05.24.2020 Homily

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. The Ascension is really not so much that physical movement of Jesus going to heaven. It's the culminating moment of Jesus' life here on earth, in which, in which he is established as King of the universe, one could just as easily call this feast, the feast of Christ, the King that he ascends to the father's right hand. And from that point on, he has been placed into his hands all that is. But those disciples, they were called to the mountain, just outside of Jerusalem. The mountain gets 70. They're called to the place where the agony took place. And it was there that Jesus appeared to them. And it was there that they fell to their knees. 

Although the author tells us some of them continue to doubt, even at that point, some of them weren't sure. Weren't sure about the goodness, God, weren't sure about the presence of Christ. Weren't sure about the promises made. And then Jesus sends them forth to the whole world, to who teach all what he has taught them. It's at this point that if you will, the graduation ceremony takes place. He has taught them for three years. He's they've walked with him. They've lived with him and he's saying, now it's yours. I've done my work. You are to go out now to all nations. You are to do exactly what I have done earlier in the gospel. He says, you have seen all the wonderful things I have done. Well, I tell you when the Holy spirit comes upon you, you will do those things and you will do even greater things than I have ever done. 

He seeks to assure them that he is not abandoning them. Those disciples aren't really assured at that moment. And they're not assured until 10 days later at the time of the coming of the spirit, we all know and have experience of what it is mean, what it means to be left alone or abandoned. We all know, we remember what it was like when someone very important and close to us, wasn't there. I remember as a child, I was five years old. And for some reason I was in St. Joseph's hospital. And I was there overnight. And my mother sat with me through the day and he came to the night and she sat with me for a while. And then I found later she was told that she had to leave, so she got out and left me. And at that moment I felt all of the world had come to the end. I screamed and I yelled and I crawled out of bed and they put me back in and I crawled out again and they put me back in. Finally they put restraints on me so I wouldn't get out of bed. 

I totally felt abandoned LD. We sell the which author talks about the evening, the evening and the concentration camp. When those hundreds of people who were forced together in one of those Quonset huts, Oh, they were so sure that God had abandoned them. In fact, they were so sure that that God was, was just a figment. And they decided that night that they would put God on trial. There certainly, isn't a good God who would allow us to suffer this way. And so three rabbis sat together on the edge of a bed and convened, a Jewish court. 

And the people came forward all evening and all through the night and into the morning telling their story of how God had failed them. How, how they no longer had any connection to God, Oh God, no longer was for them. And so in the early morning, after all the testimony had been given the rabbis gathered together in a huddle and it was their job to decide a verdict and it didn't take them very long. And they came back and said, we find that God is guilty of abandoning his people. And then with Zell said, there was a young boy there perhaps 10 or 11 years old. 

And when the verdict was given this young boy grabbed on to one of the adults and he said to him, well, now we don't have to believe in God. Now there is no God. And the adult looked at him and said, no. Now we have to go and pray with all our heart that God would help us understand. Those disciples felt abandoned. And so what does Jesus do in the mind of St. Matthew in the gospel of St. Matthew, their abandonment is answered. Jesus says to them, I will be you. I will be with you every single day. As long as the world exists, you may not see me, but I am there and all through Matthew's gospel. The theme of God being there in Jesus Christ, because the gospel opens Matthew's gospel opens with the annunciation to Joseph, where the angel says that Mary is to bear a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. And this is to fulfill what the prophet said, that a Virgin will bear a child and they will call him Emmanuel. A name that means God is with us. 

The opening words of the gospel and the closing words of the gospel. We too can feel abandoned. And then this time we feel separated from many of those for whom we, we wish we could be with today. We pray in the liturgy, Lord God, mediator of all creation judge of the world. And Lord of hosts. He ascended not to physically distance himself from our lowly state, but that we might be confident with following where he, our head and founder has gone physically distancing. That's what we wrestle with today. And the prayer from the ancient of times speaks of the fear of Jesus, physically distant and reminds us that the feeling may be there. But the truth is he is always with us.