This is my homily for today*, the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle A. Today's readings are here.
* The Chicago Archdiocese is one of many American dioceses which have transferred the solemnity of the Ascension from Thursday to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
Happy Ascension, everyone. This is a big day - one of the most important days on the church’s calendar.
The Ascension marked the end of one period in the great story of God’s love and care for us. The period which ended was the story of Jesus’s sojourn here on earth. So the Ascension marks an ending. The Ascension also laid the groundwork for the succeeding period, which began with the Pentecost event, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Peter and the other disciples. We’ll celebrate that great event next Sunday. That new period continued with the first disciples’ ministry of proclamation, baptism, and formation of faith communities, as well as the persecutions, suffering and martyrdoms that those first believers experienced. So the Ascension is an ending, and also prepares for a new beginning. The editors of my study bible name the two periods this way: “the ascension…marks the end of the time of Jesus, and signals the beginning of the time of the church”.
That latter period, the time of the church, hasn’t ended yet. We’re still living in the midst of that time today. This period also will end someday, and the final chapters of the great story will begin, when Jesus comes again. But we don’t know when that will be.
But for now, as we’re living in the time of the church, we might ask ourselves, What do we think of when we think of the church? Well, the church has been with us for a very long time now. Historical eras have come and gone, nations and empires have risen and fallen, much has changed in the course of the last 2,000 years. Yet the church has weathered all those changes and is still here today. Looked at this way, we might think of the church as solid, deeply rooted, immovable, a rock of timeless faith and wisdom amid the seas of change that swirl and wash all around it. There is some validity to that metaphor, and many Catholics during my lifetime have been taught to think of the church that way. Just picture for a moment the quintessential Catholic parish church buildings, those stout structures of stone and brick, and our monumental, soaring cathedrals – that architecture reinforces the image of the church’s unchanging solidity.
But this vision of the church as an immovable, fixed monument isn’t what Jesus presents in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus doesn’t command his disciples, “Stay, therefore, and be an immovable monument”. Rather, he commands them, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. The church isn’t to stay; it is to go. The church isn’t to be; it is to do. It isn’t to be ponderously silent; it is to rush forth to proclaim the Good News, making, baptizing and teaching other disciples. These words of Jesus, his final instructions to his followers in Matthew’s Gospel, aren’t an order not to change; they are a call to action.
This call to action often is referred to as the Great Commission. It’s worth our spending a few minutes thinking about what that word “commission” means, in this phrase, “the Great Commission”. In our day, salespersons earn commissions – commissions are a form of monetary reward. Or the federal government has commissions: the FTC is the Federal Trade Commission, and the SEC is the Securities and Exchange Commission; so commissions can be governmental regulatory bodies. There is nothing wrong with those meanings of the word “commission”, but neither is what is meant in the phrase, “the Great Commission”, referring to Jesus’s words in today’s Gospel.
No, the Great Commission Jesus calls us to is a call to action; but it is much more than simple action. We should think of the word “commission” as a noun form of the verb “commit”. With the Great Commission, Jesus is calling us to *commit* to something: a movement, a cause, a way of life, which is greater than ourselves, and greater than our former way of life. This meaning of the word “commission” lives on today when we talk about a military officer’s commission. In accepting their commission, our officers are called to commit to serve and defend our country, to commit their very lives if necessary to protect us from our enemies.
The cause to which Jesus asks us to commit is not to take up arms in defense of our country. Rather, we’ve been commissioned to do what Jesus commanded in today’s Gospel: to proclaim the Good News; to baptize those who believe; and teach everyone the moral wisdom of Jesus, as encapsulated in the Sermon on the Mount and his other biblical teachings.
That’s our commission: to serve Jesus and his mission. But how do we live out our commission? For many of us adults, we’ve been commissioned to proclaim, baptize and teach through marriage and parenthood. Having our children baptized is one simple way to fulfill the commission that Jesus has entrusted us with. What follows after baptism – sharing our faith with our children as they grow and mature, teaching them to live good and holy lives – is another part of fulfilling our commission. In some ways, teaching Jesus’s moral wisdom to our children is harder and more complicated than having them baptized, but it’s what we’ve been commissioned to do. Commissions can be difficult and challenging.
Not everyone is commissioned to marriage and parenthood, and there are many other ways to fulfill Jesus’s Great Commission. Visit our parish website, StEdna.org, to see the dozens of groups and ministries we’ve set up to foster service. There are many modes of service, and many settings and possibilities for us to live out the Great Commission. Wherever God has put us, whether through our own efforts or through circumstances beyond our control, is where he’d like us to commit to his cause.
