’s Ascension ignites our hope that we will one day be at home with Jesus in paradise.

THE LORD’S ASCENSION DOES NOT MEAN THAT JESUS HAS ABANDONED US. We oftentimes see the Lord’s ascension as Christ leaving us - that Jesus will go to a distant place where we can no longer see Him. But the mystery of the Lord’s Ascension tells us that even without His physical presence, Jesus continues to remain in us. But this time we need new eyes to see Jesus. We need to see things in the eyes of faith to recognize His presence.  Now that Jesus is in heaven, we must understand that He also entered into a different kind of existence. Now his presence cannot be limited only to one place. In every adoration chapel throughout the world, in every sacrament, in every mass celebrated, in every experience of love, in every help we extend to the least of our brethren, in every prayer experience, Jesus is present. The Lord has not really abandoned us. Jesus in the Gospel says, “I am with you always until the end of the age.”

THE LORD’S ASCENSION MEANS THAT JESUS IS WITH THE FATHER INTERCEDING FOR US. We have this tendency that when we are in an exalted position, when we are in power, we forget the misery of others. But such is not the case with Jesus. He is now with the Father and as the Gospel says “all power in heaven and earth has been given to Him”. What does He do with that power?  He uses this opportunity to intercede for us, to empower us to continue His mission. What is this mission? Jesus says: “Go out to all the world and proclaim the good news.” Jesus did not send his disciples around the world as tourists.  He sends them as missionaries to make disciples. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who has a living relationship with Jesus the master. The mission is to lead people to Jesus and develop a living relationship with him. How will they be able to do that? Jesus knows we are powerless and weak, like His own disciples. So He assures that He will continue to work with them. They will be able speak new languages, expel demons, cure the sick NOT because they are talented but because of Jesus working with them.

And so let us remember that in our mission, we must be humble enough to give credit not to ourselves but to Jesus who works in us. When God works in us and makes us his instruments, we can indeed accomplish many great things.  The Lord’s Ascension is not about Jesus leaving us alone here on earth. It is about his homecoming to the Father. We look forward for the day when Jesus will welcome us home in heaven. As we continue to live our lives on earth, may we allow God to work in us in accomplishing our mission to lead people closer to Him. Amen.