Sunday – Feast of the Ascension

Gospel - Matthew 28:16-20

What Are We Waiting For?

Deacon Ordination 2015

Simple Question!  What are we celebrating today?

Yes, of course, the Feast of the Ascension!  The moment, 40 days after Easter, when Jesus ascended bodily up to heaven after His final earthly ministry – His final instructions to the disciples, His promise of the Holy Spirit and His command to go forth and teach all nations.

But, on a personal level, we are also celebrating a couple of other special events.

If he were still with us, today would have been Ginger’s Dad 98^th birthday!  Sadly he passed away 2 years ago!  Happy Birthday, Dad!

11 years ago today, I knelt before Bishop Kane in Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago and was ordained a Permanent Deacon!

And finally, in just a couple of hours, our oldest grandson, Tyler, will graduate from the University of Tennessee with Honors, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Child/Family Development and Family Science.  Yup!  One very proud PaPa!

Yes!  A lot happening today!  And while they seem completely unrelated, there is a connection!

Which brings us to today’s readings where we hear not one but two stories of Jesus’ Ascension, one from the Gospel, with Jesus’ final words of instruction and one from the Acts of the Apostles.   

Jesus makes it very clear.  You will be My witnesses to the ends of the earth.  You will make disciples of all nations. You will baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and you will teach them My commandments!  And you will not be alone – I will be with you; the Spirit will be with you!

And then Jesus ascends into heaven before their eyes.  And what do the disciples do?  They just stand there gawking up into the sky.  You can almost hear them saying to themselves – oh geez, He’s gone!  Now what do I do?  Well, I’m not gonna go preach first; I’ll let someone else go first.  Kind of like Mikey in the Life cereal commercial – I’m not gonna try it, you try it!

It takes 2 angels to appear and knock some sense into them.  Why are you just standing around looking up into the sky.  Jesus has gone but will return later.  So get moving, get busy!  He left you a mission!  Get to it!

That mission doesn’t just happen, not with a simple snap of the fingers.  It takes time!  It takes effort!  It takes faith!

Tyler didn’t just skate through his classes to get to graduation!   He weathered out a year of Covid when school occurred at home, without contact with friends or his favorite extracurricular activities.  He made it through the move from Illinois to Tennessee and a shift from community college to UT!

Ginger’s Dad didn’t make it through 95 years without doing his utmost, working long hours in a grocery store and a meat packing firm, in order to give his family, his daughter, not only a life but a future.

Deacon Formation, for me, meant 4 years of study – classes 2 nights a week and Practicums 2 Saturdays a month!  Not to mention, all the letters Ginger sent to the Cardinal giving her consent/blessing to this deacon journey!

Time!  Effort!  Time!

We all have that same mission – to be disciples and missionaries, to spread the word.  We are all called to stop standing around and to stop waiting for someone else to take the lead. We are all called to live out our Baptismal promises to witness to our faith, in our words, in our actions, in our life!

So consider this a group kick in the pants – What are we waiting for?  Stop Standing Around!  Get Up!  Get Moving!  We have work to do!