Deacon Ron's Homily - Ascension of Jesus: Opening the doorway to heaven

“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?”     

If I were one of the apostles I’d surely think this was a silly question.   I would have been

totally dumbfounded staring up at the sky as well, thinking what in the world just happened here?  My response to the men would be, “Didn’t you see what just happened here?   Jesus, who had risen from the dead just 40 days ago, after being crucified, has now been taken up out of site into the clouds.  I’m scared, confused, and really don’t know what’s going on.”

 Now fast forward to 2014 and just try to imagine that you are at our fall festival and you see one of your friends talking to Father Vince, and all of the sudden Fr. Vince is lifted up in the clouds and taken from your sight? What would think?   Wouldn’t you be staring up at the sky in the same way thinking? “wow, that must be the new festival ride everyone is talking about.   How do I get signed up for that?”   Just kidding.

Now seriously, you’d probably be just as scared and confused as the apostles were at seeing Jesus taken up in the clouds to heaven.  But these men who spoke were angels sent by God to give the apostles some hope of what was to come. Jesus who was taken up in the clouds would return in the same way as they saw him going into heaven.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension.   This is a dogma of our faith that we recite weekly in the Nicene Creed,  “He Ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”   What did this mean to the disciples and what does it mean to us today?

Jesus had endured his suffering on the cross, rising from the dead, and had been with the disciples for forty days.   He had appeared showing many time after enduring his suffering and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God.   But the apostles were still focused on the issue of day: to restore the kingdom of Israel.  But Jesus had a greater plan in mind for them.   They were going to be his witness to the ends of the earth about Jesus and coming of the God’s Kingdom.

How was this going to happen:  Through the power of the Holy Spirit.   In order for the Jesus to fully accomplish his plan he had to leave and ascend to the Father in order to send the Holy Spirit.    The apostles had been following Jesus the past three years, but they now had other work to do to spread the Gospel.    If Jesus were still physically present they’d be reliant totally on him.  But by ascending to heaven they’d be given the power to accomplish great things through the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus in his humanity in ascending into heaven also accomplished something else: He opened up the doorway for of heaven to the rest of humanity.   Jesus now is seated at the right hand of the Father, and is a powerful intercessor for humanity to reconcile us with God.   By Jesus opening up this doorway he’s bridging the gap between heaven and earth.   Where do we find that bridge in the world: in the Church.

By Jesus’ ascending the Holy Spirit would be sent to the apostles so they could spread the good news to accomplish his plan: the birth of the Church.  In the book of Acts we hear about the apostles witness about Jesus in their travels far and wide.   They face many trials and tribulations in their travels and even have to flee from one town to another to escape from being killed.   But this again is part of the plan to spread the Gospel and for the Church to grow.  How do they do all this?   Through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned over 80 times in the book of Acts.  The Holy Spirit enabled the growth of the Church and gave the apostles the power to do great things.

St. Paul tells us that the Father put Jesus above every principality, authority, and dominion and he also gave him the Church as head over all things on the earth.    The Church is Christ’s body and where heaven meets the earth.  What and who is the Church?  It’s each and every one of us, as the body of Christ, trying to do our own part in making heaven and earth meet.  

And how do we do this?  By our actions with others to announce the good news and be Christ like to them.   To strengthen us in this mission we come together as we are today to receive the grace of the Eucharist, hear the Gospel proclaimed, and listen to Holy Spirit inspired preaching.   We also need to take time every day to pray. We have a reminder of this in the prayer of the Our Father when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.    We are hopefully bringing about the kingdom of God to make heaven on earth by our actions inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

  

The world today certainly struggles with a lack of heaven on earth.  There is lack of respect for life and dignity of the human person, threats to our religious liberty, and a culture that seems to be turning away from God.  By living out the commission we hear at the end of Mass: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life or Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord, we can bring a little heaven to earth. Each of us, with the power of the Holy Spirit, can do our part through the people we encounter in our daily lives and by supporting the Church’s ministries.   We can say a kind word to the person who rubs us the wrong way at home or work. Invite a classmate at school to play to that we normally don’t include.  Volunteer our time to go on a mission trip or sacrifice financially to support ministries in our parish, archdiocese, and the global church to care for those who are the most vulnerable. 

Don’t just stand there looking up at the sky.   Take some action to spread the Gospel in word and deed inspired by the Holy Spirit to help carry our Jesus’ plan to bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth.  May God bless you!