Acts 1:1-11; Ps. 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Lk. 24:46-53
The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is also about the blessing of the “promise”. The promise of the Father is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes with the power to bring forgiveness of sins, it is the promise of the kingdom of God, and it is the power to speak “in persona Cristi”, in the person of Christ. Scripture is the word of God but the word is given to those called to serve in the image of Christ as his priests with Christ as our high priest. This is the power of the church as the body of Christ to be a channel of grace upon his people. This promise is for us through the waters of baptism as priest, prophet, and king.
What are we to fear if we carry the promise with us. We don’t fear living but not living up to the gift of the promise. The gift is a calling to be witnesses of Christ in forgiving, in teaching and by example. When we look to the Ascension of the Lord, we bring together the cross, the cave and the ascension. Each day we are to live the cross of suffering and surrender to the Lord. In the cave we also die with him putting to death our temptations of the flesh and mind that represent sin. In carrying the cross and dying to self we can truly rise with him in spirit and in truth. When we come to receive our Lord in the Eucharist we come to be purified in his body and blood that we may rise to new life and a greater presence before the Lord, as Jesus prays that we may be one in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In the reading, the two men dressed in white is the appearance of angels as ordinary humans. When was the last time an angel addressed us personally? If it did happen the possibility that we even recognized we were being addressed by an angel is unlikely. We see with the human intellect and fail to recognize with the heart God’s messengers. Recall how Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and how they failed to recognize him until the breaking of the bread. What we can learn from this is that their hearts were burning even when their eyes were blind. We cannot be before angels and not have our hearts touched by their presence. To be in the kingdom of God is to be with the angels and the saints. It is why we pray not only to God in the Trinity but to the angels and saints who are with us in our journey of faith.
Even greater is the gift of the Holy Spirit at work within our souls. The Holy Spirit is the gift of “wisdom and revelation” that our hearts be “enlightened” to confirm God’s truth and say “I know that I know” God’s will for me. There is no doubt what God is asking of us. God does not ask without providing “the surpassing greatness of his power for those who believe”. Faith leads to action but it occurs within the act of total surrender to the will of God trusting in his divine will to work all things for the greater good. The Holy Spirit is more than a companion on the journey, it is the force within the soul to bear the cross, to give life to the soul, and to raise us up in victory uniting us to the Lord in his ascension. The Holy Spirit is the promise of God’s indwelling presence in our souls. “Come Holy Spirit, take possession of our hearts and strengthen us by your grace.”
The purpose of the Ascencion of the Lord was not to leave us to our own doing but to send us the guiding power of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Lord is to operate from within our soul, to manifest himself through us by remaining within us. We are to be the temple of the Lord and seek to remain in the purity of the Holy Spirit. Do we fail often? Absolutely, we fail but in the mercy of God he lifts us up again and our souls are strengthened by his grace in the call to be perfect as he is perfect. It took the Israelites forty years in the desert to reach the promise land and so in God’s time we will be formed into his image, the image of Godly love. That image may not be what we anticipate it to be as a “perfect human being”. The Lord’s perfection is his work being done through us. It may be through our sickness, our incapacity to do for ourselves, our conditions of dementia, being bedridden, or in poverty, homeless, or abandoned in a nursing home waiting for death. Our call to holiness may be as the caregiver of those in need. The Lord’s perfection works in mysterious ways through our brokenness that others may be called to serve as instruments of God’s love and gain their perfection.
The Lord has ascended into heaven but he also remains always present for those who call upon his name, the name above every other name and at the name of Jesus every knee will bend. We kneel to the Lord that we may also be lifted up with the Lord this day.
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