Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ascension of the Lord, Year B, 15.05.2012

Ac 1:1-11/ Eph 1:17-23 or 4:1-13/ Mk 16:15-20

After this Mass, some of us will go back to work, some of us will go on with what we need to do, some of us may be meeting our friends.

Whatever it may be, all of us will be going somewhere.

But wherever we may be going, at the end of the day, we will go back to a place called home.

Home is the place where we can be at ease and relax, where we can have a good home-cooked meal and have a good rest.

And no matter how busy we are and how far we may be, home is where we long to be because home is always in our hearts.

Even for those who have migrated, they will still think about their homeland and they would still be interested about whatever news about their homeland.

Today, as we celebrate Ascension, we rejoice because Jesus has returned to heaven, His homeland.

Heaven has always been His home, where He, with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit dwell in glory.

Yet, the purpose of Jesus coming down to earth and becoming man is to remind us of our eternal home.

We won’t remain forever in this world anymore than Jesus would remain forever in this world.

This world is not our eternal home just as it was not the eternal home of Jesus either.

But for the time that He was with in this world, that traditional period of 33 years, this world was His home.

And He had a mission while in this world and that is to tell people of another world, which is our eternal home in heaven.

That might sound quite simple and straight forward, isn’t it?

Jesus just had to tell people that there is a heaven and they will get there after they die if they live good lives on earth.

Sounds like a simple and straight forward message. Simple and straight forward, yes but not an easy
message to proclaim.

Jesus had to fight against the evil that was oppressing His message as well as the evil that was oppressing the people.

He had to cast off devils, heal the sick, fight against disbelief, face rejection, and betrayal and finally he was crucified on the cross.

Yes, Jesus died for that message, but He also rose for that message and His ascension is a confirmation that He has prepared a place for us in heaven, our eternal home.

So as we fix our hearts and minds on heaven, we are also commissioned by Jesus to spread this Good News of salvation.

Yet let us also be prepared to face oppression and even danger.

Evil will try to harass us and discourage us.

Some of us might even face danger as we share with others the Good News of love and peace and reconciliation and healing.

But as we heard in the 1st reading, Jesus promised us the power of the Holy Spirit as we bear witness to Him and to the Good News.

And as we prepare for Pentecost, let us pray to the Holy Spirit that we will be empowered to fight the good fight, run the race to the finish, and be rewarded with eternal rest.

Yes, our hearts will not rest, until we are rested in God, in our eternal home.