There is more than one ascension.\u00a0 If we examine the history of our faith and our own experience, we can identify multiple ascensions.\u00a0 Thus it is appropriate on this Feast of the Ascension to ask ourselves what these numerous ascensions might mean.\u00a0 The ascension which marks today\u2019s feast is the great ascension, the one that is described in the Scriptures.\u00a0 There after his death Jesus is taken up into heaven and sits at God\u2019s right hand.\u00a0 This great ascension is Jesus\u2019 final victory, when he leaves behind all of the pain and imperfections of this life and enters into glory.<\/p>\n
The good news for you and me is that just as Jesus had a great ascension, one is promised to us.\u00a0 For we believe that we who are faithful to Christ after our death will ascend into the embrace of a loving God to be with Christ forever.\u00a0 So the good news of the great ascension is that our life is moving upward, that despite all the pains and troubles of life, we are not ultimately descending, but ascending, that you and I are bound for glory.<\/p>\n
That is the good news of the great ascension. But there is more than one ascension.\u00a0 If we reflect for a moment we should be able to identify multiple, smaller ascensions in our lives.\u00a0 These are movements away from limitation and pain, small steps which we take towards glory.\u00a0 These small ascensions occur every time that you and I rise above a want or an expectation.\u00a0 We want a lot of things.\u00a0 A good deal of our energy and frustration in life is involved in trying to gain what we want.\u00a0 We want comfort and financial security.\u00a0 We want people to like us.\u00a0 We want good health.\u00a0 It is fine to want these things, but at times our desire for them is so strong, that we begin to confuse the things that we want with the things that we need.\u00a0 Then when any of these wants are endangered, we panic, because we cannot imagine surviving without them.\u00a0 But we can in fact survive without them.\u00a0 When we realize that we can, it is a small ascension.<\/p>\n
When we realize that we can live with less, that we can live even though we do not have complete financial security, even though we do not have the same car or house that other people have, then we are not taking a step backwards; we are taking a step forwards, forwards toward joy.\u00a0 When we realize that not all people will like us and yet know that we still have reason to live and rejoice, that is not moving downwards; that is moving upwards, upwards to realistic living.\u00a0 When we realize that even though we are sick and we have to deal with pain and medical procedures, there are still people who love us and there are still more than enough reasons to live, that is not delusion; that is a small ascension, a step towards glory.<\/p>\n
All of us have expectations, expectations that can at times enslave us.\u00a0 We expect that everybody in our family is going to understand us.\u00a0 We expect that people will deal fairly with us.\u00a0 We expect that the people we love will stay with us.\u00a0 But when we realize that there is nobody in our family that will completely meet our expectations, but that we still can love them; when we realize that people will hurt and betray us, but that we can still forgive them; when we realize that the people we love do at times leave us, because they need to relocate, or because of divorce, or because of death, but that leaving does not mean that our life is over; each time we realize any of these things we have undergone a small ascension\u2014leaving behind the expectations that enslave us, taking a step towards the God who embraces us.\u00a0The things we want and the things we expect can at times limit us and cause a great deal of misery in our life.\u00a0 But each time we can ascend above them, we take a step towards happiness, and a step closer to our final destiny.<\/p>\n
Now these small ascensions in life are not simply a matter of willpower.\u00a0 We cannot ascend above our wants and expectations simply by choosing to do so.\u00a0 Like the great ascension that we celebrate today, ultimately the upward movement is because of God\u2019s power and God\u2019s strength, not our own.\u00a0 But we can pray for such ascensions, and we can open our hearts and minds to them.<\/p>\n
For we believe that our God will not disappoint us.\u00a0 We are people who know that after our death, we have been promised a great ascension.\u00a0 We should pray that God will grant us smaller ascensions today.\u00a0 We should ask our Lord to lift us up above our wants and expectations, and draw us a step closer to his presence at the right hand of God.<\/p>\n
Jesus can sit down because he knows that we are still at work. On this feast of the Ascension we celebrate the truth that Jesus has ascended and entered into glory\u2014or to use the words of today\u2019s gospel, \u201cJesus was taken up to heaven and sat down at God\u2019s right hand.\u201d But just because Jesus has sat down, does not mean that his work is finished. The Kingdom of God is not yet fully established. There is still violence and injustice in our world. Jesus will need to return at the end of time to finally establish God\u2019s Kingdom in its fullness. Until the time when Jesus returns, he expects us to be active.<\/p>\n
