Homilies

SOLEMNITY OF THE LORD'S ASCENSION: PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL WITH FIDELITY

THE DAY OF ASCENSION marks the culmination of the mission of Christ on earth and the event celebrates Christ’s triumphant return to the Father in heaven. It may be seen as the last act of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; it was a day filled with joy and hope. By ascending to heaven, Christ transcended the limits of his existence here on earth. Through the Holy Spirit, he now became invisibly present everywhere to everyone.

On the part of Christ’s disciples, the day of Ascension was a day of receiving a mandate from the Lord to “go into the whole word and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” Likewise they are to proclaim salvation, and “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Jesus instructed them to continue his mission of salvation.

Let us try to reflect on these instructions from the Lord: a) to go into the whole world; b) to proclaim the good news; and c) to baptize them. In all fairness, the disciples of Christ had been faithful to fulfilling the tasks entrusted to them. Indeed, they went to the different parts of the world; they incessantly proclaimed the good news; and they baptized a good number of people. The expansion of the Church from the post-apostolic times onward can be attributed to the untiring proclamation and desire of the disciples that people from all corners of the earth may be saved.

As followers of Christ, we are all called to fulfill this mandate of the Lord. The celebration of the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension can only be meaningful to us if we also listen to his instructions given to His disciples and take them as instructions for us.

First, we need to have the ability to go. True disciples of Christ must have the ability to go and the means to realize it is to get out of our own world. If we are too much concerned of our own self and our own world, there is no hope that we can go to God and to others. Like, for example, those who cannot go to Church on Sundays are those people who are selfish that they cannot give a little of their time for God. They want to remain in their house or cling to their own concerns, and therefore, do not go to God. The same is true in our relationship with our family or with our friends. There are needy family members or sick friends who need of our presence. But the question is, did we go to them?

Second, we should proclaim the good news. As baptized and “confirmed” Christians, we promised to God to proclaim the gospel to others. Literally, not all of us can do this because we have no resources and capability to go to other parts of the world. But we can have a share in the proclamation of the gospel if we become part of the work of the so-called missionaries. Like St Therese of the Child Jesus, she never went to other places to do mission, but she prayed for the missionaries. Because of that, she became the “patroness of mission.” But this does not mean that we would not literally proclaim the gospel. This is very essential of a Christian. We can do this to our family, and to our siblings. If you have done something to our family members or siblings who seem to have strayed or deviated from the Church’s teachings, that is, you have corrected the wrongdoings, then that could already be a “proclamation of the gospel” to them.

Third, the work of baptism continues. Indeed, we have been baptized, but not all of us have been faithful to fulfilling our baptismal promises. On the one hand, we promised to believe in God; and on the other, we promised to reject Satan and his works. But most of the time, we failed in fulfilling these. We have never been constant believers in God; there were times that we doubted Him. Also, often, we fall to the Satan’s allurements and fall to sin. Therefore, the baptismal promises need to be renewed often so that we can have the fullness of salvation promised to us.

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