The Ascension of the Lord (B) – May 12, 2024

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9; Ephesians 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53

The Question That Changed My Life

This solemnity that we celebrate today—the great solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord—it’s  always rubbed me the wrong way, it’s always been difficult for me. Because, well, he just leaves. And earlier in the Gospel Jesus said, “It is better for you that I go” (John 16:7). And I always thought, “Uhm, what? No, I think it would be pretty great if you just stayed!” Think: wouldn’t it be great if you could fly to Rome and meet Jesus? But he’s gone (apparently). “Well, Father, I don’t know if you knew this, but he’s present in the Eucharist.” Yeah, I’m aware. But even that—“Jesus present in the Eucharist” easily turns into a talisman, a sort of magic object. And what are we left with? We’re left with Jesus’ teachings, his morality, and this “magic cookie.”

For me, this led to a real crisis in my life. I was three years into seminary, and for a lot of reasons we don’t need to get into, I began to really struggle with the idea of becoming a priest. Now, like you know, I grew up in an uber-Catholic family. Growing up I thought about being a priest. I had that powerful experience at Camp WaJaTo where I experienced this very real call from God to be a priest. But I had a real crisis about three years in. Why? Because even thought I knew all of the Catholic stuff and could pass every Catholic test (and I agreed with all of it), and even though I knew all of the Catholic morality and how God calls us to live (and I agreed with it)—even then, I couldn’t reconcile my “faith life” with my “real life.” And what I mean is this (as I’ve shared many times before): my plans were to be a doctor, get married, have twelve kids; but that plan is irreconcilable with being a priest; my real life plans were irreconcilable with the plans given to me by my faith. And so I was torn, literally split in two! But what could I do? I knew God was calling me; with moral certitude I knew that God was calling me. How could I just say “no”? And so within me, I carried this split.

Again, long story short, someone finally proposed the missing piece to my struggle, the one thing I needed. The question was proposed to me by a very wise priest, he asked, “How real is the presence, the person of Christ for you?” And immediately I was like, “Well, Jesus is very real.” And the question was, “Ok, how? Tell me.” And so I listed off what you would probably list off: the Eucharist, Scripture, his teachings, his morals, and on and on. And the priest said, “Yeah, but those are just ideas. Is Christ a real person to you? Is he as real as I am standing here?” What this priest was getting at is this: Jesus Christ is not just a figure from history; Jesus Christ is a real person; not just the subject of a bunch of ideas or a guy who taught us the rules to get to heaven, but a real person, present here and now.

The Split We Have Accepted (But No Longer Have To)

I’ve talked about this before, this split between my “faith” and my “real life”—a split we just kind of accept. There’s the “faith,” which is all of the stuff we’re supposed to believe and do as Christians, as Catholics: one God, Jesus Christ, murder is bad, abortion is wrong, only eat fish on Fridays…unless you forget. And then there’s “my real life,” all the stuff that goes on in the “real world”: work, kids, bills, schedules, grocery shopping, NFL, golf. And this split stems from the Ascension, or at least a misunderstanding of the Ascension. Jesus ascends, he “floats off,” he’s gone. And now that he’s “gone,” being a Christian, a Catholic—well, that just means that you need to believe certain ideas and teachings and you are supposed to live a certain way, vote a certain way, follow certain a rule or morality.

But here’s the thing: Jesus wants so much more than that for you. Jesus wants to be present to us, now, here, everywhere, at all times. Why? Because *this* is not just ideas and morals, but a relationship with a real person. Christianity is not an ethic or ideas, but a relationship with a person (c.f., Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est 1). We need him present. Only his presence is capable of sustaining us. Again, think of a marriage: how would your marriage go if you never saw your spouse? (Some of you probably thought, “Hey, that might help.” Ha!) But seriously: how would marriage go if you never saw your spouse, and what’s more, you never even met them, never once had any interaction with them: no phone calls, no nothing. All you had was some stories about them from a long time ago, and then someone to tell you about how awesome they are—oh yeah, and a piece of bread that apparently is their presence. What kind of a marriage would that be? And what would happen? You would probably find someone else, right? A real person, right?

Ok. This is the issue! This is the issue in our life of faith. It is the question the priest asked me, “How real is the presence, the person of Christ for you?” Is he just an idea, a spouse you’ve never met but are apparently married to? Or is he real, present, here and now?

Here’s what I’m getting at. The Ascension isn’t the feast of Jesus floating up, up and away to heaven far, far away. The Ascension is the celebration that Jesus is now present to everyone, everywhere, at all times. Let me say that again: the Ascension of Jesus is the event whereby Jesus is now present to everyone, everywhere, at all times. The proposal of Christianity, of Catholicism isn’t just ideas and morals—we easily think it is, but no! Our faith proposes that Jesus Christ is present to you, here and now. Yes, the mode of his presence is different. But he is present. He is present, but hidden behind “signs,” behind persons and circumstances behind which he remains veiled. Being a Christian isn’t just about agreeing with ideas and morals—yes, there are teachings and morals, I’m not saying those are not very important!—but fundamentally, it is about placing our faith in this real-life person, a person who is still present—just veiled, hidden.

The Challenge: To Recognize Him Present

So what’s the question? Where is he? How do I see him? How do I experience him? Exactly! This is the challenge! In other words, the challenge is recognizing Christ. The question is, “How do I recognize him? How do I recognize him present here and now?”

There are a few different things I could suggest. But the one that has been most helpful to me is what is on that sheet you got as you came in.

I call it the “Thanksgiving Ritual,” because we aren’t trying to use Jesus or God, or trying to get something from him, or conjure him up, no. Fundamentally, we are thanking God, thanking Jesus for his presence and what he continues to do for us because he is present. This simple method of praying and reflecting is a simple method to recognize Christ’s presence, and to thank him for all that he has done, is doing, and will do. And this is perfect for Sunday, because Sunday is the sign of his presence. As part of your “Reclaimed Sunday,” this is a perfect thing to do as a family or as a group of friends.

Let me just say this: after the Mass, this method of praying and reflecting is the single-most important thing that you can do each week, even each day. Why? Because more than anything, this makes the faith not just rituals and prayers that you sprinkle on top of your “real life”—it makes your faith real and concrete, the realest part of your real life.

So just look with me real quick. I just want to go through it, but then give some examples. This whole ritual focuses on the 24^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. What happens in chapter 24? Jesus rises from the dead, yeah. But in the center of the chapter is the very famous account of the two disciples walking to the nearby village of Emmaus. And how there, on the way, Jesus begins to walk with them. But? But they do not recognize him. It is only later that they recognize him. And when they do recognize him, what happens? IT CHANGES THEM! And they share this with each other, and then run back to Jerusalem to tell everyone! Ok, this story is archetype of what we’re doing here. Why? Because day after day, we are making our journey through life. And just like these disciples, we’re on the journey together. And just like this story, Jesus is present and real and walking with us—but we don’t recognize him right away. And so we beg, we ask for the grace to recognize Jesus’ presence, to have our eyes opened and to recognize him present. And so one other thing: this prayer is best done with others; one, two, three others; you and your family.

Ok, so step one is to beg. We beg for the Holy Spirit to come, and that Mary be the one to send Him. Then, one person can read either the entire 24th chapter of Luke, or that little excerpt. Then, the person leading can ask: “Jesus, how have you made yourself known to us today? Jesus, through what faces have you appeared to us?”

The second step is to allow time for silence. So just everyone close their eyes, and ask these questions again in your mind. And in particular, you can ask to receive a memory of a low and a memory of a high from the week or the day. Like the sheet says, a lowis a concern, or anxiety, or fear, or failure, or embarrassment, or hurt. What was a real low point? A high is something or someone or a gesture that was beautiful, or really resonated, or struck you; like the Gospel passage says, it made your heart “burn within you,” made your heart leap, or brought peace or joy or hope. What was the high point from your week? But ask: ask to receive those memories.

Ok, third is when you share with others if they’re there, or maybe write them down if you’re doing this on your own. The disciples on the road to Emmaus immediately shared with each other that they had recognized Christ’s presence, so it helps to share with another or write it down. And there is a simple way to do this. After that moment of silence, a person can share their high or low. After sharing a high, the person says, “And because of this I know Christ is in our midst.” Why do we say this? Because it is us making the judgement that whatever the high was, it wasn’t just some random coincidence; it was Christ. Christ gave us that memory to show us: “I was there.” “Ok, Father, but what about a low? What if I had a terrible week? A terrible day? Jesus must not have been there, huh?” Ok, when you share a low you say, “But I thank the Father for how he is using this.” In other words, we recognize that our lows don’t mean that Jesus or the Father has abandoned us, no. He is still present. He is still at work. We just have to wait.

And then fourth is just to give thanks. There is a verse from a well known hymn there you could sing, or you can simply say the “Glory be.”

Ok, this is the kind of work that healed that split in my life, that continues to heal that split. Why? Because our faith doesn’t begin from nothing, it is not a marriage with a person we have never met, a person that is never around—that’s weird. No, we have to be anchored in an objective, concrete, present experience; and that is an experience Christ gives to us in the reality of our lives.

So let me just give two brief examples, examples of how this thanksgiving ritual helped me to recognize Christ. I was having a pretty rough week here once (just once, only once!), and it was just the worst. It was one thing after another. And one day, it was late, and I hadn’t eaten anything all day, and I had no food in my house. So I went over to El Rinconcito to get some food. And I walk in there, and I see the ladies working, and one of our parishioners is sitting there eating. So I put on a smile, chat for a little while my food is getting prepared. And then I leave. Simple as that, nothing special. And as I’m leaving, literally as I’m backing out of the parking spot, there was just a rush of joy that came over me. Pure joy. And that was a real high from the week. And as I prayed this way, I concretely recognized, “This was You. Jesus, this was you. There is absolutely no reason why I should have felt such joy at that moment. It is only you.” And then I said, “Because of this I know, Christ is in our midst.”

And even with my lows. I won’t give you the details, but there have been some real lows, some real struggles and anxieties that I have to deal with. And with those lows I pray, “But I thank the Father for how he is using this.” In this one particular situation, six months later I was getting ready for the day—again, literally not some special moment—and all of a sudden I recognize: Jesus had been at work through that situation to change me. I’m a tough nut to crack; but the Father is able to use every circumstance in my life to change me, to change my heart. Sometimes I have to wait weeks, or months, or years. But later on, I can recognize how the Father used it to change my heart.

Ok, what’s my point. It’s this, this simple: the Ascension is the celebration that Jesus is now present everywhere, to everyone, at all times. Yes, the mode of his presence isn’t a flesh and blood person I can touch; his presence is mediated through signs. But if we beg him, if we have eyes to see, we can recognize his presence with us—even now. And that, my friends—that, his presence—and not just recognizing his presence but the fact that he is present—his presence is what has the capacity to change our lives. It is better for us that he went. Because now he is always present.