Our first impression of the Ascension of Our Lord is that of an ending, a farewell. But by His ascension, Jesus has not departed. He has only disappeared from our sight—we are prevented from seeing him but he is still near us. When Our Lord ascended, Jesus was no longer in the apostles’ sight but is present in different way. Our Lord left this earth but lives in the glory of heaven.
But we might ask, “If Jesus is no longer visible on this earth, how will we come to know his presence?” The answer is that he wants to make himself present through his disciples! In his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke links the Ascension with the idea of testimony, that we must be witnesses of Christ in the world. Jesus says to the apostles, “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
Jesus, of course meant first of all, the apostles who were with Him. After the apostles, of course came their successors, the bishops and priests. But this also includes all the baptized. The Second Vatican Council teaches us that each layperson “must stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a symbol of the living God” (“Lumen Gentium,” 38). Blessed Paul VI said that “the world needs witnesses more than it needs teachers.”
A teacher can pass on information but it is harder to be a witness, that is to say, there can be a big difference between saying and doing. The witness is one who speaks with his life.
A believing father and mother must be “the first of faith” for their children. They can do this first of all by coming to Mass each week, by coming to confession regularly, praying at meals and in the evening. They can prepare their children for the sacraments: reviewing and explaining the catechism, helping them memorize the commandments and prayers. They witness to the faith by the way they correct and forgive, by the way they speak respectfully of others, by the way they care for the poor, by the comments they make in conversation. They witness at times through their silence. We don’t have to comment on everything!
The command to be a witness to the faith has special meaning for priests and deacons. Last Saturday, Bishop O’Connell told the four newly ordained deacons as they touched the Book of the Gospels: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
This is the great message of the Ascension—Jesus is with us, he waits to share with us the eternal joy and glory of heaven, but we must be sure to follow his command to true witnesses.
