Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

As we celebrate and remember the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven, Saint Luke gives a summary of the teaching of The Risen lord: The kingdom of God. It is exactly what Jesus said in the beginning of His public life: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk 1: 15). Jesus' project didn't change. The Resurrection is for us a new beginning. Not even the sufferings He endured or His death could change His obedience to and love of His Father. His goal: The Glory of The Name of God, that His will can be heard and obeyed. In other words, it is what we say in the Our Father: "Adveniat regnum tuus fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra", which means: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It was hard for the disciples and the first Christians to witness their Leader suffer and then die...

It was hard for the apostles to trust in the Lord and to follow Him. It is still hard to believe, after the Resurrection, in our own lives, what was hard for them to believe is hard for us. They were as real as you or I. When they speak to us years later about holiness and the Kingdom of Heaven through the Gospels, we need not imagine them as people who did not have their feet on the ground. Their questions proved their sense of reality very well: Is it now when You are going to establish the kingdom of Israel? In other words: Is it now when real problems, when real injustices from this world, real hunger, real sufferings are going to stop?

The answer that Jesus gives is always the same: Give Me the freedom to decide for such things are not for you to know. I am King and I will always be King at the right hand of the Father.

The goal of Jesus was not only to create a socially safe environment with good laws but an environment where everyone would respect others, no matter where or how they come. He is the Head we are the Body... Where He is we hope to be one day... Every injustice and lack of order will come to an end when what we say in the Creed every Sunday becomes real: "He will come to judge the living and the dead and His Kingdom will have no end"...Our Goal is Heaven!