Ascension of the Lord: Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Lk 24:46-53

The feast of the Ascension tells us that the Church must be a community in mission, guided by the Holy Spirit and confident of God’s protection even amid suffering and death. Christ’s Ascension was the culmination of God’s Divine plan for Christ Jesus – his return to his Father with his “Mission Accomplished.” Ascension is the grand finale of all Jesus’ words and works done for us and for our salvation. As Jesus is now with God in glory, so Jesus is with us now in Spirit: “Lo, I am with you always.” 

A Jesuit priest, Walter Ciszek by name, was in Russia for 23 years, five of which were spent in the dreaded Lubyanka prison in Moscow and ten of which were spent in the harsh Siberian slave labour camp. He was finally released from Russia in 1963, in exchange for two Soviet spies held in USA. He died in 1984 at the age of 84. After release he wrote a book “He Leadeth Me.” In this book he tries to answer the question: ‘How did you manage to survive in Russia?’ he says: “I was able to endure the inhuman conditions in which I found myself because I experienced somehow the presence of God. I never lost my Faith that God was with me, even in the worst of circumstances.” What was true of Fr. Walter Ciszek is true of each of us. Jesus is with us; God is with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

By His Ascension, Christ has not deserted us but has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to enter all times and places. In this way it is possible for each of us to be transformed by the power of the Spirit into agents or instruments of Christ.

The feast of the Ascension celebrates one aspect of the Resurrection, namely Jesus’ exaltation. The focus of this feast is the Heavenly reign of Christ. The Lord is now “seated at the right hand of the Father” as we profess in the Nicene Creed, meaning He alone is in control of the continuing plan of salvation through the Holy Spirit, unrestricted by time, space or culture.

 The Ascension is most closely related, in meaning, to Christmas. In Jesus, the human and the Divine become united in the Person and life of one man. That’s Christmas. At the Ascension, this human being – the person and the resurrected body of Jesus – became for all eternity a part of who God is. It was not the Spirit of Jesus or the Divine Nature of Jesus that ascended to the Father. It was the Risen living Body of Jesus: a Body that the disciples had touched, a Body in which he himself had eaten and drunk with them both before and after his Resurrection, a real, physical, but gloriously restored Body, bearing the marks of nails and a spear. This is what, and who, ascended. This is what, now and forever, is a living, participating part of God. That is what the Ascension, along with the Incarnation, is here to tell us – that it is indeed a wonderful and an important and a holy thing to be a human being. It is such an important thing that the fullness of God now includes what it means to be a human being.

How can he go, yet still remain with us? This mystery was explained by Pope Benedict XVI: “Given that God embraces and sustains the whole cosmos, the Lord's Ascension means that Christ has not gone far away from us, but now, thanks to the fact that He is with the Father, he is close to each one of us forever.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives this mission to all the believers: “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” This mission is not given to a select few but to all believers.

Bearing witness to Christ, to his message and the power of his goodness is our primary mission on earth. He said, "Go be my witnesses to all the nations." This is the mission we have been given. This is what we are supposed to do. Each one of us will do it in different ways. God calls some to witness as priests. He calls some to consecrate their lives as full-time missionaries. Others are called to be leaven in the dough of the world, transforming culture from within, either as humble workers or as great leaders. Each of us he calls to bear witness by the sincerity, faithfulness, and loving-kindness with which we live out our normal responsibilities and relationships. Until this mission becomes our highest priority in life, we will experience an interior restlessness that nothing will cure. We were created to live in friendship with God, and that means sharing in God's projects. And His project in this fallen world is "that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations".

The feast of Ascension of Jesus calls us to imbibe that essence of Christianity and be his ambassadors today. May Jesus give us grace and strength to accept this challenge.