Jesus expects us to work for justice, to proclaim the good news of God\u2019s love. This is what we are called to do. The gospel makes it clear. Jesus says to the disciples, \u201cGo out to all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation.\u201d This is our mission. The gospel also makes it clear that our mission cannot be successful unless it is accompanied by signs. Signs make other people take notice. They set us apart and validate the power and the truth of the message. Words are not enough! Signs are necessary if the gospel is to be fully confirmed and believed.<\/p>\n
Now the difficulty in today\u2019s gospel is that the signs that are listed there are peculiar and dangerous. We are told that we will cast out demons and handle snakes in our hands and drink deadly poison. I don\u2019t recommend that you try any of these things at home. It is true that if they work, you\u2019ll be on the evening news. But if they do not, you\u2019ll be hospitalized. We need signs to accompany our message. So if the signs enumerated in the gospel are too extreme, we must find other signs to replace them. Let me suggest a few.<\/p>\n
What if children not only obeyed their parents, and did so without complaining. What if they did what they knew they had to do even before they were asked? That would be different, wouldn\u2019t it? That would cause people to notice. That action could be a sign of the Kingdom.\u00a0What if parents occasionally set aside their work, set aside their household tasks and their multiple schedules and created a space where the family could simply gather. What if they could allow their families simply to be in one another\u2019s presence, listening to one another\u2019s lives, celebrating life together? That would be a change in the pattern of what\u2019s expected, would it not? That choice could be a sign of the Kingdom.\u00a0What if someone objected to having a co-worker or a fellow student belittled or refused to laugh at a racist joke? What if someone stood up to defend another who was being ignored? That would set that person apart, wouldn\u2019t it? That could be a sign of the Kingdom.\u00a0What if someone decided to be patient with another person who annoyed them, with someone who always got under their skin? What if instead of discounting that person or saying offensive things to them, a person would choose to listen and perhaps understand where that person was coming from? That would cause people to do a double take. That could be a sign of the Kingdom.<\/p>\n
These are just a few examples. You can add your own. Whatever causes people to notice, sets us apart, goes against the grain\u2014if it is orientated towards justice and love\u2014can be a sign of the Kingdom of God. If we are going to fulfill our mission, we need such signs. Words are not enough! If our lives and actions are just like everyone else\u2019s, no one is going to give much importance to the words we say. Then the proclamation of the good news will go unheard.\u00a0Just because Jesus has ascended, do not imagine that his work is finished. He is calling upon us to act. He is counting on us to proclaim the gospel.\u00a0 Jesus can sit down because he knows that we are still working\u2014working in such a way that our lives can be signs of the Kingdom, working so that our lives might give authority to the words that we say.<\/p>\n
The teaching of Jesus does not change, but the impact of that teaching is greatly influenced by the circumstances in which we live. This week we as a country passed an important milestone that radically influences our circumstances. I want to bring your attention to this milestone not just because it is important, but also because it has an impact on the teaching of Christ. That teaching can be found in today\u2019s second reading which comes from the letter to the Ephesians. This letter reminds us that Jesus came to save all people and indeed to make us one: \u201cThere is one body, one spirit, . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Because Christ\u2019s mission is to make us one, we as followers of Christ are committed to work against the divisions that separate us one from another. We are one in Christ Jesus and therefore we are committed to serve and love not only people who are like us, but all people in our world however different they may be. This teaching of unity in Christ reveals the sin of prejudice. Whenever we exclude or ignore another person because of their race, nationality, or background, we introduce a division into the very world that Christ has come to make one. This teaching of Christ runs against our normal human inclination. We naturally love and cherish those who are like us and tend to be fearful and dismissive about those who are different than us. Yet Jesus reminds us that we must treat all people as our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing new here. The teaching of Christ has been true from the beginning of Christianity.\u00a0 You have all heard this teaching time and again in homilies and education settings. But this teaching of Christ takes on a new perspective when we place it in light of the milestone we passed as a nation this week.<\/p>\n
