Ascension Year A - Pass Life's Tests

 

Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Did you know the public ministry of Jesus lasted for 3 years. Jesus began His public ministry at the age of 30 years old and He completed His public ministry, 3 years later at the age of 33.

The apostles had first hand experience with Jesus for those three years. During that time, they listened to His sermons, watched Him heal the sick, perform miracles of walking on the water, multiplying the loaves, expelling demons and raising people from the dead. They witnessed how He forgave sinners and was tender and compassionate towards them.

Then for forty days, between His resurrection and ascension into heaven Jesus appeared to His apostles many times instructing them and teaching them. He trained His apostles for their high calling. He comforted them because they had been scandalized by His death on the Cross. He taught them about the kingdom of God which they were to establish on earth. He inflamed their hearts for a longing for His heavenly kingdom and excited them to love God ever more fervently. Perhaps He instructed them on the sacraments and how to pasture the people. Maybe He told them to ask for the advice and prayers of His Mother, while She is on earth and later pray to Her after She would go to heaven. She would help them, console them and guide them to form the early Church.

In a certain sense, the apostles “graduated”, from their personal one on one time with Jesus during His public ministry.

Now, 40 days after giving the apostles instructions, they and the Blessed Virgin Mary gathered on top of the Mount of Olives. It was at the base of the mountain where Jesus had His agony in the garden. From the top of the mountain Our Divine Lord appeared to them. Curiously, though they gazed upon Him, they doubted out of human weakness. Some still mistakenly wondered when He was going to restore the kingdom of Israel thinking he was going to somehow conquer the enemies of Israel by force.

St. Luke tells us, Jesus gave the apostles His blessing before ascending into heaven. We can picture the loving reverence in which they received His blessing by kneeling, thanking and praying before Him as they gave Him homage. Then He would ascend into heaven on a cloud.

After they completed or so to speak “graduated” from their personal one on one experience with Jesus, now they were going to wait to receive a new mission in life. They were disciples, who were followers of Jesus, now, as apostles, the would make more disciples, by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded them. But they had not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

To receive the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, He told them to stay in Jerusalem, so they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses unto the ends of the earth.

In Jerusalem, the Apostles with the Virgin Mary would pray for 9 days for the coming of the Holy Spirit in the upper room (the same place Jesus ordained them as priests, the same place they made their first Holy Communion and attended the first Mass at the Last Supper, and the same place Jesus appeared to them, breathing on them giving them power to forgive sins).

Today, we have 8^th grade and high school graduates here at Mass. We are proud of your accomplishment. You are graduating from a public school and some of you are graduating with honors.

With regard to the faith, I mentioned earlier that the apostles “graduated”, so to speak, from their personal one on one time and experience with Jesus. They flunked some spiritual tests. For example, they were jealous of each other, wanting to sit on the right hand of Jesus in heaven. James and John flunked the test of patience, when they wanted to call down fire on the people who rejected Jesus. All of them flunked the test of loyalty when Jesus was arrested, as all of them abandoned Jesus. Peter flunked the test of faithfulness, when He denied knowing Jesus, three times.

One apostle, Judas, flunked the test of trusting in God’s mercy, despaired, and killed himself.

Only one apostle passed the test of courage. It was St. John the Apostle, who stood with Mary at the foot of the Cross and was rewarded by taking Mary into his home.

The other 10 apostles, passed their final test and were martyred for Jesus and His teachings. They were true witnesses.

Some have said Confirmation is a passage way to adulthood. I can remember when I was Confirmed in 8^th grade, I was told, you are now an adult. That was far from true. When young people are Confirmed, they are fully initiated in the Catholic Church, but fully initiated doesn’t mean fully mature.

When someone is Confirmed, they are to be witnesses to the faith. They are soldiers for Christ. Even though they are not physically mature, inside they have power from the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel and are willing to suffer for it.

Our seniors, who graduated, will have many future tests. Some tests will be in college, other tests will be in life, and there will be some tests of faith.

Will they pass the test of being faithful to their Sunday Mass attendance, to going to Confession regularly, to reading and meditating a short paragraph from the bible, praying the Rosary everyday? Will they past the test of being a Christian witness by their good behavior, by their faithfulness to their jobs, and/or classes if they go to college?

When I was in college, there were three Catholic men who joined a fraternity. One went to Mass every Sunday, to Confession regularly and he even went to Mass during the week at times, his name was Brian. Brian was the encourager and regularly complimented others.

He always had a smile on his face, was willing to help anyone at anytime. He attended the frat parties, but was never seen intoxicated. Brian would regularly ask other Catholics to go to Mass with him on Sunday, because he wanted to help them to stay close to Jesus.

Another young man, was Paul. Paul went to Mass every Sunday and prayed the Rosary at times. But, he got drunk on occasion. One time, he was so drunk, he walked into the home of a stranger and fell asleep on their couch, only to waking up in the morning with two people who asked him to leave their home. Paul likewise, was a happy person, but at times, he got drunk.

Paul used to tell the fraternity members about his father, who he said would get up in the middle of the night, and go to the church to pray. He said many thought his dad was odd for doing such a thing. We later discovered, his father was praying his weekly Holy Hour in the middle of the night at Blessed Sacrament in Wichita.

Paul eventually graduated from college got married and raised his family in the Catholic faith. He stopped his excessive drinking and became a good husband and good father to his children. Perhaps, his change of life was due the prayers of his father in the middle of the night adoring Jesus in the Eucharist, that helped Paul to give up his sinful behavior and most likely the Virgin Mary helped him too, because he regularly prayed her Rosary.

Then there was Dennis. Dennis only went to Mass on Christmas and Easter. He didn’t know how to pray the Rosary. He hadn’t been to Confession since he was in 3^rd grade. He got drunk at frat parties and cheated on a term paper by asking a fellow frat member to do the paper for him, because he said he had no skill in writing papers and was too busy partying. The teacher knew he cheated and told him he had two choices.

One choice was to re-write the paper, which she said must have a beginning, middle and end to it, and, if he would re-write the paper, the highest grade he would receive on it, would be a B.

Or he had the choice of not re-writing the paper and the teacher would go to the Dean’s office and inform him of the cheating, and if so, he would be expelled from the college, and it would be noted on his transcript, the reason for the expulsion would be for cheating and then, almost no other college would take the student. She said she believed in him and that if he applied himself, he would do well.

Dennis decided to re-write the paper and he made sure it had a beginning, middle and an end. He received a B. He was happy the teacher believed in him because no one else believed in him before.

Dennis eventually dropped out of college and began to work full time. A few years later, he went to Confession, stopped partying, began to pray the Rosary, read the bible, and go to Mass on Sundays. He began to practice his faith, but not before he hurt many people by his sinful behavior especially himself.

Years later, when Dennis was more mature, he returned to college and ended up getting a bachelor's and a master’s degree.

One day, at the age of 22, Brian went home for Thanksgiving to be with his family. On his way home, he hit a patch of ice, rolled his car and died. Everyone understood Brian was the best witness, because he always lived out his faith by going to Mass and Confession regularly, and helped others to grow in their faith. He encouraged others and always had a smile on his face. When Brian died, he passed all his life tests and received a crown of glory. While Brian wasn’t martyred for Jesus, his life bore witness to his love of God and neighbor.

Who do you want to be like when you go to college or when you begin your new job? Brian, Paul or Dennis? And when we graduate from this life, how many life tests will we have flunked and how many tests will we have passed? No matter, what you do, or how many life tests you flunk, Jesus will always be there for you, to erase our mistakes, and help us to begin anew to be a Christian witness.