May 17, 2015
Dear Parishioners,
In this season of college, high school and grade school graduations, graduates usually hear any number of valedictory speeches complimenting them on their educational achievements and challenging them to put their education to use in bettering themselves and the world in which they live. The Solemnity of the Ascension, which we celebrated on Thursday, is Jesus’ opportunity to give His apostles a valedictory speech. His focus, however, is not so much on the apostles themselves, but on the mission he gives them to accomplish.
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” This is the mission entrusted to the eleven, a mission that is carried on with the help of the Lord who “worked with them and confirmed the Word through accompanying signs.” Although Jesus is taken from their sight, the world continues to witness the power and presence of Christ in the apostles and in the Church, His Mystical Body on earth.
As members of that Body, we too are the recipients of the Lord’s valedictory address, “Go and proclaim the Gospel.” In fact, the task of evangelization belongs to the very nature of the Church, and each of us has a part to play in bringing the Good News of salvation to others. By our words and actions, by the example we set, and the kinds of choices we make, we bear witness to the risen Christ in our daily lives and we can assist others to come to faith in the Lord Jesus.
Of course, we can fail to do this as well. Our witness can be uncertain or unconvincing if we choose sin rather than the way of grace, if we compromise with falsehood and error instead of living the truth. Jesus knows that such temptations lie open before us, and so He ascends physically in order to grant His followers a new and deeper share in the Father’s love. Christ leaves the earthly scene so as to prepare us for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who binds us more closely to Jesus Himself and to the Father in order that we may truly live by faith and be witnesses to the Lord in the midst of the world.
The Ascension of the Lord also reminds us of our final goal and destiny. As we pray in one of the Prefaces for the Solemnity of the Ascension, “Where he has gone, we hope to follow.” Returning to the side of His Father in heaven, Christ invites us to fix our minds and hearts on what is above. As Jesus ascends, so too do our thoughts, needs, and desires ascend to be one with Jesus, who elevates every dimension of our earthly life so as to make it worthy of eternal union with Him. The Ascension reminds us that our final end lies not here on earth, but in heaven, where we hope to be united in an everlasting communion of life and love with the Blessed Trinity.
If we ask how we can reach this end, the answer is: by living and practicing Jesus’ final words. Through our efforts at evangelization, through our clear and committed witness to Christ Jesus, through living daily the implications of our faith and our baptism, we become what God created us to be, and so come to share in the glory of the Lord, whose Ascension is our joy and our hope.
Fr. Leonard+