White people of European origin have, for a long time, been in the majority of the American population. Most of here this morning come from that cultural background. We have lived our lives as part of that majority. This week for the first time in our nation\u2019s history, there were more children born to minority families in the United States than were born to white families. This, of course, is part of a larger trend which projects that in a number of decades the number of white Americans will be an actual minority in this country. But what happened this week indicates that already white people are a minority in the youngest members of our population.<\/p>\n
Therefore, in the next couple of years Asian, Hispanic, and Black children will predominate in the nurseries and schools of our country. The moral question for white Americans is: Will we see those children as our children? It is still true that white people over fifty control the vast amount of wealth in the United States and the most political influence. So, are we willing to use our wealth and our influence in order to insure a quality of life to children who are very different from our own? \u00a0We would do this willingly and with great sacrifice for our own children and grandchildren. But are we willing to make that sacrifice and give our resources for children who look different than our children and grandchildren? Are we willing to commit ourselves to see that Asian, Black, and Hispanic children have solid nutrition, good education, and adequate access to health care?<\/p>\n
Of course, when we look at the teaching of Christ, there is no doubt what we should do.\u00a0 Christ clearly directs us to treat all people as our brothers and sisters. But here is the new twist: the statistics that came out this week make it clear that, if we allow prejudice to deny the fullness of life to minority children, America will decline as a country. This is because in a very short time there will not be enough white children to make our country work. We will need more than white children to be healthy and to receive a solid education, because those children will be the doctors, engineers, scientists who will allow our country to innovate and grow.\u00a0 We will need more than white children to have access to a good job, because their work will be what keeps this country competitive. Their salaries will be what funds our Medicare.<\/p>\n
So when you put together the milestone of this week together with the teaching of Christ, it leaves us either with a Lose-Lose or a Win-Win.\u00a0 If we allow prejudice to deny quality of life to minority children, we will put our country on a course of economic decline (Lose) and at the same time demonstrate that we are not following the teaching of Christ (Lose). But if we begin to see all children as our children we will demonstrate that we are disciples of Jesus (Win) and at the same time assure our country of a positive future (Win).<\/p>\n
I would suggest we go with the Win-Win.<\/p>\n
A wealthy widow who lived in Washington, D.C., died. She left her entire estate to God. Now, this rather strange bequest gave rise to many legal ramifications, because if the will was to be processed, it had to follow legal form. So lawyers drew up a lawsuit in which God was mentioned as one of the parties. There was a summons issued for God to appear in court. The summons was delivered to the sheriff whose job it was to serve such documents. After some time, the sheriff sent this message to the court: \u201cAfter a due and diligent search, it has been determined that God cannot be found in Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, political considerations aside, this conclusion is obviously false. God can be found in Washington, D.C. God can be found in any place, if we know where to look. Looking is an important part of today\u2019s first reading from the book of Acts. Jesus ascends into heaven, and the disciples stand looking intently up into the sky. Then two men appear and ask them, \u201cWhy are you looking up into the sky.\u201d These men want the disciples to know that if they are looking for Jesus, they will not find him by staring up into the clouds.<\/p>\n
So where should we look for God? Should we look in religious places like churches and pilgrimage sites? Yes, God can be found there.\u00a0 Should we look in the beauty of nature? Of course. Which one of us has not been enthralled by a divine sunset? Should we look in the happiest points of our life: when we fall in love, when a new child is born, when we celebrate a friendship that has lasted over decades? For sure. God is visible in all these events. And even if we group all of these events together, we have not yet exhausted the range of God\u2019s presence. God can be found in any place if we have the right focus.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an old song by Leonard Cohen called \u201cSuzanne.\u201d In this song Suzanne serves as a kind of mystical guide who shows us where to look and how to see. Here is the last stanza of the song:<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river, <\/em><\/p>\n and she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers. <\/em><\/p>\n There are heroes in the seaweed; there are children in the morning. <\/em><\/p>\n They are leaning out for love, and they will lean that way forever <\/em><\/p>\n as Suzanne holds her mirror.