Homily – Ascension (7th Sunday of Easter) May 24, 2009 Cycle B Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:17-23 Mark 16:15-20 Many of us are well aware of Sr. Joan’s love of visiting the National Parks. But you might not have heard the story of how she and one of her friends, Sr. Pat, were out in the wilderness when they confronted a bear. The bear was gaining on them as they ran. Sr. Pat turned to Sr. Joan and said, “Do you think we’ll be able to out-run him, Joan?” Sr. Joan responded, “I don’t have to out-run him Pat, I only have to out run you.” Well, that might be a bit of a hyperbole, an overstatement, since neither has been doing marathons lately. It is however similar to today’s Gospel. Aren’t we lucky we don’t take the scriptures literally? If we did it would appear from this week’s Gospel that only multilingual, snake-wrangling, poison-drinking exorcists, with a gift for healing, would be seen as the genuine Christian article. That would leave most of us out in the cold. This passage, however, is a dramatic addition to Mark’s Gospel to show that even though Jesus is now at the right hand of God, He sends His disciples out to the whole world to carry on His ministry, and that He will protect us when trials come. And even though there have been tragic and shocking chapters in our two-thousand-year history, it’s good for us to remember what God has done in and through us as we have gone out and proclaimed the saving love of Christ. The powerful presence of Jesus and His abiding Spirit reveal the fundamental reason why the church has endured throughout the centuries. It has survived, sometimes barely, the external onslaughts of emperors, kings, heretics, wars, famines, and diseases. It has survived its own internal corruptions, prejudices, sins, scandals, and misjudgments. And today, as we well know, the church continues on its bumpy road. As you are well aware, it has shrunk to a pinpoint in secular Europe and is dwindling in South America where Pope Benedict XVI is trying to shore it up from the vast inroads of Pentecostalism. The church has lost considerable ground here in secular America where books on atheism flourish and where only twenty-six percent of us Catholics go to church regularly. Today thirty-three percent of the world’s population are, at least nominally, Christian. Some estimate we have around 1.1 billion Catholic brothers and sisters worldwide. Many Christians continue to be persecuted or discriminated against for their faith. But then, some perspective is in order, namely, that you should know that we sixty-five million plus Catholics in the United States represent only six percent of the global Catholic population. Did you know that? The real truth you might absorb lies in this reality check: while Catholicism is losing ground in the northern hemisphere, it is flowering in the southern hemisphere of our globe. There is the future of the church in this millennium. There the church is thriving and growing in a wonderful way. But the feast of the Ascension is not just an opportunity for us to look at how we have tried to fulfill the command of the Lord to go out to the world. Indeed, this feast is primarily focused on where we are going from here on in. The ascension promises us that just as the Father raised Jesus from the dead, so too the Father, Son, and Spirit will welcome us into heaven as well, to be at Christ’s right hand for eternity. The following parable demonstrates the point: A fitting story on this Memorial Day weekend when we also remember our soldiers who gave their lives. In 1939 a father and son were famous art collectors. When World War II broke out, the son volunteered. In 1944 the son died in battle while rescuing another soldier. A year later, a young man came to see the father. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me but I was with your son when he died. I want you to know he didn’t suffer. I know you both loved art,” he went on, “and though this isn’t much, I want you to have it.” He gave the father a package. Inside was a portrait of the son. It was rough work, but the father welled up with tears. He went on to say, “It was the least I could do for your son because he saved my life.” A few months later, the father died. At the art auction that followed, investors gathered from around the world. The first item up for bid was the portrait of the son. The auctioneer tried to start the bidding, “$200…$100… Any bids? Any at all?” The investors called out, “Skip this one. Where are the Rembrandts?” Just then a man spoke up from the back. He said, “I’ll give you ten dollars for the painting. It’s all the money I have.” It was the gardener at the father’s estate. So the auctioneer brought down the gavel and said, “Sold for ten dollars!” An investor called back, “Can we now get on with it?” But the auctioneer continued, “The auction is over. According to the will, whoever bought this painting would inherit the estate, including all the art.” No matter what they said, the wealthy investors couldn’t buy their way into the inheritance. Only the one who had the eyes of love, and knew what he was looking at, inherited everything the Father and Son had to offer. May we go out from this feast of the Ascension so confident of our spiritual inheritance to come that we lavish its riches on all we meet right now. Because when it comes to the Christ’s kingdom, there’s plenty for everyone. Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom, Pastor Christ the King