June 2, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Year C) on June 1, 2025, at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. (In some regions of the United States, the Ascension was celebrated on May 29.) The homily is based on the day’s readings: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Hebrews 9:24–28 & 10:19–23; and Luke 24:46–53.
Easter is the season of sacraments, and today, we celebrate a few more of our second graders receiving their first communion. [NAMES], congratulations on all you have done to reach this special day! [Applause.]
Today, we also celebrate one of the most important days of the liturgical year – the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. The Ascension is always mentioned in the Creed, and it’s often mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer. Jesus Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father. That is proof of Christ’s divinity, his relationship with the Father, and his unique role in salvation, but there’s so much more to the Ascension! The Ascension affects our daily lives as Christian disciples in a very similar way to how receiving the Body and Blood of Christ affects our daily lives. We’ll try extra-hard to make the connection clear to our first communicants today.
Today, we hear both accounts that St. Luke gives us of the Ascension. First, we’ll hear from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, and then we’ll hear from the end of the Gospel of Luke.
Through our baptism, we are the Body of Christ. Let’s celebrate that!
St. Luke wanted to tell everyone the story of Jesus Christ and of the first generation of Christians who followed him. Since there was no television back then, he used the most popular form of media available at the time: the scroll. And he realized that he had more to say than would fit on one scroll. How did he decide where he would split the story into two pieces?
Our first reading today was the equivalent of a television announcer saying, “Last season, in The Gospel of Luke, as Jesus told the disciples to stay in the city and await the Holy Spirit, he ascended into heaven. Stay tuned to hear what happens next, in The Acts of the Apostles!”
Why does Luke choose to split his story at the Ascension? Why not Easter Sunday? That’s the most important day in the history of the world. Why not Pentecost? That’s the day that the Holy Spirit began guiding the Church. I think it’s because Jesus’ Ascension is the biggest game-changer in the history of Christianity: it’s the moment when Jesus’ disciples embraced the responsibility for spreading the faith, and trusted that God would provide the skills they needed.
Which leads us to a big question: how would our faith be different if Jesus hadn’t ascended to heaven? What would our faith be like if Jesus were living in, say, Fort Wayne, Indiana? It’s a 3-hour car drive away from Chicago. (1) Would you pray any differently, if Jesus lived in Fort Wayne? (2) What would be different if you had a hard decision to make? (3) What would be different if you had a fight with your brother, sister, or school classmate? (4) What would be different if two countries weren’t getting along?
There’s another event that happens at this time every year that’s a sudden transition similar to the Ascension: graduation. Right now, people are graduating from 8th grade, from high school, and from college. They leave behind teachers and professors, tests, and papers, and they are the ones we expect to be knowledgeable and lead others. They may be scared that they don’t what to do as they begin this new phase. But as the author T. S. Eliot reassures us:
“What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.”
The fancy word we use for graduation ceremonies is commencement, which means “beginning.” When people graduate from school, the future is uncertain, but what they’ve learned has prepared them for the future. Likewise, when the disciples saw Jesus ascend to heaven, they weren’t so much sad as they were excited about how they would carry on Jesus’ mission.
We relive the Ascension every time we depart from the church building after Mass. The very word “Mass” has the same root as “dismissal” and “mission.” At the Mass, we are fed by gathering together with our fellow Christians. We are fed through reflecting on Sacred Scripture together. And [NAMES], by receiving the Eucharist for the first time today, you join us in being fed by the very Body and Blood of Jesus. Then, we who have been fed are sent into the world to feed others. St. Teresa of Avila wrote a famous prayer, which we’re going to sing together to drive the point home. It’s #882 in the hymnal.
Christ has no body now but yours, no hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
to serve with the joy of compassion.(adapted by Steven C. Warner)
So, friends, if you don’t feel ready to be Christ’s Body, Christ’s hands, or Christ’s work – as a disciple, as a graduate, or as a parent – that’s OK. Just trust in the Holy Spirit. Next Sunday, we will celebrate how we can do all things that Jesus Christ did through the power of the Holy Spirit, just like the first disciples. Let’s take this week to pray to the Holy Spirit. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to give us the gifts we need right now to serve with the joy of compassion to the ends of the earth!