8 May 2016
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
We all have heard at some point the adage, “What goes up must come down.” For Jesus, the phrase deserves to be flipped, “What comes down must go up.” The young community of disciples must have looked up at Jesus with both awe and yearning to join Him at where he was going. As Jesus ascends, the Holy Spirit stirs the disciples with gazes fixed on the sky to concern them on the next chapter of the story, the growth of the Church.
I think the Ascension seems intuitively fitting to most people as a good conclusion to the story of Jesus’ earthly life. Like most archetypal hero characters in adventure stories, the hero returns home eventually, and shapes the story line into a full circle. From where the great journey began, it also will end. Jesus ascends to the divine eternity from which he descended on Christmas morning. While it is a fitting ending for Jesus’ earthly life, it is also the completion of our story as Church.
Our faith, hope, and love will find its completion in being lifted up like Jesus to union with God forever. Whatever stage of life we might be in, we can remind ourselves of the common closing to our stories of faith and charity on the feast of the Ascension.
What would it mean for me to keep the goal of union with God before me in my daily activity?