Homily for The Ascension of the Lord - 21st May 2023

Homily for The Ascension of the Lord

21st May 2023

It is hard to believe that Easter is now forty days ago, when we celebrated Jesus’s resurrection, having been crucified on Good Friday. During those forty days, only a select few had been chosen to be privileged to see and touch Our Lord during this period. Even Thomas, who when told by his fellow disciple that they had seen Jesus, refused to believe unless he was able to place his own fingers in Jesus’s pieced hands and place his hand into Jesus’s side where the soldier’s spear had pieced him, allowing both blood and water to flow out of his body. When next they had all gathered and Jesus appeared amongst them, he went straight up to Thomas and asked him to carry out the actions he had said he needed to do for him to believe.

Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles, that Jesus had given many demonstrations during those forty days when he appeared to the disciple, and he spoke about the kingdom of God. At the last meeting, Jesus reminds the apostles that John had baptised with water, but that soon they would be baptised by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew’s Gospel also tells us that on seeing Jesus many fell before him, but as with Thomas, there were still those who had doubts. This was where Jesus commissioned the apostle to go and make disciples in every nation. Through his authority given to him by the Father in heaven and the whole earth, he was sending the apostle out to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching all believers to observe all the commandments he had given, to love God with all their heart and to love our neighbour as we loved ourselves.

In this time, often we can find it hard to believe that Jesus, the son of God the father of all glory, sits at his right hand, in heaven and that no power on earth can surpass his. We can grow excited when we hear what God wants of us but then can find ourselves doubting whether we heard it right, or whether we have just deluded ourselves. Such doubts can lead us to inaction, especially when we are smothered with what our modern world pumps out through our television, newspapers, and other sources of media.

Even when I come to write these homilies, a spark of fear can enter my heart criticising my effects. Yet, what I am encouraged to do, is trust in the Holy Spirit to guide what my fingers type on the keyboard, that these are the words I am to say. The simple instructions Jesus gave his disciples was to continue doing his work, through baptism and spreading the Gospel. The Good News is that through baptism we can be spiritually born again without original sin.

As a deacon within the Catholic Church, I have been given the faculties to preach the Word of God in the Archdiocese of Armagh. But I am not alone. Jesus’s last words were to reassure his disciples that he would be with them always until the end of time. Therefore, I can trust that he is with me, helping me to formulate the ideas sparked by the reading at Mass to convey what he wishes me to do. I must have faith and put my trust in him.

Likewise, in all our everyday lives we can put our faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ to guide us through the valleys of darkness that we all witness at some point, and to trust he will guide us to rich pastures. All we are asked to do is to share what we have learnt in our faith with others.

Our world focuses on the individual and how we on our own can reach our full potential. In this way, we can become isolated and disheartened. In other words, lose our determination or lack confidence in what we initially set out to do. We could also say dispirited. What is needed is to be encouraged, given hope and have our spirit revived, which will happen if we trust in Jesus. When we stop focusing on ourselves and look outward, we become more aware of the needs of others and can have compassion. This is where Jesus leads us, as he had compassion for all of those around him. To love others.

When Jesus was taken up into the air, to be taken on a cloud from the disciples’ sight, there could have been much sorrow, but instead, two men in white stood before them reassuring them that they would see Jesus return the same way. Next Sunday, we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending on the Apostle giving them the power to be Jesus’s witnesses throughout the entire earth. We are those witnesses today, and we are commissioned to carry on the work of the Apostles by spreading the Good News, confident that Jesus is with us until the end of time.

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