This is the mystery of the Ascension of our Head.
Let us always remember: Jesus gave instructions, and then
Jesus took his place. Amen.
In the Scripture readings today the whole
significance of Christ’s Ascension is summarized for us. The richness of this
mystery is spelled out in two statements: Jesus
gave instructions, and then Jesus
took his place. In the providence of God – in the eternal design of the
Father – the hour had come for Christ to go away. He would leave his
Apostles behind, with his Mother Mary, but only after he had given them his
instructions. The Apostles now had a mission to perform according to the
instructions that Jesus left, and these instructions were in turn the faithful
expression of the Father’s will. The instructions indicated, above all, that
the Apostles were to wait for the Holy Spirit, who was the gift of the Father.
From the beginning, it had to be crystal-clear that the source of the Apostles’
strength is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church in the
way of truth; the Gospel is to spread through the power of God, and not by
means of human wisdom or strength.
The Apostles, moreover, were instructed to teach – to proclaim the Good
News to the whole world. And they were to baptize in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, they were to speak
explicitly about the Kingdom of God and about salvation. The Apostles were to
give witness to Christ to the ends of the earth. The early Church clearly
understood these instructions and the missionary era began. And everybody knew
that this missionary era could not end until the same Jesus, who went up to
heaven, would come back again.
The words of Jesus became a treasure for the Church to guard, proclaim
and to meditate on. And at the same time, the Holy Spirit implanted in the
Church an apostolic charism, in order to keep this revelation intact. Through
his words Jesus was to live on in his Church: I am with you always. And so the
whole ecclesial community became conscious of the need for fidelity to the
instructions of Jesus, to the deposit of faith. This solicitude was to pass
from generation to generation – down to our own day.
Jesus
took his place. After having undergone the humiliation of his passion and
death, Jesus took his place at the right-hand of God; he took his place with
his eternal Father. But he also entered heaven as our Head. Whereupon, in the
expression of Leo the Great, the glory of the Head became the hope of the
body. For all eternity Christ takes his place as the firstborn among many
brethren: our nature is with God in Christ. And as man, the Lord Jesus
lives for ever to intercede for us with Father. At the same time, from his
throne of glory, Jesus sends out to the whole Church a message of hope and a
call to holiness. Because of Christ’s merits, because of his intercession
with the Father, we are able to attain justice and holiness of life, in him.
The Church may indeed experience difficulties, the Gospel may suffer setbacks,
but because Jesus is at the right-hand of the Father the Church will never know
defeat. Christ’s victory is ours. The power of the glorified Christ, the
beloved Son of the eternal Father, is superabundant, to sustain each of us and
all of us in the fidelity of our dedication to God’s Kingdom and in the
generosity of our celibacy.
The
efficacy of Christ’s Ascension touches all us in the concrete reality of our
daily lives. Because of this mystery it is the vocation of the whole Church to
wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Excerpts from HOMILY
OF JOHN PAUL II 24 May 1979
