The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

 Acts 1: 1-11, Eph. 1:17-23, Mt. 28:16-20. As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, the Church invites us to allow our hearts ascend with Him. Today’s first reading remarks that after Jesus had spent forty days presenting Himself to the disciples, He promised them that they would be “baptised 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 until two white-clothed individuals ask them the question: “Why are you standing there looking into the sky?” The second reading describes how the Spirit of wisdom and revelation came on the Apostles so that they can have fuller knowledge of Jesus and they can realise 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.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises us a share in His inheritance 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 with our bodies to be with Him in glory. While in Heaven Jesus remains with us on earth. He is here with us by His Divinity, power and love. We cannot be in Heaven, as He is on earth, by Divinity, but in Him, we can be there by love. He did not leave Heaven when He came down to us; nor did He withdraw from us when He went up again into Heaven. The fact that He was in Heaven even while He was on earth is borne out by His statement: “No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.”

May the Lord hear the prayers we have made and grant that after our earthly lives, we may ascend to that place where His Son our Lord Jesus Christ has gone before in glory! Amen!! Have a glorious day!!!