The ascensions of Jesus was necessary at the level of love.

Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Blessed Lord
May 13, 2018

These past seven weeks of Easter have been a time for us to enter into the secrets of the Heart of Jesus. We have listened to Jesus words given to us by St. John, words which communicate the truths of our beautiful Catholic faith, truths which revealed to us the very secrets of the interior life of the Blessed Trinity-God. Jesus has revealed to us that God is Love and God has created us to share in that love--to share in God’s own nature. And this brings us to the secret of love, which is the Ascension.

The ascensions of Jesus was necessary at the level of love. Love by its very nature moves toward unity. Think about this in your own life—when you love someone, really love them for their sake not your own, you want to be one with them, so much so, you desire to be of one heart and mind. This is symbolized in marriage between a man and a woman; they express their desire for oneness the night of their wedding in the marital act in which the two become one flesh. In the light of love, we can then begin to understand why the humanity of Jesus at the Ascension, necessarily moved toward oneness with the Father, toward the right hand of the Father in Glory.

Jesus, as Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was, is and always will be at the right Hand of the Father, that is equal to the Father in Majesty. But now, the human nature, the body and blood that Jesus took from the Virgin Mary, along with His human soul, is now present as well at the right hand of the Father. Because of the ascension of Jesus’ human nature, a nature He shares with all men, now gives all human nature, including you and me, the possibility of sharing intimately and eternally in this perfect unity of Love between Jesus and the Father. Christ, still bearing the marks of his passion, which brought about our redemption, has gone before us to prepare a place for us, so that where He is, we may also be.

If we truly love God, we too necessarily will move to union with Him, necessarily will move to return to the Father. Love for Christ then, desire for Christ, who is the only way to the Father, is the greatest good anyone could ever desire. We all should desire that which is the greatest Good, namely Christ; He is our true End. A person who does not to love Him and desire unity-friendship with Him is missing out on the One thing that matters. As the great orator and radio and television star, Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen taught, this is why the saints, far from being the abnormal persons that the world likes to portray them, were actually the most normal and content people the world has ever seen. Why? Because he said, normalcy works for a goal, a purpose, and a end. Abnormalcy looks for an escape mechanism, excuses or rationalizations in order to avoid discovering our true human end, which is Christ.

Bishop Sheen said, A normal person sets for himself a target, goals for this life, his vocation what he has been created for, his vocation in this life. But there is more beyond this. Suppose his vocation is to become a doctor, and then to get married, and then to have children and then to give money to his children and then. The normal person sees that there is an end to “and then, ” Sheen said. He knows that He has been created for something, someone beyond just the goals of this life. He realizes in the end that the goals in this life are really just meant to obtain our ultimate, “and then” which is heaven.

The abnormal person is just the opposite. The abnormal person is locked up inside of himself, within his ego, said the bishop. He is like an egg that has never been hatched; he refuses to submit to a certain amount of divine incubation in order to arrive at a different life than he has, so he has to escape from reality—this is how he spends his time. If he wants to go from Chicago to New York, he is not concern about getting to New York but with giving excuses about why he doesn’t go to New York. In other words, he has lost his goal, his end, his destiny and he refuses to look at the roadmap and take the necessary actions to get there. He goes in circles

Our society too has become abnormal. It has lost its true end, its true purpose. Many either don’t realize or know they are created by God, for God or they just aren’t concerned. Some want to go to God, but they don’t want to look at the map and make the necessary changes and actions in their life to get there. In other words, they refuse to submit to the divine roadmap, which is the Will of God and His Commandments. They become like ships without a port, lost at sea, adrift—yet they desire never to found, desire never to reach the port but only to stay forever on the ship.

Our society’s loss of its true purpose, its true end is shown in many abnormal ways. Our society has many escape mechanism and rationalizations to avoid the truth. One of the symptoms of this loss of an end, is our love for excessive speed. A lot of people don’t know where they are going, but they certainly are in a hurry to get there. Another symptom is the rise of suicide, especially among the young, but not only among them. Suicide is at a level never before seen the annual of human history—is is epidemic. Life with out an end is hopeless. So many people have an unconscious or half-conscious desire to end life because it is without purpose, without meaning. Surely this is also what is behind the push for physician-assisted suicide. We moderns try to fill in this loss of desire for our True End, our desire for God, with immoral sex, alcohol and drug abuse, materialism or just plain death.

