Ascension Sunday: We are more than the sum of our parts

May 27, 2017

“We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee, because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.”

We know that Jesus is our Savior because he ascended to the right hand of the Father, as we say in the Nicene Creed. In each Gospel, Jesus says farewell to his disciples, but only Luke describes his actual departure. Acts tells us, “When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Acts 1. In Matthew, the Lord instructed his disciples to baptize and make other disciples and that he would be with them “until the end of the age.” What is the Ascension? Jesus left but is still with us because heaven and earth are not separate places.

The Ascension and Marian apparitions
Various popes have affirmed that some Marian apparitions are worthy of belief. Guadalupe, Lourdes, La Salette and Fatima are just some examples. We are celebrating 100 since the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Three children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco all claimed to see the same lady. Jacinta and Francisco were just recently canonized by Pope Francis who then visited Fatima. Like St. Bernadette Soubirous, they claimed to see a woman who had been dead for almost 1,900 years. There were predictions and the miracle of the sun to bolster their claim. Why does the Church say it is worthy of belief and various popes including Francis and John Paul II have visited Fatima?

The Ascension and the Biblical View of the World
The biblical view of the world is that God both transcends the material work and is present in the material world. That is, God is no thing in our world of sight, taste, smell, touch and science, but God works in the world. Prayers are answered, miracles occur and God is here. Jesus is not here as he once was, but he has not left us either. Heaven is all around us, but not here at all.

Salvation is not an escape from our world, but the experience of being changed. Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The Resurrection is not the escape of the soul from the body, but Jesus’ body alive and changed. The scriptural idea of heaven is contained in the book of Revelation, especially the last chapter.

Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lam will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Revelation 22:1ff

Biblical visions always contain figurative language. Heaven is, as St. John Paul II, said, the experience of communion with God, not an abstraction or a place in the clouds. Our Faith makes claims about the nature of reality. There is more to our life than our experience of the material world. Jesus is a memory that guides and dwells within us. He is also more than a memory. He is a living presence raised from the dead. Heaven and Earth are not separate realities, but exist here. Where Jesus is, the Father also is to be found. That is why Jesus says,

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” Lk. 17: 20-21.

We are more than a 'heap of chemicals'
Our faith affirms that we are not just a heap of chemicals doomed to return to just dust. We are not stranded. We are not alone; we are living in the kingdom of God. Christ is the presence of God among us and God is still working wonders among us. The Resurrection is not about the escape of the soul from the body, but it is about the transfiguration of all of creation

For king of all the earth is God;  God sits upon his holy throne.
God reigns over the nations,  sing hymns of praise.  Ps 47

Remember that as the disciples looked to up to heaven two angels said, “"Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” As the Gospel account of the same event emphasizes, there is work to do. We are to go out and make disciples of all nations and baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As the Lord’s prayer reminds us, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”