Cycle C - Year I:

12 May 2013 - Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

(Liturgical color: White)

Luke 24:46-53

The Ascension: witnessing for Christ!
 
Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Forty days after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus returns to the Father. It is the day of Jesus' homecoming. Thus, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord commemorates the event that brought Jesus' own mission on  earth finally to a close, and inaugurates the mission of the Church in history.

The Ascension of Jesus into heaven was seen by the apostles as an authentic manifestation of his divinity. So that as Jesus departs, the first Christians had no sense of bereavement, no sense of Christ's absence. The opposite was true: they had a powerful sense of his continuing presence because they are  to be "clothed with power from on high", as Jesus promises them the Holy Spirit.

So now, finally and without any ambiguity, the apostles knew Jesus not as a gifted teacher and healer, but as God. They understood his passion and death as the revelation of God's love in human history. And now, following his return to the Father, the apostles experienced their membership of his Body, the Church, as the place where the means of sharing God's life more fully than ever before had been made available.

In other words, although Jesus Christ ascends to heaven, the Church becomes his hands working in this world. Christ's human body, now glorified, is in heaven. But the Catholic Church is the mystical body of Christ on earth.

("The Church is called Mystical because she is a mystery, which God revealed to be true  but whose inner essence must be accepted on faith and without full comprehension by the mind; ... the purpose of the Church is not temporal or earthly but heavenly and eternal; its spiritual bond is the will of God;"... from CatholicCuture.org)

So today on the Ascension event Jesus' mission on earth comes to and end but our mission as the Church now begins. The missionary mandate entrusted by Jesus to the first Christians is passed on to us. Are we ready for this challenge? How do we response to Jesus' challenge?

Well, first we believe in Jesus and we trust him. We draw inspiration from the apostles themselves who were just ordinary people of their time. Perhaps much like them we, too, are ordinary mortals, weak and imperfect, with our limitations to boot. But we cannot be afraid to take on the mission, because the Holy Spirit will empower us to accomplish the work, just like in the apostolic times. And so a week later from today we will be celebrating Pentecost Sunday.

In practical sense, we need not leave home and family to become Christ's missionaries. Because when we are committed to live our faith in words and deeds we become powerful and effective agents of change for the Lord wherever we are, at home and in work, and even in social events. Our way of life becomes our witnessing of the Good News of salvation of the Lord. Thus, we become witnesses of the Lord's ascension in our times.

Also this Sunday the Church celebrates the 47th World Communications Day. The new technologies in the Digital Age present unprecedented opportunities to do our missionary work.

Our mission is to share God's Good News to others using whatever communications means at our disposal. That is the challenge; that is the Lord's challenge to us as his followers, to do our share of the mission work.

A blessed Sunday to all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Deo Optimo Maximo!