Homily for Feast of the Ascension

Homily for Ascension Sunday May 23 & 24, 2009

Based on Acts 1:1-11 & Mark 16: 15-20

I’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places!!

This became a very popular song from the movie Urban Cowboy. Allow me to come clean and admit it; back in the day I loved the whole Urban Cowboy deal. Remember mechanical bull riding, line dancing, world famous Gilley’s and the worm in the tequila bottle. What’s that all about?

How often do we look for love in all the wrong places or happiness in things to good to be true? We look for wealth in casinos and lotteries, we look for health in the “too good to be true diets”, we are still searching for the fountain of youth, we look to take the edge off with an adult beverage, we look to accumulate friends without developing friendship, we look for our heroes in TV reality shows and on and on it goes. We stare into space, we daydream.

As people of faith, are we truly looking for the love of Christ, in all the wrong places? Will someone say to us why are you standing there, staring at the sky?

It is evident from today’s first reading from Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of St. Mark that Jesus ascended; went up. It says specifically “lifted up” and “taken up” in these two readings. Both St. Mark and St. Luke, the author of Acts, would be very familiar with the Jewish teaching that creation has three levels: heaven above, the earth and the underworld below. They considered God as living above the heavens. All things pointed up.

God does not live in some remote location in the physical universe. We know that rockets and satellites and Hubble telescopes do not crash into God’s home.

The handpicked preacher of Pope John Paul II, Fr. Cantalamessa, puts it this way: “God is in heaven, and on earth and everywhere. He created the heavens so He cannot be contained by heaven. Heaven is a state of being more than a place. Heaven truly exists. You and I cannot describe it, anymore than a person blind from birth could describe red or green or blue.”

So what should we understand about the Ascension? First, it is the logical completion of the Resurrection. Heaven now contains the risen body of Jesus Christ. Second, Jesus Christ now sits at God’s right hand. We acknowledge this very fact at Mass when we say in the penitential rite “you plead for us at the right hand of the Father.” Third, we know that Jesus also tells us that He must ascend to the Father so the Holy Spirit can come and dwell with us in a special way. The Holy Spirit will give birth to the powerful witness that began the Church on Pentecost, the feast we celebrate next week.

But if I may quote yet another favorite song from my much younger days: “what goes up must come down.” Because Jesus has ascended do we conclude He is not present? No! Look at our Gospel acclamation today from St, Matthew: “I am with you always until the end of the world.” How? Most excellently in the Eucharist! Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, body, blood, soul and divinity. Yet we proclaim that Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity is in Heaven. What does this mean for us? It means every consecration, every time you receive Him in Holy Communion; we partake in heaven itself, sacramentally. Earth receives heaven as heaven touches earth. The resurrected and ascended Jesus comes down to allow us to receive Him.

This alone is more than enough to encourage us to not stare at the sky or look for Jesus in all the wrong places. Yet, there is another command in today’s Gospel. We are called to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. The Gospel is proclaimed at Mass by a Deacon or a Priest. The Gospel must be proclaimed every day; every where by every one who believes in the resurrected and ascended Jesus. This can be done one-on-one, in small groups, large groups, in prayer and by our actions as a follower of Christ. As St. Francis said: “preach the Gospel always and when necessary, use words!”

So even though we honor the Ascension of Jesus, we rejoice in knowing we still see him in the sacred signs of the sacraments, the moments spent in Eucharistic Adoration and receiving Him in Holy Communion. We rejoice in the complete and liberating peace of every confession. And we rejoice in our encounters with Him in all our brothers and sisters that we assist, that we pray for, that lift us up in prayer and support as well.

Are you still intent at staring at the sky? Still planning on looking for love in all the wrong places? Look then to Jesus, who is love in all the right places!