One danger we face is to see the Ascension as a mere anecdote about the life of Jesus and as something irrelevant to our lives, a bit like the end of a beautiful story: "The Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.Everyone lived happily ever after". And then you forget about the story and go on with real life.
But the event of Jesus' Ascension is absolutely essential for our own life: for our eternal life and for our daily life. It is essential to our eternal life because the Ascension of Jesus teaches us a key fact: humanity has a place in heaven. We can enter heaven with our soul and body because Jesus did; and He is there with His soul and body, as man and as God, now. Thanks to Him and in Him, because of His Ascension, we, human beings of flesh and blood, can expect to get to heaven as we are, not as angels which we are not, but as humans, with those glorified bodies we will receive at the end of time.
And the Ascension is a reality that must also affect our daily life. If we want to ascend to heaven at the moment of death, we have to try to ascend to God every day of our life. Every day has to be an ascension. We cannot hope to ascend to God when we die, if during our whole life we have only been looking downward to the things of earth. "Lift our hearts"The priest tells us at Mass, and we respond, "....We have lifted him up to the Lord". But do we?
In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches us that, by the power of his Ascension, we can cast out demons, have the gift of tongues, catch snakes, escape unharmed from deadly poisons and heal the sick. This is not to make us foolishly boast, but to teach us that the grace Christ sends us from heaven really has power on earth.
How do we ascend to God in daily life? Above all, by desiring God more, moving from an earthly vision to an ascending vision. This translates into practical daily actions: we make heaven more our ambition than earthly success; we seek God's glory more than our own; we seek treasure in heaven more than wealth on earth; we aspire more to the real beauty of virtue and love-to God and neighbor-than to the empty beauty of clothes and physical appearance. It is in receiving the Eucharist that God most draws us to himself. In confession, we free ourselves from the sins that oppress us. In daily prayer, our heart ascends to the Lord. Through spiritual reading and meditation on Scripture, the Holy Spirit helps us to direct our gaze toward heaven.
Homily on the readings of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (B)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
