We hear from our first
reading: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the world.”
We have all known times of
transition in our lives, when one phase of our lives comes to an end and a whole
new phase of life begins. One of these
times of transition that I’m sure we can all relate to is when we leave home
for the first time. At some point in time, we have all left the security and
comfort of our parent’s home to begin our own way in life. We leave those who
have instructed us, guided us, provided us with life’s essentials, to strike
out on our own. And although our parents and family are often still there, at
least at first, to keep a watchful eye on us, we know that something new is
developing. In many senses, the letting go of the security we had experienced
with parents and family in order to begin our own life can be a bit scary and uncomfortable,
at least at first; but during this transition, we also carry with us an
excitement, a joy and an expectation in regards to this new life that is
unfolding.
Today, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, Jesus returning to the Father. For
the Apostles of Jesus, this would have been a time of a major transition in
their lives, similar perhaps to ones we ourselves may have experienced.
With the Ascension, one phase of
the apostles’ relationship with Jesus was coming to an end, and a new and very
different phase was beginning.
For most of the apostles’
time, their connection with Jesus would have been very similar to that of any
other close human relationship. After all, Jesus was as human and real to them
as they were to each other. Jesus exhibited every human quality that they
themselves exhibited. He shared all the same emotions, expectations, ups and
downs that they themselves experienced, except perhaps for sin. But for all intents and purposes, Jesus was
one of them. He had been present with
them in an embodied way. The apostles
had listened to his teachings. They had witnesses Him serving and healing
people. They had walked with Him all
over Galilee. They had accompanied Him on His journey into Jerusalem. They had
shared many meals with Him. Now all of that was coming to an end. Jesus was taking His leave, and from that
moment on, He would no longer be visible to them in a bodily way. So with the Ascension, there was an ending in
the way that they previously connected with Jesus. And there would certainly be a sadness and
loss associated with this end. In fact,
in today’s first reading, the Apostles were described as left standing; ‘staring
into the sky, or staring into space’, somewhat mystified, perhaps confused.
Yet, from this ending, there
was also a new beginning. Jesus would be
present to them in another way. In our
first reading from Acts, we hear that, as Jesus takes His leave, He promises
them that in a few days time, they would receive the Holy Spirit’. “You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the world.”
And as we read in the Gospels, that they went back to Jerusalem as told, full
of joy, full of expectation.
Therefore, at this time in
2023, as we celebrate this special feast day of the Ascension of the Lord, we are
encouraged to celebrate it with the same joy and the same expectation that the
apostles themselves experienced. And what the apostles experienced was the
fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them, the promise of an outpouring of the Holy
Spirit that would change their lives forever. And the cause of their joy was that
now they knew that the Ascension was not about Jesus leaving them but of leading
them; leading them to a whole new way of being with Him: leading them to a
whole new way of living out their faith.
Billions of Catholics and Christians around the world at this very
moment know and live their faith in Christ, not by seeing Him as the apostles
did, but by having their lives changed by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
continues to share His life with us, to lead and guide us this very way as much
today as before.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle we face today is our tendency and danger of viewing
this promise of Jesus merely from an intellectual or an ideological point of
view. In other words, Jesus’ promise of
the Holy Spirit is only a metaphor to explain some extraordinary conversion event
of those present during Pentecost.
Recently, I’ve been reading a
book by Fr. Brice Higginbotham on Discipleship with an emphasis on John ‘s
Gospel. In his book, Fr. Brice emphasizes that true Christian discipleship
springs from two actions. The first action
is belief in Jesus. Belief, as FR. Brice
describes it, can be expanded to include things like trust or having confidence
in. So the first action for discipleship
is to believe in Christ, to have trust and confidence in Him and His teachings.
But Fr. Brice emphases that
belief by itself is insufficient for discipleship. Discipleship must also
include ‘remaining with or abiding in’. ‘Abiding
in’ means encountering Jesus in a relationship of love, and being transformed by
that relationship. ‘Abiding in’ is encountering of Jesus in a personal way, in
an experiential way. When we encounter
Jesus in this manner, then there is no question about His continual presence
with us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that was promised to the
Apostles at the time of the Ascension. I
certainly recall my own personal encounter with Christ in my late twenties that
was a major turning point and a major transition into a whole new way of life. Before
that, the Holy Spirit was just something that I had read about. After that, everything changed; I moved more
deeply into prayer, and scripture came alive me as never before. This encounter
led me to receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at the Basilica and later
discerning Diaconate Ministry.
In the Ascension, Christ does
not leave us, but leads us, and makes Himself known to us in a manner that is
different from before.
I have a quote from Pope Leo the Great that
speaks about this difference, this transition that the apostles
experienced. He
writes: In the Ascension, Jesus’
visible presence in bodily form has passed into the sacraments. As a result, our faith is nobler and stronger
because sight has been replaced a relationship of trust in Jesus whose
authority is accepted by believing hearts, and enlightened from on high. Our faith is increased by the Lord’s ascension
and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost.
So even though Jesus’ bodily
presence is no longer visible to us, His presence continues to remain truly
visible to us through the sacraments of the church, particularly the Eucharist,
the body, soul, and divinity of Christ, that we share during mass. We, the Church, becomes the Body of Christ,
through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And it is we as church that take up the great commission given to us by
Jesus at the time of the Ascension: “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you. This cannot be accomplished without the presence of the Holy
Spirit who remains active in each of our lives as we believe in Jesus and remain
or abide with Him.
I conclude with the prayer of
St. Teresa of Avila which describes for us this new relationship of trust and
our call to respond.
Christ has no body now but
yours. No hands, no feet, on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which He sees, Yours are the feet with which He
walks. Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.
God Bless
