A Reflection on the Solemnity of the Ascension, 2014

 

This past Sunday on the Solemnity of the Ascension, we heard in the last line of the gospel these words of Jesus, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” How can he be gone and yet remain? Welcome to the mystery and the many paradoxes of the Gospel. As Catholic Christians, we believe that while he has ascended to heaven, he remains with us nonetheless. His body and blood is present in holy communion. He continues to talk to us in the scriptures proclaimed at Mass. Jesus’ ascension allows him to be presence in ways that were not possible as long as he walked this earth in his corporal body. However, not to diminish the sacramental presence of Jesus in our liturgies, he is not a prisoner of the tabernacle, nor is his presence confined within the 4 walls of a church in liturgy. Jesus now can be in all places at all times through you and me, who have been baptized into his life, death, and resurrection. We are the living and breathing body of Jesus. St Paul writes about putting on Christ. What St Paul is really saying is that we, the baptized, have put on the skin of Christ. Our hands are no longer our hands but those of Christ. The words that come from our mouths are no longer our words, but those of Jesus. We literally live in the Body of Jesus. By being baptized, we have become and are Jesus to others. That is why it is so important to be aware that when we speak, we speak for Jesus. When we touch others, we must touch as Jesus would touch. We must guard what we say if we are the voice of Jesus. We must watch how we touch others, if our touch is that of Jesus. Being Christ to one another is incredibly life changing and the implications for us are tremendous. If we speak for Christ how can we say violent words to one another, or gossip maliciously about one another? If our hands and our fingers are those of Jesus, can we raise our fists against one another, or squeeze the trigger of a gun pointed at one another? And why, with all of our human tendencies for violence, selfishness, much less all the other negative human qualities we embody, would Jesus want to become one of us? He loved us, and he wants us to love others as he loved us. On this Ascension, let us recommit ourselves to be the living and breathing body and blood of Jesus to others. May we learn to live fully and awarely the baptism we have received.