The Ascension of the Lord

The Ascension of the Lord
Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, Let us thank God almighty for bringing us all here to St. Patrick’s/Our lady of Fatima church to praise and glorify Him, to experience His unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness in Christ our Lord. Today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. Christ our Lord is ascending to the Father not to abandon us but prepare a place for us all so that where the Master is, there we may be too. Where the head is going, there body will follow too. Christ our Lord is ascending not to abandon us but to send the Holy Spirit the reminder to be with us and comfort us.

Once a professor went around the country lecturing. Every time he lectured, his driver sat in the audience and listened. One day the driver said, “I listened more than thousand lectures of yours and I can do it as good as you do”. The professor said, “Tonight you lecture and I will sit with the audience dressed like a driver”. The man did a wonderful lecturing. At the end of his lecture, every body clapped and cheered for him then a hand went up and said, “By the way, when you mix the c0l2 and kh2o with the photosynthesis, how come the result is not c02 but clk53? The man said, “This is the most stupid question I have ever heard and I want to prove to you how stupid it is and I let my driver answer this question.

There is an ascension anecdote that as Jesus went up to heaven, angels and archangels surrounded Him and they asked about His mission. Jesus talked about His preaching and healing; His suffering and death and His resurrection and the Mission of salvation. The angel Gabriel asked, “Lord, who is going to continue the mission now?” Jesus said, “I formed a group of men and they will take the message of good news every where. The angel then said, they denied you , they abandoned you and they ran away from you and do you have any other plan? Jesus the Lord looked at them and said, “I have only one plan and they are my plan”.
Christ our Lord after His resurrection for forty days stayed on earth appearing to His disciples and apostles and to other holy people, giving them divine peace and encouraging them to deepen their faith in God the Almighty and on the fortieth day, in the presence of His apostles, He was taken up to heaven surrounded by angels and archangels. As the apostles were looking up the sky and looking sad, then the angels appeared to them and said, “O men of Galilee, what are you looking up in the sky? The Christ who was taken up into heaven, will in the same way come again.
Christ the Lord who ascended into heaven will come again and until then the followers and the disciples and the believers and worshipers should follow His final command or instructions.
Christ our Lord before His ascension told His disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, who was baptized at Jordan and began His mission of preaching the Good News of salvation to all by healing the sick, giving sight and raising the dead to life was not an ordinary human, He is God indeed and He who died on the Cross came back to life and He has power and authority in heaven and on earth. And those who follow the Lord who has divine authority and power will become like Him having divine power and divine authority. They will do greater things in His name.
Christ asks His disciples to go everywhere. Yes the whole world belongs to Him. What is in heaven and on earth and under the earth bow before Him. Everything was created in Him and for Him alone. As we go everywhere in His name, we see nothing but His divine blessing and grace flowing. we will find Him alone in everything.
He asks us to preach the good News of salvation to all creatures. The best preaching of the Good News is keeping our faith. As St. Francis of Assisi says when we keep the gospel, people will come to know that Christ is alive and will experience His miracles and wonders.
He asks His disciples to baptize the beliers in His name. Baptism is not about the ritual, it is all about becoming a child of God. As Christ, and John the Baptist and all people heard the divine voice from the heavens, blessed people will hear the voice of God on the day of baptism. they will have a reassurance saying, ‘you are my child and with you, I am well pleased”.
Today as the very final thought Christ says, “we do not need to be afraid of anything. people may come and say that the world is going to end today or tomorrow and we will be left alone but Christ today promises that He is with us until the end of time. Nothing will happen to His believers because one day like our master and Lord, we too will be taken up to heaven until then let us live in the Lord and preach the Good news and Christ does not have any other plan to preach the Good news of salvation to the world because we are His plan. Amen.