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n God is not only found in the religious and perfect places of our lives. God is also found in the mixed and compromised nature of human living. God is found among the garbage and the flowers.<\/p>\n This weekend, we celebrate Mother\u2019s Day. And it\u2019s right to honor mothers for they are a blessing in our lives But mothers are not perfect. Like all of us, they can at times be demanding, stubborn, frustrating. But what a mistake it would be to conclude that God cannot be found in those challenging aspects of our relationship. If we know where to look, can we not see a faithfulness, a desire to bless, a leaning out for love that will lean that way forever. God is there, however perfect or compromised our relationship to our mother may be.<\/p>\n It is easy to believe in God\u2019s presence when we are young and healthy. But as we age, as our faculties lessen, as our health fails, we can conclude that God has left us. Look again. Can you not see God\u2019s presence in the people who love you, in those who drive you to your doctor appointments, in those who call you just to check in? Is there not a holiness on those days without any special reason that we find the strength to continue on? These are the heroes in the seaweed. God is there.<\/p>\n God can be found in any place, if we know where to look. So for sure, we should look in those perfect and ecstatic places where all is right with the world. But we should not stop there. We should also look in the mixed nature of everyday living, in the relationships that are both genuine and compromised, in the situations that are both painful and holy. God can be found among the garbage and the flowers.<\/p>\n We all believe in Jesus and we believe in his love for us. So wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful if we could see Jesus face to face? Wouldn\u2019t it be helpful if we could meet with Jesus and touch him, the way we touch other people in our lives who we love? Wouldn\u2019t it be great if Jesus had a booth at the Giant Eagle down the street, and when you needed to see him, you could drive over there and look into his eyes and say \u201cI really need your help. There\u2019s a kid at school who\u2019s picking on me. My spouse doesn\u2019t understand me. I\u2019m afraid of what tomorrow will bring.\u201d Wouldn\u2019t that be wonderful? Maybe. But what would happen if we had a crisis in the middle of the night, and the Giant Eagle was closed? What would happen if we showed up one morning really needing to talk to Jesus, only to find out that he was at the Giant Eagle in Rocky River? It would be difficult for us to get to Jesus and for him to get to us.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the meaning of today\u2019s feast of the Ascension is so important. Today\u2019s gospel tells us that Jesus was taken up to heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. Now when we first hear this, it sounds like Jesus is being taken away from us. But the whole purpose of Jesus\u2019s ascension is to make Jesus more available to us. You see, when the Scriptures say that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, it is telling us that Jesus is now sharing in God\u2019s power and in God\u2019s presence. The power and presence of God is everywhere. So, the Ascension does not take Jesus out of our reach. Rather, it makes it possible for Jesus to reach us. Jesus ascends into heaven so that he can be with us always. This means that at any time, in any place, in every situation, Jesus sees us, knows us, and can hear us. Jesus is with us when we open our eyes the first time each morning. He is with us when we fly in an airplane or when we are waiting in the dentist\u2019s office.<\/p>\n This availability of Jesus to us is a tremendous gift. I am hoping that those of you here making your First Communion this morning will be able to appreciate it. In a few minutes, you will for the first time share with us at the table of the Lord. When you receive the consecrated bread and wine, Jesus will be with you in a real and unique way. But you should never think that when you leave this church, that you leave Jesus behind. The Jesus you will receive sits at the right hand of God. That means that you can talk to Jesus, you can thank Jesus, you can ask Jesus for his help when you are at home, when you are at school, or when you play with your friends.<\/p>\n If you need a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, go to Giant Eagle. But if you need Jesus, remember he Is with you, right here, right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Living Multiple Ascensions June 1. 2003 Mark 16:15-20 There is more than one ascension.\u00a0 If we examine the history of our faith and our own experience, we can identify multiple ascensions.\u00a0 Thus it is appropriate on this Feast of the Ascension to ask ourselves what these numerous ascensions might mean.\u00a0 The ascension which marks today\u2019s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":0,"parent":585,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5602,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2790\/revisions\/5602"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Making Jesus More Available<\/strong><\/h2>\n
May 16, 2021<\/h5>\n
Mark 16: 15-20<\/h3>\n