Homily for Ascension Sunday, May 16, 2021. Acts 1:1-11, Mk 16:15-20. Theme: Promise, Power & Pentecost!
Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven 40 days after his Resurrection. But his return to where he came from was so very different than when he first came down 33 years before. At that time he, who from all eternity had been solely God, now returns to Heaven also as Man. It’s so very important for us to remember that Jesus didn’t take on our human nature just to get a job done on planet Earth, and then discard his humanity once the mission was accomplished! He became human to totally elevate and transform what it means to be human from the inside out! This healing of our humanity from sin and the joining of it to divinity is what we call “salvation”. And because this, we human beings are now able to become what we never were before. This is why Scripture calls us Christians a “new creation”.
Because of the coming down of the Son of God from Heaven our humanity has the potential to be forever changed. And because of the going back up of the Son of God into Heaven, it has been blessed every further and given a share in the very power and glory of God. Imagine that! The Ascension shows us that Heaven is our destiny and a place is waiting there for those who live their lives in Christ! He became human so that our entire existence in both its phases, earthly and heavenly, in time and in eternity, could be transformed!
But here’s the thing: this isn’t something that automatically happens to us just because we’re human. In order for all this to become a reality in our own individual lives, we need receive the Promised Gift and open ourselves up to the Power of the Spirit that we hear about in today’s first reading. While those words were first spoken to the disciples they are not meant for them alone. They are also spoken to each one of us. This Word of God invites us to hear Jesus, to accept what he is saying, to trust in his Promise, and to pray that it be fulfilled in our own lives. I find it helpful to remember all this by simply keeping in mind three “P” words: Promise, Power, and Pentecost.
The first word is PROMISE. In the Old Testament God promised that one day, through his Messiah, he would pour out and immerse his people in the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus was referring to when he said, “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” The word ‘baptized’ means “to be immersed in something”. This immersion or baptism in the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out, giving us a new way of looking at life, a new way of thinking, a new way of living and of loving. The baptism in the Holy Spirit makes our relationship with Christ come alive and exist as something that we cherish as the treasure of our hearts.
The second word Jesus spoke was of POWER. We all know what power means. It’s the ability, energy and strength to do something beyond our normal capacities. So, why will the Holy Spirit give us this power? What are we supposed to do with it? We find the answer in Jesus’ words that we are to be His witnesses. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives those who trust in Him the ability to do wonderful things in His Name. It’s the power to change our lives in unbelievable ways and the power to love even when it is difficult and seems next to impossible. It’s the power to live for Christ and even, if needs be, to die for him as so many martyrs have done in the past and even today.
And finally, we come to the last “P” word: PENTECOST. The Promise of the Father and the Power foretold by the Son, was first given on the day we call Pentecost which we will celebrate next Sunday. Just as the original Christians had the transforming experience of that first Pentecost, so Christ intends the same for each one of us. This is what the Sacrament of Confirmation is supposed to be: a personal Pentecost for each one of us in which God’s Promise is fulfilled and the Power is given. The first Christians in Jerusalem experienced this baptism in the Holy Spirit through the symbols of wind and fire, while we do sacramentally by chrism and the laying on of hands. But even though the symbols are different, it is the same Promise fulfilled, the same Power given.
But I think in all honesty, we must admit that many of us leave the Promised Gift of the Father wrapped up, so to speak. Perhaps we even put it away in the back closet of our lives where it remains only a memory of our Confirmation that gathers dust as the years go by. But the Good News is that once given, the Gift is always available to be opened and used. The baptism of the Holy Spirit can be activated at any time in our lives, whenever we choose to turn ourselves over to Jesus and begin really living with him and in him as Christians in fact and no just in name.
Through today’s liturgy Jesus calls us to spend the coming week - these days between Ascension Sunday and next week’s Pentecost Sunday - in focused intentional prayer. Like the original disciples, we need to pray from the heart that this baptism of the Holy Spirit becomes something tangible and real in our lives. Let’s ask for the grace to truly believe the Promise and activate the Power, so that our own personal Pentecost will change us from the inside out, helping us to make our lives something beautiful for God and enabling us to become witnesses to Jesus among those with whom we live, work and socialize.
O Father, through Jesus your Servant and Son,
baptize me in the Holy Spirit!
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