June 5th, 2011: Gospel Reflection I

   The Ascension

Matthew 28:16-20

  This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Ascension (which traditionally is celebrated on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter). After Jesus rose from the dead the Scriptures recall that He appeared to His disciples on multiple occasions until the day that he ascended to the Father. Jesus’ Ascension to the Father closes a chapter in the book of God’s Salvation History, God’s ongoing relationship with humanity to bring each of us to the fullness of life with God in heaven (salvation). Yet while Jesus’ Ascension means that He is in Heaven with Our Father and that his body is no longer present on earth this does not mean that He is no longer active in our world. Jesus’ Ascension opens a new chapter in God’s relationship with us, the Age of the Holy Spirit.

     Jesus promises his disciples and each of us right before He ascended to the Father that “I am with you always, until the end of the age”; these were His last words to his disciples. Jesus is truly with us and next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, when Jesus appeared to His disciples and breathed the Holy Spirit of God into them to be with them forever. How do we receive that same Spirit?

     Right before Jesus told his friends that He would be with them He gave them what is called The Great Commissioning to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. Early on the Apostles passed on the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments, baptizing others, forgiving them of their sins, gathering each Lord’s Day to break bread together, etc. These Traditions have been handed on over thousands of years! It is through our Baptism, Confirmation and living a life plugged into the Sacraments (especially Reconciliation and Communion) that the energy of God’s presence can flow into us.

     Jesus Ascending to Heaven does not limit His ability to be with us and to help us but magnifies it by interceding to God for us, sending the Spirit to dwell in each of us through our personal prayer and communal sacramental prayer, and by commissioning us to be His presence in our world and to tell people of God’s love.