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When
preparing for today’s Mass, I read the following announcement in Ordo
(which is the book containing the official calendar of the Roman
Catholic Church and specifies for priests the liturgical celebration of
the day, readings, vestments, and the like):
Regarding the
Ascension of the Lord, the ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford,
New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington, and the State of Nebraska
has retained its celebration on the proper Thursday, while all other
Provinces have transferred this solemnity to the Seventh Sunday of
Easter, May 23.
I chuckled,
thinking to myself about that lone outlier, the State of Nebraska, among
all of those northeastern ecclesiastical Provinces. Throughout the
United States—that is, everywhere but the northeast and
Nebraska—Ascension Thursday is celebrated on Ascension Sunday.
Then, reflecting
back upon those halcyon days of yore when I taught theology to high
school sophomores, I could see with my mind’s eye one of my brighter
students—perhaps Justin Munn, Andrew Carlson, or Raymond Maguire—asking
in a cynical tone in his voice, “Well, Fr. Jacobs when did Jesus ascend
into heaven? Was it on Thursday or Sunday? Or, maybe it was both? You
know, did Jesus sort of fly up to heaven on Thursday and swoop back down
on Saturday to repeat his trip to heaven on Sunday.”
Or, one of them
might come up with the more interesting, legalistic question: What
happens, Fr. Jacobs, if I live in a northeastern diocese and I miss Mass
on Ascension Thursday? Can I make up for it by traveling to Ohio for
Mass on the following Sunday since they’re celebrating Ascension
Thursday on Sunday? But, what if I die in a car accident on the way to
Ohio? Do I get sent to Hell for not going to Mass on Ascension
Thursday?
(That was the fun
of teaching sophomores. They tried to be at least one step ahead of
their teacher, always trying to trip up their teacher so that they could
take delight and pride in being “wise fools.”)
While the Ordo
notes that Thursday is the “proper” day to celebrate the Ascension
of the Lord, it isn’t the day that’s important. No, what’s important is
that this particular Thursday falls 40 days after Easter Sunday each
year. In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the author
writes that Jesus continued to appear to his disciples for 40 days after
his Resurrection and, on the 40th
day,
…he led [his
disciples] out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.
As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.
For purists—what
Tony Hendra, in his book, Father Joe, calls “Cathololics”—today
is the day to celebrate the Ascension of the Lord because it is the day
scripture tells us on which the Risen Lord parted from his disciples and
was taken up to heaven.
Whether this
Solemnity is celebrated on Thursday or Sunday isn’t quite as important
as recognizing the importance of the number 40.
In Scripture,
there are numerous accounts of important moments in salvation history in
which number 40 figures prominently. For example:
·
the
rains of the Great Flood deluged the Earth for 40 days during Noah’s
times;
·
the
Jews wandered in the Desert of Sin for 40 years;
·
Jesus
fasted and prayed in the desert for 40 days; and
·
Jesus
was present among his disciples for 40 days following his Resurrection.
When used in scriptural accounts, the number “40” has symbolic meaning,
identifying not a specific number of days. Instead, the number “40”
represents the amount of time needed to accomplish a particular task,
from the time of its inception through to its completion.
For example,
·
God
took 40 days to purge the Earth of the sin that had infected it;
·
it
took the Jews 40 years to recognize and to trust in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob who was leading them from slavery in Egypt and into the
Promised Land;
·
Jesus
needed 40 days to fully recognize, accept, and steel himself to live out
a vocation that would ultimately lead him to death on the Cross; and,
·
Jesus
also was present among his disciples for 40 days following his
Resurrection, reminding them of all he had taught them and teaching them
to trust in his abiding presence although he would no longer be
physically present to them.
Even in our secular affairs, we accord great meaning to the number “40.”
