Waiting in Line . . . Ascension, Year C
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| St. Anthony in Columbus, NE, with its mural of the Ascension |
I remember during the summer before I went into third grade,
how this wall went from being a plain peach color to the beautiful mural that
we have now. The church had just been
renovated the previous year, and the parish was anticipating with great
excitement its final art pieces in the murals of the saints around the church
and the mural of the Ascension, all painted by Ardith Starostka. I as a third grader was really excited: what
will this painting look like? And indeed,
how fortunate we are to have this mural right at the center of our church,
reminding us of the fact that Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at
the right hand of the Father! But I also
sense that for myself, it’s easy for that excitement and anticipation to fade,
especially as we take this mystery of the Ascension for granted.
It’s a common question that I hear students ask: why did
Jesus leave and ascend into heaven? If
Jesus really wanted everyone to believe in him, then why didn’t he just stay on
the earth so that people could see the miracle of the resurrection, so that
they could hear him preach and make commentary on modern issues, so that they
could meet him in the flesh and truly believe.
Instead, it seems counter-intuitive that we need to have faith in what
we can’t see, leading many people to deny his existence.
But here’s the response: Jesus ascended into heaven not to
distance himself from us but to bring us even closer to him. I saw a vivid illustration of what this means
this weekend. I went to Kansas City to
see several of my classmates from seminary ordained as priests, and it was such
a beautiful time. So many people
gathered at the ordination and the first Masses, and naturally, they all wanted
to receive first blessings and to speak to the newly ordained. Consider my friend now-Father Joel: after the
two-and-a-half hour ordination Mass on Saturday morning, he gave first
blessings for over two hours right after the Mass. Then he had a reception for several hours on Saturday
night and spoke with even more people, then he had his first Mass on Sunday,
lasting an hour-and-a-half, after which he gave blessings for over an
hour-and-a-half more, and then he had another reception on Sunday night. I saw the lines of people waiting to receive
his blessing, and I had two thoughts: First, woah, this is going to happen to
me next weekend! And two, that’s a lot of
people waiting a long time in line for a blessing and a minute of
conversation.
So it makes me think: if Jesus hadn’t ascended into heaven
and were still on this earth, how long of a line would it be to just say hello
to him? How large would the crowds be to
simply see him at a distance? Would we
really be able to have personal contact with him, or honestly, would we even
put in the effort?
Jesus wants to come close to us, and in his plan, he does so
because he has ascended into heaven. We
hear in the first reading that Jesus promises to the apostles the gift of the
Holy Spirit, which we heard about in last Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus said that unless he ascended into
heaven, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come upon us.
The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, God Himself poured
into our hearts and given to us that we may be witnesses of Jesus – this is a
big deal! Through the Holy Spirit, we
come to know Christ in a deep way, not just a superficial or passing way, and
we receive the gifts to participate in the mission of Jesus.
Additionally, it is because of the Ascension that we are
able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. The
Son of God still has his human nature, body and soul – his heart is still beating,
his wounds are still present, and his human attention is fully fixed upon his
Father’s love. During the Mass, the
bread and wine become transformed into this very body and blood of the
glorified Son of God, bringing us straight into the heavenly presence of
Christ. If this weren’t hidden under the appearance of simple bread and wine,
then we would literally be overwhelmed by the divine presence, but Jesus comes
to us in humility. Every priest ordained
by God possesses this gift to share in the name and power of Jesus Himself, and
then all Christians are able to share Christ’s love with everyone we meet. Jesus ascended not to go away from us but to
become united with us, to let us share in His mission.
The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews puts it so
well, and it means a lot for me as I prepare for the priesthood in couple of
days. The author writes, “Let us approach
with a sincere heart and in absolute trust.”
First, we’re told to approach with a sincere heart. Even though it’s a Holy Day of Obligation, we
come here ultimately not out of obligation but out of desire and sincerity – we
want Jesus to come into our hearts in a deep way, and we’re willing to put
everything else aside to come here today.
Second, we come in absolute trust.
Not conditional trust, not an attitude of “if this, then that,” but
absolute trust that the Father has created us for communion with Him through
His Son and in the Holy Spirit, and that we can trust every detail of our lives
to Jesus.
So when we come here today, we pray for a greater desire to
come close to God. We recognize those
things in our life that are keeping us from Him, and we pray that God may take
these things into Him. We do this
knowing that we don’t have to wait in a huge line to be in communion with God,
but He comes to our hearts immediately and powerfully through the Eucharist we
celebrate and the Holy Spirit we receive.
If our hearts are like this wall that once was blank, are we
excited to receive a greater beauty in Christ through the mystery of the
Ascension? Jesus, increase our desire
and our excitement to receive you, so that we may share Your love with the
whole world!
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