THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
18 MAY 2023
Today’s
Solemnity is scheduled for the fortieth day of Easter, which is last Thursday. In both his Gospel and in the Acts of the
Apostles, Saint Luke says that the Lord Jesus ascended forty days after he had
been raised from the dead. Saint Luke uses
this symbolic number to say that the risen Christ had sufficient time to teach
his disciples about the Reign of God. The
risen Christ prepares those who witnessed the Easter event for the mission of
the Church.
A few
decades ago, our Bishops moved this Solemnity to today, the closest Sunday to
the symbolic forty days. They wanted to
make sure that this Solemnity is observed by Catholics who take seriously their
Sunday Mass obligation. The Ascension of
the Lord is an integral part of the Paschal Mystery. At the heart of the Paschal Mystery is our faith
that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead.
Surrounded by forty days of Lent and these fifty days of Easter, we
entered into this mystery when we celebrated the Sacred Paschal Triduum. The Mystery of the Ascension reminds us that
we cannot encounter the transformed body of the risen Christ, as the original
disciples encountered him after his resurrection.
This
crucial aspect of the Paschal Mystery is also shrouded in mystery. Just as the Gospel writers give differing
accounts of his encounters with his disciples after the mystery of his
resurrection, so they give differing accounts of the Ascension. Saint Luke uses the symbolic number. Saint John describes the Mystery as one
upward event. Jesus is lifted up on the
cross. Then he is lifted up from the
dead. Then he is lifted up to return to
the fullness of reality from which he descended when he took on human flesh in
the Mystery of the Incarnation. Saint
Mark speaks of the Ascension occurring on a mountain in Galilee.
Saint
Matthew does not mention the word “ascension.”
He says that the risen Christ gathers his disciples on a mountain in
Galilee. On a mountain, Jesus had
delivered his famous sermon. On a
mountain, he was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James, and John. On this mountain, the disciples worship him,
just as the Magi had worshipped him at the beginning of the Gospel. On this mountain, he commissions them to
continue the work he had been doing in his three years with them. They are to take the Paschal Mystery beyond
their Jewish roots to make disciples of all nations. They are to join them into the Church, the
Body of Christ, through baptism. He who
was called Emmanuel (God is with us) at the beginning of the Gospel will
continue to be Emmanuel (God is with us) as they proclaim the Good News to all.
Even though
they worship him, they also doubt. We
too worship the risen Christ and renew our faith at every Sunday Mass. Like them, we have our share of doubts. Mysteries are beyond our comprehension, and
we cannot understand the fullness of that reality. But Saint Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ
is part of that Mystery, far above every principality, authority, power, and
dominion. We may never fully understand
the Mystery of who God is and how God operates.
But God is our hope above all the divisions and arguments and confusions
of our troubled world and its troubled institutions.
The
Ascension reminds us that in the absence of the glorified body of Jesus Christ,
we are his Body. He is with us as we continue
to evangelize in our troubled world. We
evangelize best when we renew our efforts to be disciples. Disciples listen to Jesus Christ. They learn from him how to live and
pray. They know what is pleasing to the
Father. When we ask for a new outpouring
of the Holy Spirit next Sunday, on the fiftieth day of Easter, we can spread
the good news by being better disciples.
The Lord is with us as we become more faithful disciples.
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