Lk 24:46-53
Dear Friends,It is hard to count the times over the years the number of individuals, particularly young people, who came to me with the news that the world was coming to an end. They were sort of sure because they heard on TV or read it on the internet. They were coming to me to hedge their bets to find out what to do in case it was true.
In fact, it is true. The Bible tells us so! It is part of revelation. The world is coming to an end. The problem is we just do not know when. Our big concern should not be the question of “when” but the reality of “now”
Today’s first reading (Acts 1: 11-11) tells us how to handle thls truly decisive reality about our lives. The message of Jesus is both consoling and challenging. Jesus tells the disciples on the mountain of his Ascension that it is not our concern about the “when” of the world’s ending. God’s timetable will easily handle the end times. Our task is to use the gift of life and the gift of the present moment to preach the gospel.
Jesus has given us a task. We are to be witnesses to the Good News that Jesus has revealed in his life, his message and his final passage thru death to life. In Jesus, we have come to know God as a loving and merciful savior. Our goal as human beings is to enter into this mystery of love. This is the Good News. We are gifted with time and life to embrace this reward and to share it. We have the Spirit to draw us into this call to accept Jesus’ challenge.
At Jesus’ departure, the first disciples must have felt they had an impossible task ahead of them. Sooner than anyone thought possible, they were in a life and death struggle with the leaders of the Chosen People. Then, they had to face the reality of reaching out to the Gentiles.
The signs of the times and the pull of the Spirit were seemingly impossible tasks. Yet, they persevered. In their openness to the Spirit, they found a way, a way they would never have imagined on that hill where Jesus left the wondering and fearful in their confusion.
With the Spirit as their guide, and the eyes of their heart to open the way, they were set free to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth!
In the first reading from Acts, Jesus responds to the Apostles question about the end of the world in these words: “It is not for you to know the time or the seasons that the Father has established. …You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem…and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8) The angel asks, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking at the sky?” (Acts 1:11) In other words, get on with the task of living and proclaiming the gospel. The message of the feast of the Ascension that we celebrate today is that we share that task.
In the gospel today we read: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Lk 24: 46-48).
The meaning of this beautiful feast of the Ascension is further captured in the words of the preface of the Mass:
Christ, the mediator between God and men
Judge of the world and Lord of all
Has passed beyond our sight
Not to abandon us but to be our hope.
Christ is the beginning, the head of the Church;
Where he is gone, we hope to follow.
We pray in the opening prayer of the Mass of the Ascension, “May we follow him into the new creation, for his Ascension is our glory and our hope.”