Additionally, Many people throw themselves into their jobs or business in an abnormal way. This is where many people are today, they have become slaves to efficiency. They look upon the other and are looked upon only in relation to how well they can perform and produce, how well they can make money and be an asset to the economically minded business world. This is not a true human end.

People are alone today, they are losing hope. They are working, working. Where are we humans going? Who is going to give to us and our society an end-a true human end? Is it a true human end to just earn money? Of course not, but yet that’s the only end that so many want to achieve.
The great Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the goal that People are the most seeking after on earth is Human glory or fame-to be somebody. He said to reach it you need two wings, money and power. When you have money you have power. And with both you can reach human glory and that is what people are aiming at if they don’t know Christ their true end. But this is totally abnormal. The world must leave this notion of efficiency, this perpetual pace, this crazy pace going nowhere, there is no end.

There is no end because quantitatively I spend a lot of time working. But qualitatively where is my life going, what is the end. The end gives the quality if the end is human. But money cannot give any quality to my life. Power cannot give any quality to my life. Human glory is vain=it is passing I can die today- Sic transit gloria mundi-so passes the glory of the world. So, all this false trinity of power, money, and fame condemns human beings to nothingness, we want to discover the true Trinity through Christ. through the Son and the Holy Spirit to go to the Father, yet there is so much in our society today that is an oppressing power that prevents us from discovering our true Father (our true end). But all is not hopeless!

The truth of the Ascension that we celebrate today renews our hope because it again gives us our true End. It points us to our true purpose in this life, which is to love God, to love our neighbor for love of God and after giving ourselves totally in a sacrifice of love, for love, to return to Love--God Himself, for God is Love.

But because our Christian Hope is not just a, “I hope so,” or a, maybe someday,” friends of Jesus, that is those who keep His Commandments can begin to possess now, already while still in the valley of tears, that for which they hope. It is the Holy Mass that makes it possible to us.
At the Holy Mass God continues to love us first, through His Son in the Holy Eucharist. In fact, the Holy Eucharist is the Risen and Ascended Lord sitting at the Right Hand of the Father in Glory; the Holy Eucharist is our true End because it is Jesus in His Human Nature, risen and ascended, and so when we are before the Holy Eucharist we are already in Heaven. In the Holy Eucharist, Jesus fulfills His promise of hope, “Behold I am with you even until the end of the world!” The Holy Eucharist is our only way to the Father because it is the door to heaven because it is Jesus, who is our heaven.

At Holy Communion Jesus continues to draw near to us in love by offering us His complete self on this altar. This love necessarily demands a response on our part, will we rise up and draw near to Him our true End by offering Him our complete self, all we possess, all our love so He can take us to where HE is, One with the Father, in the unity and love of the Holy Spirit. Let us the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Hope to help us. Let us pray:

Prayer to Our Lady of Hope

O Mary, my Mother, I kneel before you with a heavy heart. The burden of my sins oppresses me. The knowledge of my weakness discourages me. I am beset by fears and temptations of every sort. Yet I am so attached to the things of this world that instead of longing for Heaven I am filled with dread at the thought of death.
O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me in my distress. You are all-powerful with your Divine Son. He can refuse no request of your Immaculate Heart. Show yourself a true Mother to me by being my advocate before His throne. O Refuge of Sinners and Hope of the Hopeless, to whom shall I turn if not you?
Obtain for me, then, O Mother of Hope, the grace of true sorrow for my sins, the gift of perfect resignation to God's Holy Will, and the courage to take up my cross and follow Jesus. Above all I pray, O dearest Mother, that through your most powerful intercession my heart may be filled with Holy Hope, so that in life's darkest hour I may never fail to trust in God my Savior, but by walking in the way of His commandments I may merit to be united with Him, and with you in the eternal joys of Heaven. Amen.

Mary, our Hope, have pity on us.
Hope of the Hopeless, pray for us.