HOMILY - Feast of the Ascension (Year B) 2018

Last week, I was meeting with a parishioner and a friend of hers; and the parishioner introduced me as “the deacon at her parish” and then she went on to share in painfully-embarrassing detail how I poured sweat my first homily – great first impression, hun? She was telling the truth, and admittedly, there were many more homilies that I had to muscle my way through. To be clear, it was never about the message – I have always believed in the words I have spoken at this ambo – whether it was the Gospel words I proclaimed or the homily message I delivered. It has been more of a challenge to boldly proclaim the message – that’s not how I tend to be wired and certainly not how I was raised (not a slight to my parents (Happy Mother’s Day mom, I love you), they taught and modeled the faith well; however, we – my generation – were not trained or empowered to evangelize). So, I always love to study the early Church and pray over how the Apostles and other disciples of Jesus were transformed from hiding in the upper room to boldly proclaiming Christ and being His witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Certainly, we owe a large part of that transformation to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we will celebrate next week. It is the Holy Spirit that lives in us and transforms us, just as it did the Apostles – guiding us and giving us the help to move from despair to hope, from darkness to light, from anxiety to peace, sadness to joy, selfishness to service, death to life. I also believe that the Ascension event, which we celebrate this weekend/today, had a powerful impact on Jesus’ disciples – even though it can be overshadowed by the Resurrection and Pentecost. As we believe and will profess in just a couple of minutes: Christ ascended into heaven. This is the reason for joy! And here is why: The Ascension must have been a powerful event for the Apostles, just as it should for us now. Our celebration of the Ascension reminds us that: FIRST, Jesus proceeds us and leads us to our goal: eternal life in Heaven, SECOND, that the body matters, and THIRD, because of these two truths, we have nothing to fear. First, the Apostles were with Jesus for years and saw incredible things and they certainly heard Jesus countless times tell them that he is going to His Father in Heaven, but it may have taken His Ascension for them to comprehend this truth and that like Christ we are called to Eternal Life with our Father in Heaven. We/I can get so focused on the things of earth – many good and holy things, and many less so! So, having the focus on the goal of eternal life in our relationships, in our work, in everything we do, is good and necessary. The second truth of the Ascension is that the body matters. We believe that Jesus Ascended to Heaven – body and soul – and because of this our body, the same human body shared by the Incarnate God, has value and dignity. After our earthly death, which is the separation of the body and the soul, the body becomes corrupt while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet the judgment of God and awaits its reunion with the body when it will rise transformed at the time of the return of the Lord. Our prayer then is that we may know – body and soul – eternal life, peace and joy! And it is also for this reason that we are called to give great attention to the body living and dead – promoting and defending the dignity and value in every person: from natural conception to natural death; and showing care and respect to the bodies of the dead. Finally, the third point on the Ascension: because our goal is eternity and our bodies matter, we have nothing to fear. Well, you may say that if this is true (if our goal is Heaven and our bodies matter), then I am going to hide my basement and avoid any risk or threat. However, we are called to do just the opposite. Unlike in the parable in which the steward buries in the ground the coin entrusted to him by his master, we are called to risk failure, risk harm, risk losing everything. We are called by Jesus in today’s Gospel to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” And, we are called to do so boldly and confidently knowing of Jesus’ promise: “in my name [you] will drive out demons, [you]will speak new languages. [you]will pick up serpents with their hands, and if [you]drink any deadly thing, it will not harm [you]. [You]will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Each of us, through our own vocation and state of life (as St. Paul reminds us in today’s Second Reading) and with humility and gentleness, with patience, in unity and in love, and with the gift of grace, we are called to do incredible things in the name of Jesus Christ. As I have “matured” in my diaconal ministry, our parish’s Alpha program has helped me to better understand that we are called to be in relationship – an incredible love relationship – with God and that we are also called to share this good news with others. We are blessed to have our Catholic Church - with the Sacraments, its doctrine, our community – to guide us and support us in this mission work. It is also through Alpha that I have come to better understand and be empowered by the events of the Ascension: 1) that our goal is eternal life, 2) that our bodies matter, and 3) we have nothing to fear as we do the will of God. Our Alpha leadership team met earlier this week and we set a goal for 42 participants for our next Alpha session this Fall. While months away, I want to invite you to consider participating in Alpha – you will be transformed! I can promise you that. And, if you have already been through Alpha, consider being a host or helper. A meal, movie and conversation; 2 hours, one night a week of 10 weeks – not a big commitment and the return will be enormous and lasting. We will be talking more about Alpha, for now please be open to joining Alpha. May God bless you.