As Jesus was taking leaving of his disciples, he promised them, “I am with you always, until the end of the age”. Even though he ascended into heaven, he is still with us, helping us to fulfill his Great Commission. He’s present when we gather here. He’s present when his word is proclaimed here. And he’s present sacramentally in the breaking of the bread, which we’ll do together in a few minutes.
Jesus is here helping us right now. Doesn’t that fill you with joy? If it makes you want to stand up and shout “Alleluia” – hey: go for it. It’s Easter Season. This is the time of year to rejoice. Jesus has risen, and even though he has ascended to heaven, he is right here, among us! Let’s rejoice that we’ve been given this Great Commission, to follow Jesus and serve him; and that Jesus is with us here today to help us fulfill it.
Our archdiocese celebrated the Ascension on Thursday. Some of my thoughts on the Ascension; I'm glad Jesus took the disciples out to Mt. Olivet and said goodbye, and they watched him ascend to the clouds. Because if he just ghosted them and left, we'd still be having "Elvis sightings", so to speak.
ReplyDeleteAlso it's kind of a poignant feast, we have to make the effort to be happy for Jesus that he was going home to heaven. Of course he's here with us in so many ways, even though he departed in his earthly body.
Maybe no Elvis sightings of Jesus, but there are a whole lot of them for Mary . ;)
DeleteI always think St Theresa of Avila is appropriate for Ascension Day:
ReplyDelete"Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours."
On a personal note, I have received some bad but not unexpected news on the health front in the past couple of weeks. Still processing that and waiting for the next round of tests and noise from doctors who want to fine tune the situation and blah blah. But I am not inclined to opt for a lot of invasive and debilitating treatments that don't have much chance of working.
I am not hoping or praying for miracles or epiphanies at this late date. I am not in any pain or particularly "out of it," so in hopes of using the time and energy I have to continue my role in the Great Commission I am stepping away from social media.
I appreciate all of you being a sounding board during these many years, and will remember you in my prayers. All the best.
Jean, I am sorry to hear about the health news! I will certainly keep you in prayer. And I hope you will feel free to check in here when you feel like it; we're good for entertainment if nothing else in our efforts to solve the problems of the world.
DeleteGod's peace and comfort be with you and your family, Jean. Always had a lot of respect for your posts, your perspective. Will be thinking of you and Raber and the Boy.
DeleteJean, I'm sorry for whatever anguish this is causing you. I'll also be grateful if you are able to find your way back here from time to time. I'll continue to pray.
Delete"Prayers ascending for you, your husband and son, and all who care for you. You have touched more lives than you know, I suspect." Those would be my thoughts as well!
DeleteThank you for your good wishes and prayers.
DeleteLots of wisdom and things I can relate to in Jack's post. Thank you for sharing that. It is so easy to let medical treatment become your sole preoccupation when you get seriously ill. Fortunately, I do not find it hard to to tell the docs to back off and that I'd rather read, pet the cats, look at my flowers, talk to my kid, or whatever.
I'm not in any anguish, though I do get a little sad sometimes. I still hope, unlikely as it seems in my fallen-away state, that the soul lives on to glorify God and that God's mercy is a lot more bountiful than advertised by his many spokespersons on earth.
For anyone facing chronic illness, my advice is to try to be patient. Our health care system is overstuffed with patients catching up on tests they put off during the covid years, and staffing is a problem because so many good people have quit under the stress of it all. People who are staying are often on their last nerve. New hires seem a bit shell-shocked. Prayers for them would not go amiss, I think.
“that God's mercy is a lot more bountiful than advertised by his many spokespersons on earth.”
DeleteOne of my uncles died while I was taking courses during the summer at Notre Dame. I went back to PA for this funeral. Most of my family that had died were saints. Even my father who rarely went to church was a saint.
But my uncle was a mixed bag. A kindly and gentle person he and his wife created a dysfunctional family. Most evenings he went off to a club where he met his mistress, and then came back in the early hours of the morning to crawl into bed with his wife. His two daughters and son were obviously affected in their haphazard and retarded maturity. He wanted my mother (his sister) to welcome his mistress into our house, but this was too much for even my kind mother. He was in a single vehicle car accident that might have been a suicide attempt.
His wife who was terribly overweight did before him.
