Passing On The Mission To Us

Vera was just a junior in high school when she attended the funeral of a religious sister who had been her English teacher. Though she attended Mass every Sunday and would go with her grandmother to Stations of the Cross on the Friday afternoons she was with her, she did not consider herself particularly religious. However, during the funeral Mass, an overwhelming sense came over her that, now that the religious sister was gone, Vera would have to take her place.

At first, she struggled with accepting her call to religious life. She dismissed what she experienced at the funeral as a figment of her imagination. She tried to convince herself that she could do more good as a wife and mother. She told herself that maybe the call she experienced was to be a teacher and not necessarily to be a religious sister.

However, with prayer and the advice of a wise teacher, she finally accepted her call and began her studies with the Holy Union Sisters. LIke the religious sister whose funeral she attended, she spent over fifty years teaching English in High School. Over those years she inspired many young people to follow their dreams and to serve their Lord. At her own funeral, the church was packed with her former students, some of whom had been inspired by her to be religious women themselves or to enter the teaching profession. Her “yes” gave others the courage to say “yes” themselves and to discover that, whenever we agree follow Jesus, miracles happen.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. After spending forty days with His disciples, instructing them about the Kingdom of God as Saint Luke tells us in today’s first reading, Jesus ascends to His throne in heaven. Just as young Vera experienced, the disciples now discover that they are left behind to take Jesus’ place, to continue His saving mission to the world.

Today’s scripture readings give us three indications about what it means to continue Jesus’ mission in the world. They are, to be witnesses to Jesus, to build up the Body of Christ and to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells the disciples, “...you will be my witnesses...to the ends of the earth.” What exactly are they witnesses to? His death and resurrection. They are to go forth and tell the whole world that,  with their own eyes, they saw Jesus raised from the dead.  They were to announce to all people that He was crucified for our sins but now He has been raised to give us the promise of eternal life. The heart of the message is that, in Jesus Christ, we find forgiveness and healing.

Though we are not eyewitnesses to the resurrection, we still find our identities as believers in that call to proclaim to everyone we meet that Jesus is alive and active in the world. Sometimes with all the crises and controversies that accompany being a Christian in today’s modern world, we can lose sight of this simple fact. Our central message is that Jesus Christ loves us and has changed our lives. Once that truth comes across - once people see in us a joy that the world cannot give and a love that extends even to those who harm us - the other truths which go along with being a follower of Jesus will be easier to understand and accept.

Besides being called to witness to Jesus, the disciples were called to “...build up the Body of Christ”, as Saint Paul teaches us in today’s second reading from the letter to the Ephesians. When Saint Paul uses the term, “Body of Christ”, he is speaking about the Church. In his first letter to the Corinthians he explains that our connection to one another as believers is similar to the connection our body parts have to one another. Through baptism and faith, all of us who follow Christ are interconnected in a real way. The disciples, then, understood that they were called not only to preach the gospel but to establish communities of disciples who would continue their work.

Therefore, being involved in a community of believers is central to being a follower of Jesus. None of us can live the Christian life alone. We need the support of others. And each of us is called to use our gifts to further the mission of the Church. Some of us are called to teach, some of us are called to preach and others of us are called to pray. Whatever our talents may be, we are all called to contribute in some way to build up the Church so that it can be a clearer sign of the ongoing presence of the Risen Lord in our world.

Finally, besides witnessing to Jesus and building up His Church, the disciples were called to await the gift of the Holy Spirit. On the day He ascended into heaven, Jesus promised His disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. At the time, they were still confused and fearful. With all they had seen during those forty days, some of them still had doubts. All of that would change once the Holy Spirit came down upon them at Pentecost. Now they did not even fear death but preached the gospel boldly.

We too must pray constantly for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come down upon us both as individuals and as a Church. If we rely on our own talents and organizational skills, we will not get very far. We need the Holy Spirit to inspire us, to strengthen us and also to soften the hearts of those we are called to witness to. Living the Christian life today is becoming increasingly difficult. With all the hostility to the message of Jesus and all the temptations the world offers, we cannot last long without the strength and consolation of the Holy Spirit. That is why along with witnessing to Jesus and building up His Church we must spend time in fervent prayer everyday. As the saying goes, “Those who kneel before God can stand up to anyone.”

Brothers and sisters, many generations of Christians have gone before us. They have sacrificed themselves, even to the point of death, so that we could hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Now it is up to us to be witnesses to the gospel and to build up the Body of Christ with the power that comes from the Holy Spirit. If we say “yes” despite our fears and doubts, we will experience many miracles, the greatest of which might just be that we will actually inspire others to take our place once our journey has ended and we are called to join Jesus in His Heavenly Kingdom.