Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Solemnity of the Ascension, May 23, 2004 Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:17-23 Luke 24:46-54	Listen to Audio

As a child in the 1950’s I was really interested in rocket ships. Of course that was a hot topic not only among kids in those days. The prospects of satellites and space travel seemed so close and so exciting, thanks not only to science fiction books and movies but also to articles in magazines as diverse as Colliers, Scientific American, and Popular Mechanics.

I always really loved the Feast of the Ascension as well. In every painting, stained glass window, and holy card picture of the Ascension that I saw, the image of Jesus rising from the midst of the apostles looked just like a rocket ship rising straight up from its launch pad, to go to the moon or to reveal some hitherto undiscovered wonder in the cosmos. To the curious, fascinated mind of a twelve-year old in the 1950’s there’s only one word to describe it: neat. The Ascension was a really neat feast.

It’s interesting how images stick with us, even when our understanding matures and our concepts become less naïve and more complex. No matter how scripturally refined or theologically sophisticated my view of the Ascension of Jesus became, the image of the Rocket-Ship Jesus is what still always came to mind, and his going to heaven being always associated in some way with exploring the wonders of the cosmos.

While looking for works of art for our web site this past week, and my reflections on the Ascension, I browsed through lots of famous and not so famous images – and they were all of the Rocket-Ship Jesus. And then I cam across one that said, yes, this captures the real meaning in a new and fresh way.

What makes this very simple, line drawing unique and powerful are several elements that are clear from the words of Jesus, but that we don’t often think of. Here’s a copy of it, although to see it clearly you will have to check the parish website. First, note the hands of God receiving Jesus. We don’t often think of the action of God the Father, but St. Paul always makes it clear, as he did in the second reading, that the glorification of Jesus as the Christ is done by God the Father. Listen again:

“[God the Father raised] Christ from the dead, and [seated] him at his right hand in the heavens . . . And [God the Father] put all things beneath [Christ’s] feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of [Christ] who fills all things in every way.”

In this image, it seems that the hands of God the Father are both receiving Christ to himself and presenting him to us.

But in what way is he presenting him to us? He gave him as “head over all things” to the Church, which is the body of Christ, so that we as Church may be the fullness of Christ, so that we may become in full reality, what we are – the body of Christ. And so the Ascension signifies that the body of Christ is no longer something “up there” or something that’s even just localized in the Eucharist. Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist so that we may become what we receive, and live as his body, continuing to fulfill his mission in the world.

Now, this oval form in the background, you may notice that it’s the same form as is over there on our picture of the Dormition, which is the Assumption of Mary as celebrated in the eastern rites. The oval form is the “aureole” which represented the gate of heaven, the opening through which we emerge from the “womb” of this life into the fullness of the real life God has in store for us in heaven. And so, from this “gate of heaven” is flowing what appears to be “living water” the symbol of the Holy Spirit, promised by Christ, and the invitation is for us to join with Christ in the fullness of time, to pass into eternal life.

But what about the Church here and now? What does it mean to be members of the body Christ? What is our work? Look at what are the people below are doing. I think it’s significant for the meaning of the Ascension that the whole bottom half of this picture shows four people, four men, carrying the cross. Notice, no one of them is carrying the cross alone, but they are all four doing it, each one with his own part in it. Not one of them could do it by himself – each one is sharing in the burden of the others. And that more than anything else depicts the reality of the church today, as well as the reality of the church all days.

What is our mission? Our mission is, as the body of Christ, to continue to carry the cross of Christ. And what does that mean? What is the cross of Christ today? Carrying the cross is not merely enduring whatever pains and sufferings coem our way in our individual lives, even serious and tragic ones. Carrying the cross really means much more: it means sharing in the burdens and sufferings of others. Taking upon ourselves together the burdens of one another, so that the cross of Jesus is borne in the way that he himself promised – that his yoke would be sweet, and his burden would be light. And the importance of bearing this cross together, if you will notice this picture very very closely when you check it on our parish website, these men all have a smile on their face: what would be intolerable to any of them alone, together becomes a joy.

And so that, perhaps, is the main meaning of the ascension – that Christ is not only walking along with us, but we are so much one with him that we now are his body, fulfilling the same mission he had here on earth, and that is, to bear one another’s’ burdens. To make the burden of following him light and sweet, so that together we may be joyful and faithful servants of his kingdom.

© Thomas Welbers 2004

Here are some useful links, which provide material for the study of these liturgical readings, and reflections on their message:

The Text This Week, The Ascension.

Daily Word of Life

The Center for Liturgy at St. Louis University

Lectionary Resource for Catholics