Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Bishop Peter Muhich
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, May 21, 2023

“Behold I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Today, the Church celebrates Christ’s Ascension into heaven. After his Resurrection, the Lord appeared to his disciples over 40 days, teaching them and encouraging them, and preparing them for his Ascension — and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

We’ve been reading from his appearances during those 40 days on Sundays, and even during the week, to take in those encounters the disciples had with the risen Christ, equipping them to be his witnesses now to the nations. As eyewitnesses they can explain, they can proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ in this new life that he has won for us. As he speaks to them during these appearances, the Lord Jesus says he has to go back to the Father in heaven from where he descended in his Incarnation. At the same time, he promises that he will be with them until the end of time.

A paradox. We have a paradox here. What is a paradox? I’ve talked about this before, but just a little refresher here. Paradoxes, a word in our language that comes with the Greek para, which means beyond and doxa, which can mean what is thought. So, beyond what is normally thought. A paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that is true nonetheless. It gets us to think in ways we normally would not think.

Here are some examples from everyday life, at least this one. In decorating, if you’re into that, you might know the phrase less is more. That’s paradoxical. How can less be more? But it is if you know what that phrase is talking about. Or when Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Or the one who wants to gain his life in this world will lose it for life eternal, but the one who loses his life for the kingdom of God will gain it for life eternal. A paradox. A seemingly contradictory statement that is true none the less.

Jesus uses paradoxes at times to open our minds to divine mysteries. Truths that are beyond our limited human capacity to take in. Our finite minds and hearts cannot see and take in all the enormity of God. God is always bigger than we are since of course he’s infinite, and we are finite creatures. The Lord helps us to see and experience his divine life  in which he takes us beyond our limitations, and oftentimes he’ll use paradoxes to begin to do that.

The feast of the Ascension, which we celebrate today, celebrates a great truth revealed by the Lord. That Lord has been lifted beyond our sight into heaven, and at the same time, remains with us until the end of time. When the Lord ascended into heaven, he did so so that he could be present to us in a new and powerful way. We’ll celebrate that reality next Sunday with the feast of Pentecost. Because of the Lord’s Ascension, there would be room for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on the disciples unleashing spiritual power that gave birth to the Church and sustains her in our day and until the end of her mission on earth. Real spiritual power, as we heard of in our first two readings. The Holy Spirit brings this new chapter in the life of those who follow Christ, making them sharers in his divine life and a new and powerful way.

What benefit does his Ascension and the coming of the spirit give us? Well, here’s four: First of all, Jesus Christ is now present in every time and place. Because of this Ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he’s not confined anymore to first century Palestine as he was during the days that he walked the earth. He’s present now every time and place so that he can be with his disciples wherever they are.

A second benefit — the Liturgy, what we’re celebrating right now. Christ, the high priest is now in heaven as head of the body, the Church interceding for us, and we in the power of the Holy Spirit, join with him in worshiping the Father in every Liturgy. That wasn’t true in the same way before his Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Liturgy was born with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Another benefit, Jesus Christ is now present in each one of us — in our homes, at our work, in our recreation, in our hearts. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us so that the victory that Christ won over sin and death, by his death and Resurrection, can come to dwell in each of us and transform us and give us a new life. That of course happens through the sacraments of initiation — Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.

And the fourth benefit to us, and there are more, is apostolic ministry. Through the Holy Spirit, working in the Apostles and their successors we are given the scriptures. You know, an assurance of the Old Testament Scriptures in their canon, and also in the New Testament Scriptures that were given to us through the Apostles, and the other disciples of the early church but confirmed by the apostles. The sacraments. We’re given the sacraments through apostolic ministry. Of course, the chief of the sacraments, the Eucharist. And tradition and the Magisterium of the Church, the teaching office of the Church. The Holy Spirit dwells with the Church to lead her into all truth and confirm her in truth.

So, with Christ’s ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit something new and paradoxical happens. The Lord leaves us to be with the Father, but in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit he is with us in power to form us into his Body, the Church, until the end of time. We are beneficiaries of this great Paschal Mystery, and it makes the Eucharist we celebrate right now possible in our midst. That we all can be taken up into this greatest of the sacraments and truly experience the presence of the risen Christ.