The Ascension

The Ascension 

            Saint Bernardine of Siena tells the story of a young fellow who went to the Holy Land and tried to follow Jesus’ footsteps. He began in Nazareth, then Bethlehem, Cana of Galilee, Caparnaum and Jerusalem. He followed Jesus’ life from the beginning till the end. He arrived eventually to the place of the ascension. There is now a circular church that used to have an open roof to see the sky, with a rock in the middle, with the last footprints of Jesus before going up to heaven. Then he began to cry: “I followed you during all these months through all the places you have been and I have become much closer to you. Now where do I go?” He had a heart attack and died. He must have gone straight up to heaven. We are doing the same. Every year we follow Jesus through his life, death and resurrection, like a cycle, every year a bit closer, and eventually one day we will jump up to heaven.

            Today it is a sad day. Our Lord is going up to heaven and he is leaving us behind. Why? We are not ready. We still have few things to do. Our mission is not finished. We would like to go with him, but first he is going to check the place he has prepared for us. And he is going to come back and take us to himself. But nevertheless we will miss him, his face, his speach, his affection, everything about him. The more we love him, the more we miss him. It is very human. Imagine how the apostles felt after three years with him. That’s why we are never completely happy here. We are created for heaven, to be with Jesus. Today is a day where we can fix our eyes on heaven, like the apostles. Today we foster our desires for heaven.

            But why did he have to go? Could not have he stayed both with us and go to heaven? He is God, he could have done it. He could have stayed in one place, in Jerusalem, Rome, or our home town. But then we would have had only five minutes in our life time to talk to him. 7 billion people is a lot of people to go through. Instead he did something better. He stayed with us in the Eucharist, in the tabernacle, in a piece of bread, for us to eat him, for us to come to see him and spend time with him. He is here waiting for us, 24/7. There is a vigil lamp telling us that he is here. What’s a tabernacle? A box into which we place God. In Hebrew it means a tent, a dwelling place. The tabernacle is normally the centre of the church, where we try to give Jesus our best.

            But Jesus wants to go back with his Father God. We understand this. His glorious body deserves the glory of heaven. Hopefully one day we too will have a glorious body like Jesus. Saint Ambrose says that God came down from heaven and a man went up. Before we knew Jesus as man; today we see Jesus as God. Our faith grows looking at his divinity. Saint Bernard talks about the three steps of Jesus coming down: incarnation, crucifixion and death; and three steps going up: resurrection, ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father. We too would like to be with God for ever. Everything is possible in heaven.

            Today Jesus is flying up to heaven. When Jesus performed his miracles, he tried not to show off, to make them as natural as possible, not to draw attention to himself. Even when he multiplied the loaves and the fish, he just blessed them and began to distribute them; he didn’t act like a magician. But today he is doing something special. Till now he has appeared and disappeared. Today he wants his apostles to know that he is leaving definitely. That’s why he is flying away. If you want to, if you are quick, you could go up with him. But I prefer to stay with Mary, our Mother.

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