He was my sponsor for confirmation (which occurred before much of this had played out), lived in our town, and kept up with me when I visited even after mom died. On the other hand, he did little to socialize or care for my dad after mom died. His son made up for that by always stopping to see if dad needed help (of course Dad paid him since he was mostly unemployed)
My uncle developed Parkinson’s disease. Ironically his club life helped him there. He was very good at karaoke and entertaining people at the club. It happens to be good therapy for people with Parkinson’s. His physician even came to hear him. I visited him several times once he was put in assisted living.
What about such a mixed bag?
The funeral Mass was uplifting, held in the parish where I was baptized. I even remember the homily. The priest used my uncles military service (during the Korean war, standing guard at Fort Knox!) to begin an exploration of things intangible like patriotism.
I drove back to ND crossing Ohio and arriving at the eastern border of Indiana in the early evening when rows of clouds begin coming across my path. At first, I thought I was headed for storms, but no. Just one beautiful cloud formation after another all the way to ND. It just when on and on. I was totally absorbed in the experience.
By the time I got out of my car shortly after sunset at ND, the sky was clear and I was convinced that my uncle was in heaven.
May you be greeted by beautiful clouds.
Off- topic to Stanley. I have been following the discussion at America. I saw the scientific response that you gave, which is gone. Unfortunately all someone had to do to get it deleted is to “Report” it. I am in a permanent bad guy list there. I guess I have brought up censorship America once too often - especially on the fact that they never publish articles on selected hot button teachings - usually contraception and women’s ordination. They also probably didn’t like my comment pointing out that they made a big deal about having open discussions, both sides discussions, yet censored many comments. They dom
ReplyDeletepublish many on gay rights, (and all the letters rights) - but not on gay marriage. Women’s issues don’t warrant a mention except for the standard stuff on NFP. No discussions of womens ordination at all. So every one of my comments is held for review and they usually take days to appear.
But I can’t even begin to imagine why your comment would not have been approved. I think that when someone reports a comment it automatically disappears without staff review. I used to have an email relationship with Sam Sawyer, but now that he’s editor, I get no response. Maybe a general email complaint.
Thanks for the information, Anne. I seemed to be getting reviewed a lot lately but they eventually published the comments. One didn't make it but, again, I don't know why. If reporting the comment yields an automatic deletion, it is quite a weapon in the comment wars. I have thought about using it but refrained.
DeleteBut, yes, America Magazine isn't what it used to be. Especially since Fr. Reed was thrown out.
Maybe we can blame it on AI.
DeleteRe: Fr. Sawyer, I did see that he wasn't going to be around for awhile, doing some type of retreat and study prior to his final vows.
About the comments, I don't know, I've seen quite a few on there that took contrary positions. So getting blocked seems sort of random.
Stanley, I don’t actually know if Report= automatic delete, but I suspect it might. Your comment most certainly didn’t violate any guidelines.
DeleteThanks, Anne. I try not to get personal in the comments, as much as I am sorely tempted
DeleteI may not renew when it comes around again.
DeleteStanley, I think your deleted comment is back. Maybe a human did read it and found nothing that violates the rules. The comment you made about it’s disappearance has disappeared though.
DeleteI got a message from the America moderator. Apparently, their policy wants commenters to post only once or twice to allow other voices. She did repost my comment but I'll be aware of this in the future. Kind of shuts down debate and conversation.
DeleteIt does shut down conversation, but I can kinda see their point. In the past when they didn't do much moderation, there were a few people who tended to dominate things. And usually they were saying the same things, over and over and over. A lot if heat and not much light. I don't comment very often and will probably keep it that way.
DeleteThey are very inconsistent on that criteria. Some discussions continue for a lot of back and forth. I was once told the same thing. But In the same set of comments they allowed some commenters many more comments than they allowed me. But I think the real reason was that my comments apparently were seen as too controversial by the editors. You only made three as I recall and only yours were based on presenting the science. Somebody reported it I think, complaining that you were making too many comments. Perhaps they wanted their own last word to stand unchallenged.
DeleteI enjoy our conversations here, but as a general rule, I don't care for commenting at newspaper or magazine sites if my comment is likely to lead to conversations or arguments with complete strangers. Life is too short.
DeleteA wise course. I should heed this advice.
DeleteFrom now on, if I comment, I'll make one comment with a note at the end saying it will be the only comment as per America Media guidelines and that rejoinders will not be answered due to that limit and not because they stumped me.
DeleteThe comment limit seems a little hokey to me. Maybe it's an excuse to delete people actually for what they said, like you said, Anne.
Unfortunately, Jim, I can't leave climate change fallacies unanswered. It's like watching a crime and letting them get away with it. I try to stick to pure science without invective. I'll write my post and then go over it to see if I have to dial anything back.
