Mark 16: 15-2
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051224-Ascension.cfm
One day a grandfather was in
conversation with his young grandson as they sat on a bench outside on a
beautiful summer day. The boy asked,
“Grandpa when’s Jesus coming back?” Grandpa sat back for a moment and looked up
at the sky, then answered, “Well, son, I don’t know. Anyway, Jesus put us on the welcome
committee, not the planning committee.”
Great answer and the truth
is, we don’t know. No one does and for
those who may preach a warning that the “time is near,” and begin to point to
signs of natural calamities that indicate he is coming soon, well maybe the
best response would be, “Right now, I’m too busy doing the work he gave
us.” In that is the main theme in which
today’s beautiful Feast of the Lord’s Ascension is best understood. To be busy
as we carry out the mission Christ has given us. What is that work? To carry out the mission Christ gave to the
Apostles to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
That’s the work or better said, the mission that we are called to carry forward.
But how can I truly go in to the whole world?
This Sunday we celebrate a
turning point in the Easter season and the earthly ministry of Jesus as the
Ascension of the Lord is recalled. Our
first reading from Acts relates the event: “When he had said this, as they were
looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight. . .”
Then the angel appeared and asked them: “Why are you standing there
looking at the sky?” Our Gospel passage from Mark, states the same: “So then
the Lord Jesus, after he spoke with them, was taken up into heaven . . .” Isn’t
this how we often imagine this moment to be.
Jesus was literally lifted off the ground in his risen body into the sky
above.
“Go” everywhere and tell all
humanity what God has done in and through Jesus of Nazareth, his only Son that
all are saved and mercy and forgiveness is offered to everyone, everywhere who
believe in his name. This is the great "Kerygma" the heart of the
Gospel which the Church preaches for all time. This core message of the Gospel
is where we come in.
I don’t need to stand on
street corners, sell everything I have and set out as a missionary, leave my
marriage and family responsibilities, etc.
While there are folks who do such things, I can still be a witness, an
evangelizer, a faithful Catholic, and one who illustrates by his/her life the
power of the Gospel.
By our faithfulness, we as
our earlier story said, can be on the “welcome committee” when the Lord comes
into our life, we live out truth that Jesus preached. As Jeff Cavins, the noted
biblical scholar reminds us of our mission to carry forth:
-
That God loves us and has a plan for our life.
-
That sin has interrupted that plan, weakened
our relationships especially that with God.
-
That God sent his Son to save us from sin and
to break its’ power of death.
-
That we are called to repent and to turn our
lives around and live according to the Gospel. To change our life from what
harms us to what brings us life.
-
To be baptized and receive the grace of the Holy
Spirit.
-
To root ourselves in the Body of Christ, the
Church, in an active way.
The implication is that
Jesus has not left this earth. Though the Lord Jesus is not visible in his
risen body, he remains very much in control and involved from his heavenly
place as he works in and through his Church. Christ lives in his
Church and directs mysteriously through the constant presence of his Spirit.
This director enters the action as he himself becomes the message. As Mark tells us: "He worked with them .
. ." His real Eucharistic presence is the ultimate living encounter with
us that convinces us he is anything but passive and uncaring. It embodies his
mission. What may have seemed like the end of Jesus on earth was only the beginning of his fuller presence and shared mission for all. The Spirit is our guide.
We have heard in the Easter
season that the core of that Christian mission is the command of forgiveness
and love. He gave it to his disciples at the Last Supper in the washing of
feet, he lived it out, he offered it under bread and wine, and he remains involved
with his disciple as witnesses and with each of us who share in that
mission. To embrace and live fully the
truth that we are loved by a merciful God moves us to extend that same
fellowship Charity (Agape) for others.
Through that mission of forgiveness, mercy and love God’s kingdom is
established and his will is done here on earth.
We await its fulfillment in the salvation of Heaven. As Christ reigns in
glory we carry on his mission as he directs the movement of time. We know, as St. John Paul II wrote: "We are indeed bound for heaven, and the Ascension reminds us that our gaze is to be fixed on Christ in glory even as we labor tirelessly for him in this present age."
judge of the world and Lord of hosts,
he ascended, not to distance himself from
our lowly state but that we,
his members, might be confident
of following where he, our Head and Founder,
has gone before.
(From Preface for Ascension)
No comments:
Post a Comment