Ascending

This past weekend we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord.  On this solemnity, I always can’t help but think about the emotions that the apostles must have felt.  Talk about mixed feelings!  Not long before this they had been living in grief and fear because of the death of Jesus.  Then they experienced the elation of seeing Him alive again, risen from the tomb. Next came forty joyful but confusing days of trying to comprehend His resurrected presence among them.  Now He leaves them again to ascend to His Father in heaven, promising them that they will soon receive the power of the Holy Spirit. What a range of events and intense emotions in such a short time. 

I realized this weekend, as I heard the Scripture readings at Mass, that the Ascension is another example of detachment – the same kind of detachment that happens naturally in our lives as we say good-bye to loved ones, to seasons, to experiences, to places, to stages in our growth.  But it is also an example of another kind of detachment, that doesn’t feel so natural.  This is the detachment that God calls us to as He invites us to enter a new phase of spiritual maturity and trust.  Mary said “Yes” to that invitation when she received a visit from the Angel Gabriel. Paul said “Yes” after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus.  Francis said “Yes” after hearing the Lord’s voice in the little Chapel of San Damiano.  In all of these instances we see an opportunity seized that brings new life and transformation.

God invites each of us to this same transformation, but it always involves a risk, a letting go, a detachment from the familiar.  It also takes a lot of courage.  In a way, Christ’s Ascension is a continuation of His invitation to all of us to “Follow Me.”  To quote the Franciscan Richard Rohr, one of my favorite authors, “There is a movement from Jesus to the Christ that you and I have to imitate and walk, as well. A lot of us have so fallen in love with the historical Jesus that we worship Him as such and stop there.  We never really followed the same journey He made, which is the death and resurrection journey – Jesus died and Christ rose.” 

Will we accept His invitation?