Scripture Reflection, May 4: The Feast of the Ascension

Scripture Readings (for the Feast of the Ascension):
Acts of the Apostles 1: 1-11
Psalm 47
Ephesians 1: 17-23
Matthew 28: 16-20

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I was recently talking long distance on the telephone with a woman who was hospitalized. She has been very sick during the past year, with recurring bouts of a serious illness and numerous trips to the hospital. In this conversation, she seemed to be more discouraged than ever. She shared very honestly her feelings that the Lord must be “punishing her” for something she had done in her past. That was the only way she could understand her chronic illness and inability to improve. She said that the Lord felt very far away and inaccessible to her. She could not seem to “contact” the Lord or figure out his ways. But she was continuing to pray anyway.

I do not believe that illness is the result of God punishing us for our past sins. That is not part of our Catholic faith. The Scriptures and our tradition tell us that suffering is a complex and mysterious reality that simple explanations like punishment for personal sin do not comprehend. The Book of Job is an enduring witness to the mysterious nature of human suffering. While Job’s friends endlessly implore him to admit that his suffering is the result of his sin, he refuses to make such an admission. At the end of the book it is Job, not his friends, who is vindicated by God. Still, this thoughtful and prayerful friend of mine in the hospital was experiencing real feelings of abandonment. And while I do not want her to think she is ill because God is punishing her, it was still important to attend carefully to what she was feeling and to try to extend some compassion to her in the midst of her sense of abandonment.

As we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus this Sunday, what images come to your mind? The word “ascension” usually conjures up the notion of being lifted up and taken away. In the prologue to the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us that in his previous work, the Gospel of Luke, he “dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until he was taken up.…” Luke’s words could leave us with the image of the risen Christ being taken away from the first disciples and from us. We might receive the impression that Jesus is far away and even inaccessible.

In reality, the ascension of Jesus represents for us our conviction that this Jesus who lived our life and died our death, who was faithful even in the face of a terrible death, was raised up by the Father. It commemorates our bedrock belief that Jesus is victorious over death and has been exalted by the Father. This Sunday we proclaim that Christ has gone home to the Father and lives in glory. We affirm that, as Saint Paul puts it, the name of Jesus is above all other names.

The Scriptures for this feast assure us that it is not the case that Jesus has been taken away from us. His resurrection and ascension mean that he is able to be present to us – present to each one of us in all of the details and particularities of our lives – in an entirely new way. We believe that Jesus continues to be Emmanuel: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the ages.” Through his resurrection and ascension Christ has become closer to us than we are to ourselves. He is so much a part of our lives and we are so much a part of him that Paul can speak of us as the body of Christ. We, the Church, are Christ’s body in the world. We are “the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way”. We are inseparably united with the Lord Jesus in a way far more real than we could ever imagine.

Sometimes, like the disciples on the mountain in Matthew’s gospel, “we worship but we doubt.” We struggle with various forms of doubt in our lives. Those doubts may arise because, like my friend in the hospital, we find it difficult to feel the closeness of Christ. We may at times even feel abandoned by the Lord, particularly in moments of great pain, disappointment or loss. Sometimes we wonder, has he been taken away from us? Or maybe, have I been taken away from him? During our lives each of us, at least to some degree, has experienced being left behind by people whom we loved and trusted. Those experiences can affect us deeply and even make it difficult for us to trust in the faithful presence of Christ.

On the Feast of the Ascension, you and I are reminded that the One who has been raised on high, whose name is above all other names, himself experienced feelings of aloneness in the darkness. According to two of the gospels, he even uttered a heart-rending cry of abandonment from the cross. This Jesus, who endured all of that, says to the eleven, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” The Lord who is risen and glorified is closer to us than we are to ourselves, even at those times when we may not be able to feel his presence. As we come to the table of the Lord to receive his body and blood this Sunday, may we become more conscious of his presence with us at all times. And may we live in such a way that others will be able to see his presence in their lives, too.

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp