Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:46-53
As I prepared to this, my first homily, I was reminded of
one of my first experiences preaching. A
couple years ago I used to go help at a soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of
Charity Sisters. Each week before
serving food, a different volunteer would read the gospel of the day and give a
short reflection or homily. Eventually my
turn came. The sister in charge pulled
me aside, told me that next week I would be giving the reflection, and, she
stressed, “make it short and sweet”. That
week I struggled with what I could say, how I could keep it “short and sweet”.
I asked God for help, but no inspiration was coming. Eventually the big day came and I gave my
reflection. Afterwards, the sister came
to me with a very sweet smile and said, “well brother, it was short … the sweetness
will come with time”. Today, I guarantee
neither the shortness of sweetness of this homily!! But, this story points to a common experience
that we all have, though in different ways and circumstances.
Each of us lives through moments when Jesus can seem so
far away. At times it can really seem
like Jesus is not there to help us. This
problem is a very good one to consider today as we celebrate the Ascension,
when Jesus, after having been with his followers for 40 days after the
resurrection, left them and returned to His Father. We could ask: “would it not have been better
if Jesus has not ascended?” Imagine if Jesus were still here, living physically
among us. Instead of struggling to think
what I should say in my reflection at the soup kitchen, I could just email
Jesus and ask him what He would like me to say.
Or if you are a student in grade twelve there would be no need to stress
about what you should do when you graduate.
You could just message Jesus and get guidance. When loved ones suffer, you would not need to
wonder why God would allow this to happen.
Jesus would just be a phone call away. Governments would not need to debate over
which programs would be best for society.
They could just visit Jesus and He could end the debate. Would it not have been better if Jesus had
not ascended? But He did and so we all
live through moments when He seems absent from our lives.
The relationship between a mother and her child can help
us understand why Jesus ascended into heaven.
The way a mother cares for her child helps us to appreciate the
necessity of the Ascension. Today we
honor our mothers and celebrate their self-less love. Though a mother would do anything to help
their child in a time of need, we know that in many situations a mother will
stand back and seem to do nothing because it is what is best for the
child. For example, when a child is
doing homework a mother will assist and encourage the child. But, the mother cannot do the homework for
the child. A mother may need to watch as
their child struggles to get an assignment done. This is because the child needs to do the
work themselves, so they can learn and develop. Mothers often behave this way for the good of
her child. They “ascend” as it were away
from the children, allowing them to solve their own problems. If she didn’t, the children would never grow
and mature. This aspect of how a mother
loves her child can help us better understand why Jesus would ascend in to
heaven and seemingly remain distant during our times of struggle.
After the resurrection Jesus Christ needed to return back
to heaven so that we could grow into adult Christians. If Jesus had remained always physically among
us, we could never grow into the men and women that God wants us to be. Jesus came to earth for two reasons: to save
us from sin and death and to transform us into the image of Himself. To help us become more like Him, Jesus taught
the disciples by word and example what it meant to live a good, loving life. But Jesus’ mission of forming us into His own
image was not completed with His death and Resurrection. To do this, Jesus needed to ascend. Just as we saw in the relationship between a
mother and her child, Jesus needed to pull back, to allow us to struggle
through our own difficulties, to put into practice what He had taught us, to
help us to grow. If Jesus had stayed
physically present with us, taking away all our difficulties whenever they
arose, our spiritual growth would have been forever stunted. It was for our own good and out of love that He
returned to heaven.
Jesus has not abandoned us but has given us His Spirit,
His greatest gift. The Holy Spirit is
always with us, gently transforming us to become more and more like Jesus. When we read the bible the Holy Spirit has a
personal message to speak to us. In our
conscience the Holy Spirit guides us, helping us to act rightly. When we take the time to pray, the Holy
Spirit guides and comforts us. The Holy
Spirit will speak to us through our friends and fellow Christians when we seek
their help. The Holy Spirit gives us
many tools and opportunity for growth but we are not forced to use them. Often we do not make us of these tools during
times of difficulty. Because of this,
these experiences are crushing rather than opportunities for growth. It is so important that during times of
difficulty we both recognize that it is a time for growth and make use of the
tools that the Holy Spirit gives us to make us grow more like Christ:
sacraments, Scriptures and prayer. Jesus
has left us the Holy Spirit so that we can be transformed to become more like
Him.
Any kind of growth takes time. This is especially true with spiritual
growth. However, if during times of
struggle we faithfully use the tools the Holy Spirit has given us, we will
gradually grow more loving, more and more Christ-like. To borrow a phrase from the sister from the
soup kitchen, in our lives too, the “sweetness will come with time”. Today let us each try to identify one area in
our life where we feel that Jesus is absent.
Let us trust that this experience is an opportunity for growth and choose
to use one specific spiritual tool to aid our growth.
