In today’s gospel, Jesus sends the apostles and says to them: Go into the nations, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And I will be with you always until the end of the world. We celebrate today the Ascension of our Lord. Jesus is ascended into heaven.
Today’s feast reminds me of a story of a young man in Guatemala. Back to 1995, in my first assignment, I was appointed as a parish priest in a small village, border between Guatemala and Mexico. It was a poor village, no hospital, no roads, no factories, only one school. And I knew a young man, from a humble family, but very, very intelligent. He used to work, selling candies, cookies, in order to pay for what he needed for school. After high school, he got a scholarship to study in university. When he finished he got a job as a social worker. Then he was elected congressman. One day he came home to visit his family and friends. He was received with joy and big celebration. At the end of the celebration, one of his friends whom he grew up said to him: Now you are in the high position as congressman, we hope that you are going to change our lives. The lives of you brothers and sisters where you grew up. Another said: now, you are in the highest level, you become our source of joy, strength and encouragement. You were one of us. You knew our sufferings, our struggles but also our hope. You understand us that because you were one of us. In reply, he asked them to continue to work and do the best they can and he will take care of the rest to change the lives of the poor.
Today is a great day in the life of our Church. We are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus is taken up into heaven. He entered into the glory of God, the Father. He has accomplished his mission. Today’s feast, the Ascension marks the end of Jesus’ ministry on the earth. He stopped appearing to his disciples physically. But He changes the way to be with us. As He is now with God in glory, He is now with us in spirit. I am with you always. So, Ascension is a joyful celebration because, we know that our Lord, the head, Jesus ascended into heaven. And we, the body, we hope to follow Him because He said I am to prepare a place so that where I am, you might be.
The Ascension means that Jesus has gone before us to open the gates of heaven for us. So, now we can live every day with the hope of heaven. This is the beautiful truth we celebrate today. Ascension is Joyful celebration. We rejoice because the one who was with us, the one ate with us, the one who talked with us, the one who knew us, the one who knew our world, our sufferings has gone into heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us. So, the Ascension of the Lord is the hope of our glorification and guarantee to meet our Lord in heaven. It is a reminder of our salvation, a reminder that our true home is in heaven.
This world can only be a place of temporary refuge: a world of passage and not a world of permanence. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He entrusted his mission to the apostles saying, go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He asked them to continue the work He began. Because the world is waiting. There is so much to be done. Jesus asked them to Go……It was a simple command to Go and transform the world. Command to Go and pick up those who have fallen. Command to Go and heal those who are hurting. Command to Go and love those who have been forgotten. The apostles did that. They went everywhere to preach and proclaim the good news.
Today Jesus wants to draw all the people to heaven. He desires to save everyone. And He wants to do that through the Church and through our lives. That is why He sends each of us out into the world to continue his mission, to redeem the little part of the world that we live in, our homes, the places where we work, our neighborhoods, and to help the people we meet every day to get to heaven. Like he commanded the apostles to Go, today Jesus is commanding us to Go out to make disciples for Jesus, to bring people close to God and proclaim the good news. It is a command to go out.
Our world is in bad shape. So much, anger, so much indifference, so much violence. Just look at what happened last week in Manchester, England. As Christians, we need to be concerned about that situation. As Christians, it is our job. It is our job to bring good news into the word. We don’t need to go overseas to proclaim the good news. Jesus is sending us to our families, job and community. We know people around us, who need to be comforted, encouraged and consoled. We know people who are depressed, afraid by the situation. We know people who are going through divorce. We know young people who are lost by drugs. We know people in Nursing homes or in the hospital who need our time. We know people who need true love. We know people who need our presence, our visit and our generosity. Those people are friends or family members.
Don’t wait until tomorrow. Jesus is sending us today. Pick up the phone. Call someone who is in need. Or spend time with him. Your word, your visit, your generosity, your presence is a good news of hope and encouragement. It is time to worry more about others than about ourselves.