How many times
have you driven past a home where, emblazoned on a sign posted in a
front yard is the phrase “Lordy, lordy, Annabel is 40.” It isn’t the
birth “day” that is significant. No, what is significant and what the
sign communicates is that Annabel has completed an important phase of
her life and, hopefully, has successfully completed the tasks associated
with those 40 years, namely, maturing as a healthy and holy woman.
Through the grace of God, Annabel will hopefully complete the tasks
associated with the second half of her life, namely, to grow in God’s
wisdom and grace as she spends the next 40 years preparing to meet her
Creator.
What this 40th
day after Easter Sunday commemorates is the completion of Jesus’
physical presence on Earth. During the preceding 40 days during which
Jesus would appear to his disciples, for some reason they couldn’t
connect what their physical eyes beheld standing before them, whether
that occurred, for example, on the road to Emmaus or along the shore of
the Sea of Galilee. That is…until the moment of the breaking of the
bread. Then, just as quickly as the disciples grasped with the eyes of
their hearts who this person was, he vanished from their midst.
On this 40th
day, however, the disciples knew precisely who stood before them,
indicating that Jesus’ work was now completed. They knew who Jesus
was—the Son of God—and they trusted unflinchingly in his promise. Then,
Jesus left his disciples to return to his Father in heaven. Now it
would be their task, from this 40th
day forward, to take Jesus’ message to the ends of the Earth.
At the funeral
liturgy, the most poignant moment follows Holy Communion when the
priest, along with the congregation, prays the final commendation.
Entrusting the deceased to God’s providence, the priest states:
You are the author
and sustainer of our lives, O God. You are our final home. We commend
to you,
N.,
this child. In baptism he/she began his/her journey toward you. Take
him/her not to yourself and give him/her the life promised to those born
again of water and the Spirit.
All of this is a
prelude to the absolute moment of truth which comes as the priest
announces to the congregation: “In peace let us take
N.
to his/her final place of rest.”
As grief
stretches hearts to the breaking point, the members of the congregation
utter the following words of hope: “May the angels lead you into
paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy
city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”
Hope is all the
grief-stricken have because they know all too well that there is
absolutely nothing they can do to reverse the power of death.
When Jesus
departed from his disciples on that 40th
day after Easter, they weren’t filled with grief. Instead, they
“returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the
temple praising God.” The effect of Jesus’ work of 40 days would now be
seen not in his ongoing physical presence but in the “promise of my
Father” present in his disciples’ hearts, animating them to complete the
task Jesus had entrusted to them.
Later, St. Paul
wrote the members of the Christian community of Ephesus, “May the eyes
of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that
belongs to his call….” St. Paul wants Christians—not just in Ephesus
but in Norristown, Pennsylvania as well—to look for Jesus not with their
minds but with the eyes of their hearts, to hope in the promise given
them, and to complete the task assigned to them by bringing Jesus’
teaching to the ends of the world.
Metaphorically,
we are given 40 years to complete this task. The actual number of years
isn’t as important as is completing the task entrusted to us. Not using
our physical eyes to look for Jesus among, we look for Jesus using the
eyes of our hearts so that we might them as Mother Teresa said, as
“pencils in God’s hand.” This is how God continues to write the story
of salvation history, namely, as Jesus’ disciples become his living
presence in the world.
This is why a
husband or wife remains faithful to and ministers to one’s chronically
or terminally ill spouse. This is why parents are patient with
rebellious teenagers. This is why priests continue to minister
faithfully to the People of God despite the embarrassment caused by
scandalous and immoral behavior on the part of other priests. This is
why women and men dedicate themselves to educating youth in Catholic
schools despite receiving what is by all accounts an inadequate salary.
And, this is why, as all of us confront the inevitable disappointments
and struggles of our lives, we trust in God’s providence.
Seeing with the
eyes of their hearts is how Jesus’ disciples do not allow grief and
anger over what they don’t have or have lost to keep them from
completing their task during their 40 days. Instead, filled with the
promise of the Father, Jesus’ disciples look forward full of hope and
gratitude for all that God has given them and all that is yet to come. |
HOMILY
