Friends, today we come to the wonderful Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Like the disciples in our first reading, we often want to ask the Lord, “When is all of this going to come to fruition? What’s it all about? When is all of this going to make sense?” Reasonable enough questions. And we hear the same answer: It’s not for you to worry about. Rather, get to work! In the Ascension, the Lord moves to a higher dimension and then sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so that we can be empowered to do Christ’s work in the world.
Watch Get to Work! - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon here
GOSPEL
Solemnity of the Ascension
Mark 16:15–20
Friends, today Jesus commissioned his disciples (and us) to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. Then he was taken up to heaven, where he took his place at God’s right hand, as the disciples went forth and preached everywhere.
The Ascension of Jesus signals the beginning of the era of the Church. As Jesus leaves the scene (at least in the most obvious sense), he opens the stage for us. What if Caesar, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Churchill were still striding the world stage? No one would have the courage to enter the game. So, Jesus leaves, that we might act in his name and in accord with his Spirit.
And it is precisely those who are most focused on the things of heaven that do most good here below—Gandhi, King, Dorothy Day, John Paul II. Those who pray most intently are most effective in the practical realm. This, too, is opened up by the Ascension.