The Ascension of the Lord 2012

The disciples must have been so stunned when they looked up into the sky and watched Christ being carried away on a cloud. There they were, staring at this most amazing sight and two angels in white appear to say, “Why are you staring?”  And we can be too quick to jump to the conclusion, because they had work to do, spreading the Gospel to all of the nations.  Yes, that’s true.  But if we are too quick to start in on the doing—even doing for the sake of Jesus–, then we can miss the being, the glimpse of who they were that the disciples received when they looked up into the sky. But this glimpsing takes a bit of explanation. A lot of people in our parish, myself included, wear some sort of help for their vision —glasses, contact lenses, or even the long-term correction of laser surgery. Try to recall your very first pair of glasses and what it was like to look around you. The Ascension, for the disciples, was one of these moments of clarity and vision. They saw something that they had never seen before, and it wasn’t just because it was their Lord riding on a cloud. They knew that Jesus had become a human being just like them, that He had skin that bled when it was cut, that He laughed, and ate, and drank, and loved. And they were all amazed when He had been raised from the dead, because no human had done that before. But in the Ascension He adds something new: He takes humanity with him to heaven.  In Jesus’ rising up to heaven on that cloud, he took not only his own, resurrected human body. He took what would be the disciples’; He what will be yours and mine.  Human skin went up to heaven, not just as a soul but as a body too. And for the first time in their lives, the disciples saw their own bodies —their own humanity– as they really are in God’s eyes —worth eternity, beautiful, and groaning for resurrection.  That is a spectacular moment of clarity. No wonder they were looking up at the sky. They had just seen Christ’s body go to heaven; and they knew He would do the same for them on the last day. Today is when we look up at the sky and realize that in watching our Lord rise up in human flesh, that our very vision of salvation is being changed.  We can see more; we can see further; we can see visible signs of invisible grace. And with that vision, most importantly we can see ourselves as in God’s eyes we are. Praise God! ■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.