ASCENSION OF THE LORD: Acts 1: 1-11; Eph 1: 17-23; Mt 28: 16-20 5.21.23

We profess in the Creed each Sunday, He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father." Christ's Ascension was the culmination of God's Divine plan for Christ Jesus – his return to his Father with his "Mission Accomplished." Ascension is the grand finale of all Jesus' words and works done for us and for our Salvation. It is a culmination but not a conclusion. As Jesus is now with God in glory, so Jesus is with us now in Spirit: "Lo, I am with you always." The Feast of the Ascension means that Jesus, His salvific suffering for our Salvation completed, is with His Father in glory. 

If you go to the Holy Land, you see in a small church, called the church of Ascension, the purported footprint of Jesus as he took off in ascension. It is the last visible sign of God's passage through our land. At times, that mount is depicted as a rock, and the imprint of His steps is not engraved on the earth but on the rock. It's as if alluding to that stone which He foretold and which will soon be sealed by the wind and fire of Pentecost. 

During those forty days in which the Lord does not “appear”, but rather, as the exegetes tell us, “lets Himself be seen”. He appears or is made visible even in closed rooms. He is there, and he lets them see him. The Apostles will have had time to get used to their Master's other way of being. He was with them to encourage them from their sense of loss and raise them up from their fallen spirit. His love for them kept him into giving them his encouraging presence.

Some people believe that the dead people will linger around the loving family for about forty days giving them signs and indications that they are around them. Some people see dreams and even physical signs of the presence of the dead person. My father passed away Monday before last, and there were a few traditions that were followed confirming this kind of belief. There are no funeral homes in India. Usually, the burial is done on the very next day except in cases where family members need to reach from far-off places. In our case, two of my siblings and their families and I were away. So, the body was taken to a nearby hospital to keep in a freezer, and when I got home, as I was the last one to reach, that afternoon, the body was brought back home, and people started paying visits. Most of the family members kept vigil the whole night, and some people kept praying dirges and rosaries. The next day until the body is carried to the cemetery through the church with a short prayer in there with farewell prayer reminding of the deceased’s presence in the church during his life receiving different sacraments.

Some of the traditions which I was unaware were that the day the dead body is removed from the cot he was lying, it would be decorated with white clothes and a photo of him is kept on it, and a candle is lit continually till the next special service for the dead is done in the family. This is usually done either on the 41st day or in these days; the number of days is reduced to 13 or 11 or 9 or 7 days. In my father’s case, we did it on the 9th day, so I could attend it before coming away. The pastor comes and blesses each room in the house where the deceased person lived.  The family abstains from cooking any food in that very house as long as the dead body stays in his home. Usually, the neighbours supply the deceased’s family with food. And the family abstains from eating meat till the special service in the family is completed. These traditions indicate that the deceased is in some way lingering around the family, and so it needs to be prayerfully bid farewell to leave and go home to heaven. All of these traditions tell that the deceased person’s soul loves to stay around with his loving family for 40 days as Jesus stayed with his disciples for forty days encouraging them before his ascension. After the ascension, Jesus did not officially make himself present to them.

 

What are the Challenges the feast of Ascension places before us? First of all, our mission is to establish the Kingdom of God. As Jesus rightly corrected his disciples, establishing the Kingdom consists primarily in witnessing Jesus than building up a social institution. The Kingdom of God is neither a territory nor an organization, but it is the reign of God in human hearts.   

All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. Therefore, Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Why should we go and preach? because Jesus has the power, and he is giving that power to his disciples. Mark says that the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it”. And Luke emphasizes that they will be “clothed with power from on high”, that is, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Spreading the Good News to all nations is not a goal that can be attained by human might and craft. This is why Jesus promises to empower the Church with His abiding presence and that of the Holy Spirit. This mission is not given to a select few but to all believers. To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming. "We preach with words, but we proclaim with our lives."  

By His Ascension, Christ has not deserted us but has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to enter all times and places. In this way, each of us can be transformed by the power of the Spirit into agents or instruments of Christ.

On this day of hope, encouragement, and  commissioning, let us renew our commitment to being faithful disciples everywhere we go, beginning with our family and parish, "living in a manner worthy of the call we have received."