HOMILY FOR 26 MAY 2022 SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD YEAR C

HOMILY FOR 26 MAY 2022 SOLEMNITY OF THHE ASCENSION OF THE LORD YEAR C

Acts 1: 1-11; Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; Ephesians  1:17-23  or Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53

WAIT FOR THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I pray for you: ​May you be willing to do whatever is necessary to further the spread of the Good News to others! AMEN

I am impressed by missionaries, whether they be priests, religious, or lay people. I am even impressed by missionaries from other religious organizations. It is not just what they say, but also the fact that they are willing to proclaim the Good News to others. Some leave their families and friends and travel great distances as they share what they believe with people who may not have heard the Gospel of Jesus. Yet, all of us are called to be missionaries, that is, people who are sent to give witness to the Good News by the way we live our lives. Jesus purposely chose to stay on earth only a relative short period of time (±33 years). His public ministry lasted no more than three years. And after His death and resurrection, He stayed only 40 days. Yet He empowered His disciples to continue His work and gifted them with the Holy Spirit. We, His disciples in this space and time, are commissioned to continue that ministry of spreading the faith.

In the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke remarks that after Jesus had spent forty days presenting His Risen Self to the disciples. The other gospels accounts relate that Jesus only was with His followers on some occasions during those forty days, not consistently day after day. He promised them that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and be His witnesses starting in Jerusalem and spreading throughout the world.  As Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples stare into the skies, shocked and perplexed until two white-clothed individuals ask them the questions, Why are you standing there looking into the sky?

Today, we have a couple accounts of the last words of Jesus to His disciples before He returned to His Father in heaven. The question for us is: what is the meaning of the Ascension? Or more practically, how am I going to live my life differently because of the ascension of the Lord? To be able to answer this question, we need to look more closely at the readings for today.

The second reading from the letter to the Ephesians speaks about God giving a Spirit of wisdom and revelation to believers so that they can have fuller knowledge of Jesus and they can realize the hope to which they are called  a hope of an inheritance with Jesus, a share in His glory in heaven, and a part in His Body, which is the church.

The alternate Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the position of Jesus Christ now in the presence of His Father in order to present our needs to His Father and to wait until the end of time when He will return to take all those who eagerly await Him back into the heavenly presence where He is.

From the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus speaks of empowering His disciples so that they could preach His name to all nations. In some of the other accounts of the ascensionof Jesus, Jesus also promises that He will be with His followers always, even until the end of time (cf. Matthew 28: 16-20).

Dear Sisters and Brothers, the readings of today tell us that we are called and empowered to continue the work of Jesus. This is not just the call of the ordained clergy or pastoral staff.  It is the call of every follower of Jesus. Each of us, as disciples of the Master, are given the ability, and responsibility, to further the spread of the Good News. As members of the Body of Christ (the Church), we are gifted with what we need to further the mission of Jesus. We often ask, How can I serve in the proclamation of the Gospel? We think that because we have not been trained or because we have not dedicated our lives to missionary work that we are not going to be responsible for the ministry of spreading the faith.  In some ways we are like the disciples who today look up in the heaven as Jesus is taken from their sight. We are awestruck by what we have experienced. We often just spend time looking up to the sky with our mouths wide open.  Maybe we need beings dressed in white appearing to us saying, Why are you standing there looking up into the sky? We need to be challenged to quit standing around, doing nothing, and to get to work spreading the Good News.

Dearly beloved, we can take a little consolation in the fact that it took the disciples at least ten days to get motivated. And it was only after they received the further outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost that they were able to get moving in their mission of furthering the Gospel.  What we need to do is to continue to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives. The coming of the Holy Spirit, by the way, is not just a one time thing. It is an on-going process. The more we are open to the presence of the Holy Spirit  in our lives, the more we will be empowered to be Spirit-filled individuals and become the missionaries whom we are called to be.

Honestly, being missionaries does not mean we have to sell all our belongings and move to some far away land to spread the faith, although some may be called to do this. Missionaries literally mean those who have been sent or those on a mission. Maybe we are being sent as far away as our own home. We may be called to announce the Good News to our family members.  The way we announce the message is by living lives of Good News. It may be the hardest audience to whom we can be sent. We may truly need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to announce the Good News, because our family knows who we really are, with all our failings and all the times we have missed the mark (sinned) in living out the Gospel. It can be a real challenge to be evangelists (proclaimers of the Good News) to our family, because it is so easy to forget our mission, due to the day-to-day needs they and we face, both alone and together.  This is why we need to keep turning to the Lord and praying, Send us Your Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of us who are trying to be faithful.  Inflame in our hearts the fire of Your love.  What can help us is the realization that we have been given, and are continuing to be given, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation which enlightens us to the hope of the call which Jesus has given us. If we strive to live out our missionary call, especially to those whom we encounter each and every day, then Jesus promises us a share in His inheritance, with the other holy ones, and the surpassing greatness of His power.  We will share in His ascension at the end of our earthly life and even more so at the end of time when we will be raised up to be with Him in glory.  

MEDITATION  In what ways am I like the apostles in my standing around looking up to heaven, wondering what is happening without doing anything? To whom in my life is it most difficult to be sent and to minister? Which gift/fruit of the Holy Spirit (knowledge, wisdom, understanding, peace, joy, discernment, hope, faith, love, endurance, being in awe of God) do I need the most at this moment in my life?  How can I more faithfully proclaim the Good News to those to whom I am sent?

MEDITATION Lord God, give us the ability to be faithful to the Good News, especially as we proclaim it to those in our families, in our workplace, and wherever You lead us. Through Christ Our Lord. AMEN  

O DIVINE WORD WHO TOOK FLESH FOR HUMAN SAKE, REDEEM US IN OUR SITUATION

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa