Homily for Ascension Sunday
Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
“Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Isn’t it odd that this is the Gospel passage we read on the very day that we celebrate the Ascension? The Apostles watch as Jesus ascends into heaven and disappears. They stand there staring for so long that an Angel has to appear to them and shake them out of it. “What are you doing? Quit staring at heaven; Jesus has been taken up… he will return later.” If he has been taken up, why would he tell us “I am with you always?” For that matter, if he’s always with us, why would an angel have to tell us he is returning later?
Faith, hope, and charity, that’s why. Jesus ascends into heaven so that we might grow in the three most important virtues.
Jesus ascends into heaven to increase our faith. It doesn’t require faith to know Jesus is real if he’s right in front of you, talking to you. Jesus tells the Apostles “blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.” Now we have the chance to get that blessing. And it’s a richer reality than that. Seeing the risen Lord face to face sometimes becomes an obstacle to really understanding him.
Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to his disciples for forty days, speaking to them about the Kingdom of Heaven. Even after forty days of personal tutoring from Jesus Christ himself, the disciples don’t get it. They ask if he is going to restore the Kingdom of Israel. All this time and they still expect Jesus to set up a physical kingdom, to take over country and rule the world like any other king. Should that be so surprising, though? I mean, the man is right there in front of them. He has miraculous power, he rose from the dead and is immortal. He has followers and could easily attract more. If this man is going to walk around and live forever, why not take over a country and show the whole world how it’s done?
No, his kingdom is not of this world. In order for the disciples to really get it, they have to see him go to his true kingdom. While Jesus is on earth, his disciples trust him and are faithful to him, but they do not yet have the fullness of the virtue of faith. By going into heaven, he takes their faith and raises it to a new height. Now their faith is tested. Either they believe in his Spiritual kingdom, or they believe nothing. And so it is with us. Jesus is with us always by faith: a supernatural virtue, a grace, and the ability to believe in what we cannot see, to trust in an invisible King because of the witness of his servants.
Jesus ascends into heaven to increase our hope. Throughout his time on earth, Jesus was grieved by the imperfect hope of his people. They hoped for physical healing when wanted them to heal their souls with forgiveness. They hoped for mere bread when he wanted them to feast on himself. By ascending into heaven, he has allowed us to hope far beyond our wildest dreams. The ascension wasn’t just a spiritual reality, but a physical one as well. His body… his whole human nature ascended into heaven to be with God.
As the disciples watched him ascend, a cloud covered him. This is no ordinary, but marks the presence of Divinity. When Moses spoke with God, it was in a cloud. When Solomon dedicated the Temple, a cloud covered it. This is the shekinah, the visible manifestation of the glory of God himself, a glory so great that it was said to kill whoever saw it directly. When Jesus disappears into this veil of divinity, the disciples know what it means. It means that humanity, our human nature is now in God, participating in the Trinity of perfect love.
Who could have dared to hope for such a thing, to enter into the Godhead itself? And yet, that is what we hope for now… now that Jesus has ascended into heaven to show us our final destiny – to be united to God. Far better than the temporary restoration of a broken limb or the short-lived relief from physical hunger, no?
Finally, Jesus ascended into heaven to increase our Charity. As with faith and hope, Jesus ascends into heaven to elevate and anchor our love in heavenly things. On earth, he came to be loved by his disciples as a friend, a teacher, and even as a brother. These human loves are powerful and beautiful; that is all the more reason it is so hard for us to see beyond them. When we think we have something good, we are reluctant to look past it, reluctant to believe that there might be something better. To love a friend, a brother, or any other human relationship is good, but limited. Nor can it guarantee that we will not be led astray. A close friend can get us involved with all sorts of evil. The danger is even greater in romantic love.
But Charity, the heavenly virtue, the love we have for Jesus Christ? That is far more potent, and unimaginably better. When he ascended into heaven, he left us no choice: we simply cannot love him in a merely natural, human way because he is invisible to us. To love Jesus now requires us to love Goodness itself, Truth itself, and to love other people out of reverence for the divine image in them. That is why our Lord calls us to be his “witnesses” first in our homes, then to those around us, and then “to the ends of the earth.” Charity requires that we teach others to “observe all that [he has] commanded [us].” This witness, this teaching leads us beyond mere affection for other people, attraction to them, or even loyalty to them. No, that witness… that obedience to God’s commands… it enables us to love others by giving them what is best, God Himself. Even, and perhaps especially when those we love don’t want the Truth, we can love them because of that anchor in heaven, that divine point of reference. Christ’s ascension gives us the motivation and the ability to love their soul, to love their eternal love more than we love their company or even their affection for us. It is Charity that lets us show tough love even if it means temporarily losing their friendship.
Jesus Christ ascended into heaven in order to lift up our faith, our hope, and our charity. He “mounts his throne to shouts of Joy” and calls us to sit upon the throne with him. Since our King is in heaven and reigns with God and is God, our lives should reflect a more profound glory, should smell of heavenly things.
And the way to that glory is pointed out to us. Jesus is with us always. He is with us especially in every particle, every drop of the Eucharist. He is with us in the Church, founded on the witness of the Apostles and their successors. And above all, it is our hope, our goal, our most important mission to establish his presence in ourselves ever more deeply through the practice of these virtues. In the trust of celestial faith, in the courage of heavenly hope, and in the power of divine charity. Always, until the end of the age.