A French poet has noted that every time we say au revoir to one another we die a little. Few of us would disagree with this observation. However, a dissenter would be the clever St Luke. In his Ascension account, he wrote, “The apostles worshipped Jesus and went back to Jerusalem full of joy.” It can be accepted as a given that the Christ was very joyful to be quitting this world for Heaven. After all, we gave Him a hard time here. The raw wounds in His hands and feet and the bleeding stripes on His back would testify to that. But the apostles? What did they have to be joyful about? Jesus their can-do leader had departed. One would think they would be reaching for dozens of antidepressant pills. But a quick examination of the facts indicated that for the apostles the Ascension was a wonderful climax to the Jesus tale. Also it was a glorious beginning to their own missionary adventures. The Master, whom they had known on earth as the carpenter from Nazareth, had become the Emperor of Heaven.
As a consequence, whenever they ran into difficult times down the road, they expected that this King of kings would ride to their rescue like a heavenly Peter Pan or a Deus ex machina. Miracles would be a dime a dozen. No wonder then they jumped for joy like cats on a hot tin roof. The Ascension can become for us a fact of great joy. But first we must adopt a new theological mind frame. Many of us feel the Second Person of the Holy Trinity does nothing more in the heavens than lounge about with a good Scotch and water in His hands and sleep. As a matter of fact, Jesus is forever listening to our prayers and working favors for us. He is on duty twenty-four hours a day. He has no rectory hours. His is a free 800 number. If He’s away from the phone, leave a message. He will call back. When I was in the seminary, a Jesuit came to give us a lecture. He was working in India. Catholicism was so marginal it was hardly on the charts. The priest was so poor he could not buy the cheapest tabernacle. So, he kept the Blessed Sacrament in an old orange create. Whenever he found himself going down for the third time, he would rush to the Blessed Sacrament. If he felt Jesus was not giving him His attention, he would knock loudly on the orange crate. He would say, “Master, wake up. Get moving. I need big help big time.” He said eight times out of ten Jesus saved him. The other two times, he said, Christ told him to wait awhile. He said it’s one thing to say. “The Lord is shepherd.” But it’s entirely different to say, “The Lord is MY shepherd.”
Faith for him was a matter of personal pronouns, “MY Lord and MY God.” The first team of the Teacher had even a better batting average than my French priest. The apostles took a small Mom & Pop religion out of the backwater country of Palestine. In the space of a few years, they made that splinter group existing on the fringes of the Roman Empire into a world religion. These unlettered men made the Jesus story the most popular item on the world’s hit parade. The Church today numbers one billion people. Is there anyone here who believes the apostles really achieved that by themselves? If affirmative, please remain a few moments after Mass. There is a bridge nearby that I want to sell. It is we who are on the playing field and moving the ball about. The apostles of course have long since ascended into the heavens to join their Employer of the first part. You and I are the newest apostles. It is we who must go door to door with a New Testament in our hands and tell people about the Christ drama.
We do not have to be top of the line salespeople. The smallest good deed we are reminded is better than the largest intention. Just remember the Church is increased one person at a time. The ascended Christ will be giving us the same help He gave Peter, John, Matthew, & Co. The world out there awaits us. The ascended Christ will expend Himself for us. But will we? Our missionary efforts don’t mean, says Richard Rohr, having the answers and going to church but rather living the answer and being the Church.