TO BE WHERE I AM!

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke. (Lk 24, 46-53)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God”. The Word of the Lord.

 During the Paschal season, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, we are invited to say or sing the Regina Caeli antiphon, which says “Queen of heaven, rejoice. The Son you merited to bear, has risen as he said. Pray to God for us”. This is one of the antiphons offered as a prayer from which to choose at the end of each day to honour Our Holy Mother in heaven. In it we remember with joy that she accepted to be the human Mother to the Son of God, true God. In the Angelus prayer, we are reminded of Mary’s response to the angel’s message saying: “Be it done unto me according to Your Word” (Lk 1, 38) which resulted in the fact that “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (Jn 1, 14).

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It is good and beautiful for us who are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord into heaven to remember Mary’s share in the mystery of the Incarnation, not only in giving birth to her Son Jesus, the Christ, but all through his mission on earth, supporting him during his passion and death, and supporting his disciples during the first days of their worldwide mission.

In John’s gospel we read of Nicodemus, a leading Jew, one of the Pharisees who went to Jesus by night to discuss things with him. He knew that Jesus was a teacher who came from God. During this conversation Jesus told Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (Jn 3, 13) .

These words, written at the beginning of John’s gospel, speak to us about today’s celebration, Christ’s ascension into heaven. They speak about three movements, i.e. “gone up to heaven”, “came down from heaven” and “is in heaven”. This is Jesus our brother, true God and true Man, our Redeemer. He came down from heaven through Mary. From her he took our human nature and became like us in everything except sin. At the end of his life on earth, he took our human nature with him to heaven where it still is, because he is there, and there we hope to be with him for ever!

He did not go up to heaven leaving us orphans here on earth. With different words he promised that he will be always with us. I will quote some. He said to his apostles when sending them in mission: “Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time’ (Mt 28, 20) . These are the last words Jesus pronounces in Matthew’s gospel. Another quote from Matthew: “Where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them” (Mt 18, 20). The next is from John: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you” (Jn 14:18). In his farewell discourse, after the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples: “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23). We know that paradise is where God lives. So if he tells us that God will make his home with those who love him and keep his word, then he is telling us that heaven is not just for after our death, because he lives in us when we are keeping his word during our journey on earth.

In all this, it is good to remember what the Father told St. Catherine of Siena. He told her: “I have made a Bridge of my Word, of my only-begotten Son, and this is the truth. I have given you the Bridge of my Son, in order that, passing across the flood (of the tempestuous sea of this life), you may not be drowned. Look at the Bridge of my Son, and see the greatness thereof. The height of the Divinity, humbled to the earth, and joined with your humanity, made the Bridge in order that man might come to his true happiness with the angels”. 

A Dominican preacher explains that Catherine draws attention to the three steps we need to climb on our Christian journey. The first step are Christ’s feet. The second are his side and his pierced heart. The third is his head and especially his mouth. Encountering Christ at his feet is what we do when we turn from sin and commit ourselves to Christ and to God’s way. We can then move up to the heart or breast were we experience the love of God as Christ is sort of breast-feeding us with this love as a mother does with her child. Here we come to know God’s love and mercy for us and also our dignity as beloved sons and daughters, friends of God. We then move to the face of Jesus and particularly to his mouth when we receive his kiss of peace and also hear his words.

Having celebrated the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, let us climb this bridge with God’s helping hands full of love and mercy, keeping in our hearts the sure hope that we will arrive to the home Christ is preparing for us. Let us remember his priestly prayer in which he tells his Father: “I pray not only for these, but for those also who through their words will believe in me. … Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see the glory you have given me” (Jn 17, 20. 24). Amen.