DeleteAnne, I saw your comment this morning on the article (on the America site) by Kevin Appleby on immigration. It was a good article, and there was quite a bit of back and forth that the comment moderators let stand.
DeleteSometimes I wonder if comment moderation is the job they give to their summer help, and it just depends on who is doing it. Or maybe there is a computer program that flags certain words or takes note if someone comments more than once.
I suspect that different people do the révisées. One group of commenters are automatically reviewed ( I’m one of those). I don’t think others are reviewed unless someone reports it. I think that’s what happened with Stanley. Three comments on one topic is really not many compared to the same person making multiple comments on many topics I’ve seen - sometimes a dozen or so. I am on a permanent review list, apparently flagged by the computer. Every single comment I write is held for review. One problem with that is that I can’t edit. It disappears immediately - “ for review”. I am familiar with a few others who comment regularly who present ideas that are not orthodox enough for a Catholic publication subject to Vatican censorship. Their comments don’t appear until two or three days after - out of sequence. Francis doesn’t censor, but America has not forgotten what Benedict did to Thomas Reese. Certain subjects are off- limits if they express ideas that don’t conform. One subject that they don’t like mentioned is that they censor certain ideas - even after making a big deal a couple of years ago about wanting to offer diffèrent opinions on difficult topics. Well, not too different it seems. I dislike censorship. If the church really wants to pursue Truth with a capital T, censorship would not be part of it. I probably won’t renew my subscription next year.,
DeleteI don't like censorship either, and I didn't like the Benedict smack-down of Father Reese. I do like that they tacked a little more to the center, but they could do that without squelching reader reactions.
DeleteI have two keyboards because of the French in- laws. I see autocorrect used French for “reviews”. Lol! I think that they tacked pretty far to the right on “orthodoxy” - especially on issues of concern to women - after Malone took over. One of my favorite things about America when Reese was in charge was that he would put opposing views by equally qualified theologians in the same issue. He did that on the topic of women’s ordination and I think that sealed his fate down the road. One theologian gave reasons that women should be ordained. The other was totally opposed. His name was Joseph Ratzinger. He got his revenge on Reese and America soon after his status and name change. I also find it interesting that articles by Reese are seldom published in America. I read his articles at Religion News and National Catholic Reporter.
DeleteI find it odd that Sam Sawyer is disappearing for many months only five months after taking over.
I liked your use of révisées!
DeleteI thought it was a little odd too, about Sam Sawyer. It isn't clear if it was his decision or his superior's. I guess there are many layers to work through in becoming a full Jesuit? But I thought that once you were ordained, you were in.
Tertianship, which is like a third year of novitiate (Jesuits unlike other religious orders have a two -year novitiate, has been part of Jesuit life since the beginning. Although Jesuits take permanent vows after the two-year novitiate, final vows only occur after all of formation is completed. The importance of final vows is whether a Jesuit is asked to take the fourth vow of obedience to go on any mission asked by the Pope. Only Jesuits who take the fourth vow are eligible to hold office in the society. Most are asked to take it but not all.
DeleteNote: being editor of America is not an office. The Jesuits who live at America house have someone else as a superior.
DeleteSawyer was ordained 9 years ago. He’s been a Jesuit for 19 years starting with his first year. Isn’t ordination when final vows are taken? Then a 9 year wait for…?
DeleteJean wrote- I still hope….that the soul lives on to glorify God and that God's mercy is a lot more bountiful than advertised by his many spokespersons on earth.
ReplyDeleteThis is for Jean. It is from Dean Hollerith’s homily at the Washington National Cathedral last Sunday. As I pondered the sign at Coventry Cathedral, the love and welcome it extends, I thought - could God be less loving than this?
https://cathedral.org/sermons/the-very-rev-randolph-marshall-hollerith-its-up-to-us/
“ Not long ago, I came upon a powerful reminder of our work as Christians. I was wading through social media, and I stumbled upon the text of the welcome sign that used to hang outside Coventry Cathedral in England and perhaps still does. It reads: We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, straight, gay, confused, well- heeled or down-at-heel. We especially welcome wailing babies and excited toddlers. We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re just browsing, just woken up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury or haven’t been to church since Christmas 10 years ago. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome keep-fit moms, football dads, starving artists, tree huggers, latte sippers, vegetarians, junk food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems, are down in the dumps or don’t like organized religion. We’re not that keen on it either. We offer welcome to those who think the Earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or are here because Granny is visiting and wanted to come to the cathedral. We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids or got lost in the Ring Road and wound up here by mistake. We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters and you.”
I like that sign!
Delete