Ascension Sunday, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

“Stop looking up in the sky! Get stuck in there’s work to be done!”

(Fr. James McTavish FMVD)

Today we celebrate Christ’s Ascension. The gospel is taken from Mark 16, 15-20. The first reading is from Acts 1,1-11 and the second reading from Ephesians 1, 17-28.

Today is Ascension Sunday. Jesus ascends to heaven ‘to take his place at the right hand of God’. How lucky we are to have a friend in high places! Often when you need something done it helps to have a friend in high places. They can assist you, open doors for you, make the way ahead easier. The disciples are so impressed at seeing the Lord ascending into heaven that they are stood still, looking up into the sky. Two men in white (angels in disguise!) ask them ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking up into the sky?’ It is a reminder not to be daydreaming but that there is some serious work to be done. If Jesus has gone back to the Father it is to empower his disciples. To give them strength to work in the Lord’s vineyard and to start to reap the harvest. 

Jesus gives instructions to the disciples in the gospel “Go into the whole world, proclaim the Good News to all creation”. Go ‘into’, so the mission is not a spectator sport. It is not just to stand by idly watching on from a distance. The lot of every Christian is to get stuck in, to get their hands dirty. Jesus empowers the disciples for this great and challenging task. ‘These are the signs that will be associated with believers: You will cast out evil spirits, you will speak new languages, pick up snakes in your hands, be unharmed if you drink deadly poison and laying hands on the sick they will recover’. As the song goes, “You will see miracles, if you believe”. In His Ascension Jesus does not abandon the disciples but accompanied and ‘worked with them’. The greek word for ‘worked with’ is synergy. Synergy is where the total amount is greater than the sum of the parts or in other words one plus one equals not two but three! Sometimes we can feel our efforts are very small but the Lord multiplies our efficiency. The little seed in the Lord’s hands can bear fruit 30, 60, 100. 

This why St Paul in the second reading encourages the Ephesians asking that God may “enlighten the eyes of your heart”. What a beautiful expression! Do you know your heart has eyes? To what is St Paul referring? He is talking about that inner sense capable to see God working in the world. Many think that God is silent or simply does not care about the world. But if we open the eyes of our heart we will see him working very hard in the world around us. The pure of heart will see God and are able to read the Good News of God in the events around them. Lord open our eyes of faith so we can collaborate with your powerful works in the world. To see God already at work give so much courage in sharing the Good News to others. He has already planted what the Tradition of the Church calls “seeds of the Word” in the hearts of all men. Seeds of truth and goodness. To announce the Gospel is simply to remind people of the treasure they have in them and to help them recognize the good work of God in their lives already. God is already present we just need to collaborate. Lord how can I collaborate more with your work in me, in my family, in my community?

In what way is God working already in the world? We can see it in many ways if we have eyes to see. Today is the 43rd World Communications Day. Pope Benedict XVI in his message speaks of God’s presence in the world. Talking of technology and all the means of communication like cellphones, chatting, Internet and the like he writes “their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human beings … it should be seen primarily as a reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying Love of God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we find ourselves drawn towards other people, when we want to know more about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to God’s call - a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion.” For this reason Pope Benedict encourages the young to be evangelizers of the great digital continent, “Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds!” 

So there is no time to be looking up in the sky and daydreaming. There is work to be done. Open our eyes of faith Lord to see where you are calling us to action! To collaborate with you to make sprout these seeds of the Word you have already planted. If we believe we will see miracles. Let us be courageous and go into the whole world. Christ will be with us to accompany us and to work with us. This is our guarantee. He will confirm our words with powerful signs. The world is waiting for Good News, the people are waiting for words of hope and Christ is waiting for your response. What are you waiting for? Let’s go!