The Ascension
Solemnity of the Ascension (B)
On this solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension, we also celebrate First Holy Communion in our parish, and honor our Blessed Mother with the May crowning.
The Ascension of the Lord, which took place forty days after the Resurrection, marks the last time Jesus physically walked upon the earth. As if to highlight this fact, one can see the “footprints of Jesus” in a stone at the shrine on the Mount of Olives which commemorates the Lord’s Ascension. From here he returned to heaven, where he enthrones our human nature in glory at the Father’s right hand, where he dwells within the communion of the Holy Trinity.
The Ascension is the final Resurrection appearance. Jesus’ work on earth is now fully complete. The Redemption has been accomplished by his sacrificial death; the new life of grace has been restored by his Resurrection; the apostles have been instructed in the meaning of the Scriptures; and the pattern of the Church’s sacramental life has been established through the Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist. Now it is time for the Holy Spirit to take over and move God’s plan of salvation to its final completion. Jesus will return physically and visibly at the end of the ages, on the day decreed by the Father. In the meantime, it will be through the Holy Spirit that he will act.
Jesus’ Ascension is not an abandonment. He does not leave the Church as an orphan (Jn 14:18). Instead, it is a transition to a new mode of being with the Church “until the end of the ages” (Mt 28:20), a mode which has already begun with the Resurrection. God did not become man in the Incarnation simply to dwell among men as a fellow man. God desires to dwell in men, as we have heard in the recent Gospel of the vine and the branches: “remain in me, as I remain in you” (Jn 15:4).
After accomplishing the Redemption through his sacrificial death (for which the Son of God needed a fully human life), Jesus now shares the divine life of the Resurrection with man through the Sacraments: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). Jesus departs the world in one form, to dwell with the Church in an even deeper and more intimate form, through the Holy Spirit working in the Sacraments.
People love to take photographs at First Holy Communion, because it is such an important event in the life of the Christian. But one cannot take a picture of “Holy Communion.” It is not something you can see. It happens on the “inside,” in the soul and spirit. It is “seen” only by faith, not photographs, and in fact taking pictures or videos during the Mass becomes a distraction from the spiritual event that is taking place. I therefore ask that photos wait until after Mass, when we can properly “commemorate” this important day, but during the Mass seek to experience and remember it through personal faith.
During the 40 days of Easter after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared many times to the apostles and the intimate circle of friends who formed the first Christian community. When in Jerusalem, they would gather in the same large upper room that was the site of the Last Supper. It was here that Jesus met them, particularly on Sundays. That home became the first parish, and the original headquarters for the church until Peter and Paul brought the Gospel to Rome. Now following the Ascension, the apostles return there to await the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
St. Luke mentions an important fact when he portrays this first church, as it existed on the day of the Ascension: “they went to the upper room, where they were staying, and with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:12-14). The last time the Gospels mentioned Mary was at the crucifixion, when Jesus entrusted her as mother to the beloved disciple (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was continually present in the life and ministry of Jesus, and now she continues to occupy a place of honor in the life of the Church. Mary is indeed the Mother of the Church and our spiritual mother. It is with her that we pray for the Holy Spirit, and it is through her that we continue to be formed and encouraged in the Christian life.
