Homily: Feast of the Ascension of the Lord – Cycle C
Friends,
when we come to celebrate Mass, we do so for many reasons. The primary reason is to worship God
together: uniting our voices in praise to God.
We also come to bring him our needs and concerns—that is, our prayers
and petitions—and to lay them at his altar to beg his intervention. This we also do together because we know both
that each person’s individual prayers are, in some sense, a concern for all, as
well as the fact that, communally, we often have shared needs and
concerns. Today, for example, along with
our own personal needs and concerns, we come here with the shared concern for
the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Sadly, if you’re like me, it has been
all-too-easy to imagine that this could have happened at any one of our
schools. Thus, our sorrow for the
victims in Texas are compounded by our own heightened sense of vulnerability.
It
is right that we bring these concerns here, before God. Firstly, because only he has the power to
make this right and to bring justice to the victims: for there is no worldly
justice that can restore what has been lost.
Secondly, because God is Truth, and what we need now is assurance of the
truth that goodness is real and that goodness still has the power to overcome
evil. To this end, there is no better
place that we can be than here in this church to celebrate the Mass. Here, we remember how God the Father sent his
Son Jesus to take on our human nature in order to redeem us, and how he
suffered the full force of evil in the world and yet overcame it when he raised
himself from the dead. In raising
himself from the dead, Jesus made it possible for all humanity to be raised
from the dead. Thus, he gave us hope
that death—even the most tragic and senseless death—is not an inescapable end,
but rather a step towards a life free of evil that awaits us.
Yes,
the bodily resurrection of Jesus, which we have been celebrating for the past
40-plus days, gives us hope that our separation from one another at the end of
this life is not the end of our connection with others, but that those who
believe in Jesus will be raised to new life and reunited with one another. The ascension of Jesus into heaven in his
glorified human body augments that hope by showing us that the material world
in which we live is good and, when redeemed and glorified by Jesus, is worthy
to enter into the glory of heaven.
Therefore, we can reasonably continue to believe that this created world
is good—and that goodness is in it—and that goodness has the power to overcome
evil. I hope that each of us here, who
have all come carrying the weight of this senseless murder of innocent people
as well as our own personal burdens, can feel the power of this truth that we
come here to celebrate. ///
“God
mounts his throne to shouts of joy…”
Friends, today we celebrate the culminating act of our redemption: that,
through Jesus, our human nature has been fully restored to communion with God
in the eternal indwelling of the Holy Trinity.
Because of this, it is now possible for us, in the fullness of our
humanity, to dwell eternally with God in heaven. That Jesus “mounts his throne to shouts of
joy” indicates that this is no mere concession from God. In other words, the restoration of our
humanity to communion with God is not something that he merely allowed because
he felt pity for us. No! Rather, this restoration is the culmination
of his great rescue plan for us.
Therefore, when Jesus ascends into heaven in his glorified humanity,
there are shouts of joy that this plan for our rescue has finally been brought
to its fulfillment.
This
is why, in the Gospel reading, we heard that “then [the disciples] returned to
Jerusalem with great joy…” after watching Jesus ascend into heaven. If Jesus was here only to help us get through
our lives on earth, then one would think that the disciples would be sad that
Jesus left them to return to the Father.
Because, however, Jesus took on our human nature in order to bring the
complete restoration of our communion with God, the disciples rejoiced to see
him ascend, knowing that, in seeing him ascend, they had seen God’s promise
fulfilled.
Perhaps,
in moments like these when we see evil operate so plainly in our midst, we are
tempted to think as the Apostles did after Jesus’ resurrection: that he would
now restore the kingdom and reign as king here on earth. The temptation for us being to think that, if
Jesus were still here, he could be a great leader that would rally us all to
good so that this kind of evil would never happen again. These are certainly pious and worthy
thoughts. The mystery that Jesus reveals
to us is that it is not in his remaining with us in bodily form that will bring
about this transformation, but rather in the sending of the Holy Spirit to
dwell in and work through his disciples.
Instead of one man, in one place, trying to unite persons throughout the
world, there are now billions of persons, like us, infused with the power of
the Holy Spirit, who can build these communities of good here and throughout
the world. ///
From reading a number of news articles, it
appears to be that Salvador Ramos, the man who committed this evil act in
Uvalde, came from a very broken family and who was very isolated. It appears that, after he began to feel
isolated, he behaved in a way that only increased his isolation. The sad truth is that Satan looks for those
who are isolated and targets them, for he knows that we are much more easily
manipulated to do his evil works when we are isolated from others. I believe that this is what happened to
Salvador Ramos.
Isolated
from others because of his emotional brokenness, he began to despise his own
life, so much that he gave his will over to the temptation of Satan to despise
life itself, leading him to plot and commit this attack. The only way to interpret this act, it seems
to me, is as an act of revenge on life itself, which he committed because he
believed that life, at least in the way that he experienced it, should not be
allowed to continue. It is frightening
to think about how dark one’s mind and heart can become when given over to
Satan’s temptations and how far into evil it can take us. However, frightening as it is, it does not
eliminate our hope. ///
As
I’ve already said, what we celebrate when we come here to celebrate the
Eucharist is the truth that goodness has the power to overcome evil. Specifically today, we celebrate and rejoice
that Jesus has ascended into heaven in our glorified human body, preparing a
place for us in heaven. We rejoice also
that, by his ascension, he has made it possible to send the Holy Spirit into us,
granting us the power to build communities of good around us. This power we must use to seek the “lost
sheep”: those around us, especially young people, who are broken and isolated
and in danger of becoming instruments of Satan’s wrath against us. When we find them, we must show them the love
of Jesus, striving to stay close to them, even when they strive to remain
isolated. In doing so, we may not be
able to save all, but if we save even one, we will have brought about a great
good.
As
we now turn to God in supplication for the victims of this and other similar
tragedies, let us pray also for the courage to seek the lost sheep among us and
so build a greater community of good.
And let us give thanks for the power of the Holy Spirit that makes this
work possible as we prepare for the renewal of this gift next week on
Pentecost. Finally, let us praise God,
the all-powerful, whose justice will restore all that has been lost when he
returns in glory.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – May 28th,
2022
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Delphi, IN – May 29th,
2022
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