Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
One of the priests at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, who is now a bishop, once said about homilies, “If it’s not worth stealing, it’s not worth using.” So allow me to steal a little material later on in today’s homily that will help us enter in to today’s celebration of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. After all, we can be tempted to remain at a superficial level about today’s solemnity. We know that Jesus ascended, body and soul into heaven. But, the next question easily becomes: so what? or who cares? In all reality, what difference does it make if Jesus is in heaven? Those are fair questions.
The difference that it makes is that we are, in one sense, already in heaven. No, this isn’t heaven right here in Flint. You probably don’t doubt that. But here’s the thing: St. Paul reminds us that Christ is the head of the Body, the Church. Our human nature is united to the one Person of Jesus. Jesus even says at the end of today’s Gospel: “Behold, I am with you always,” and He can say that because we are united to Him through Baptism. In that sense, all of us who have been united to Christ in Baptism by being united to His Mystical Body, the Church, are already in heaven, at least potentially speaking. The Ascension celebrates the fact that in Christ, human nature has been given an even better place than the Garden of Eden; we have been given heaven. That’s a big deal.
Heaven is our inheritance because it’s the inheritance of Jesus, the Son of God, for his obedience to God. Christ, as St. Paul says, was obedient, even to the point of death, death on a cross, and His obedience was what allowed Him to pass from death to life, and open that new life for us. Heaven is the one million dollar inheritance that our rich ancestor leaves us.
But, we have to receive that gift. Jesus does not force that inheritance upon us. He reigns as King at the right hand of the Father, but does not force us to be a part of His kingdom. We have to be open to that gift, and the way that we show that we are open to the gift is by the way we live our life. Our obedience to Christ on earth does not earn us heaven. We cannot earn it, any more than any other human could have earned it. Only Christ could gain heaven for us. And yet, we show that we want to receive our inheritance by the way we show that we’re disciples of Jesus in our words and deeds.
And this is where the stolen parts come in. There is an ancient document from some time after Christ called the Letter to Diognetus. Diognetus is one of those names that has fallen on hard times. I don’t think you’ll find it in the top 500 of baby names. But, the author of this letter beautifully writes:
[Christians] live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign county. […] They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven.
The author of this letter reminds us that our homeland is not here. We are only passing through this world. It can be so tempting to live as if this is all there is. We try to make our decisions to have as good as a life as we can on earth. But do we pay attention to having a good life after we die? Do we live so as to receive our inheritance?
And we should live this way because we try to live as if we’re in heaven. It’s not easy, but if we want to live in heaven for ever, it helps to practice for it. It’s like sports: to be ready for the game, we have to practice. The more we live on earth like we’re in heaven, the more familiar heaven will hopefully be for us. And the more familiar heaven is for us, the more that we show that heaven is what we want.
That’s why our way of life is (or should be) different as Catholics. We may drink, but we don’t get drunk; we date and marry and have kids (well you do; I don’t), but our understanding of dating and marriage and children is not the world’s understanding; we work hard to make a living, but we don’t work as if making money is all there is to life. We live differently because heaven is different.
And coming to Mass on Sundays is part of our practice. Mass is a foretaste of heaven. The Book of Revelation says that there is a fair amount of singing praise to the Lamb in heaven. In heaven we spend our time worshipping God and being surrounded by His love. We get a foretaste of that worship in the Mass, and we receive Love Himself in the Body and Blood of Jesus. Mass helps to prepare us for heaven. The less we come, the less we are prepared. The less we are prepared, the less likely we are to actually be ready to go there.
In Christ, our human nature is already in heaven. That’s the joy of today’s celebration. Our response is to try to be as ready as we can to be there with Jesus, not only in potential, but in actuality. Prepare yourself for heaven. Prepare yourself for the home Jesus has prepared for you.