The Ascension of the Lord

June 2, 2019

Acts 1: 1-11

Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

Eph 1: 17-23

Luke 24: 46-53

Today’s celebration of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord calls us to imitate Jesus in His complete and utter trust in the Father.  What comes to my mind immediately is the expression:  “Let go and let God.”  Ever see that on a bumper sticker or hear about it through a 12-step recovery program, maybe?  It’s message is pretty clear and direct:  we need to let go of our tendency to want to control everything.  And to let God take charge of our lives.  Again.  Needless to say, it calls for a great deal of trust.

Today’s feast celebrates a moment in the life and ministry of Jesus.  But what a moment!  It is, at heart, a liminal experience.  “Liminal” is  from the Latin limin, which literally means “threshold.”  It is a threshold event.  Just like the graduations, First Communions, and weddings we celebrate at this time of the year.   We stand in the doorway, fully mindful of what we are leaving behind and poised, sometimes fearfully so, at the entrance of something new, something challenging, something not completely in our control.  A moment of thrust and of trust.

Did you ever learn how to ride a bicycle?  Do you still remember?  As far as I can tell, there are at least three ways to learn how to ride a bike. One, you can teach yourself: ride, fall, ride, fall.  Then:  ride, ride, fall; ride, ride, fall. Until you get it right.

The second way to learn how to ride a bike is to have someone teach you.  Preferably someone who, standing beside you, is holding onto the handlebars with one hand while holding onto you with the other.  Then, little by little, they let go until voilà!—you are launched and your own!

The third way I can think of is to have training wheels on your bike.  Something unobtrusive, nearly invisible to you the rider, which keeps you steady until that moment when you have the confidence and balance to kick them off and then just take off by yourself!

Liminal states, threshold moments. Leaving the known for the unknown.  Were you scared?  Thrilled? Curious?  No matter what, there’s no turning back.  It’s only forward….

That’s what’s happening in today’s Gospels. Note, I use the plural:  Gospels. The first reading (Acts 1:1-11) is gospel, too.  Volume II of the Gospel of Luke, as a matter of fact. A gospel which deals with the presence and ministry of Jesus afterHis Death and Resurrection.  And the second gospel read today (Luke 24:46-63) is the conclusionof the gospel of Luke.  The two readings dovetail, forming a “hinge” as some theologians call it, segueing from one kind of experience of the Lord to another.

In both readings, Jesus is at the threshold.  Poised to leave behind his physical presence in the world in order to return to the Father. Notice, He doesn’t leave the disciples orphaned, abandoned, or disinherited. He gives them his blessing and his promise.  And in the gospel of Luke, they are anything but distraught.  On the contrary, believing in Jesus and in His promise of the Spirit, they are pleased as punch: “They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.”

What’s going on?  The disciples, finally, are ready to receive the Spirit. Jesus has taken off the traiing wheels. He himself passes through the threshold in order to fulfill his mission and destiny.  He is no longer confined to the limitations of his physical body: seeing, touching, healing small groups of people or even just one person at a time.  He is poised to send the Spirit and now, together with the Father and in the Spirit, Jesus becomes available to everyone everywhere. Including and especially us.  Right here, right now.  In his Living Word, the Scriptures.  In the assembly of the faithful.  And most poignantly for us in the Catholic Christian tradition, in the outpouring of His Presence and Love in the Eucharist we share and are called to become.

So, here we are at the threshold. Called by Jesus to “let go and let God” again—or perhaps for the very first time.  To leave behind our worries, frustrations, doubts and fears.  To cross the threshold into His Presence and Love no matter how often or how badly we have been stung, hurt, rejected, or ignored up until now.  Trusting in his care and guidance. 

Go ahead.  Look ahead.  Not behind. Cross the threshold and Let go and let God!

Photos:  (Top) paramenics.com  (Bottom)  beachbikes.com