Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the Ascension of the Lord.
May 24, 2020
St. Paul writes to the Ephesians (Eph 1:18f), “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened that you may know…what is the surpassing greatness of His power for us who believe.”
This prayer of Saint Paul is the prayer of the Church today: may you and I see the surpassing power of Christ within us. May we do so with the eyes of the heart – so much more than the eyes of the body. With the deepest longings of our inmost self, may we see Him more clearly and love Him more dearly. Let our faith stir up in us longings far beyond what the world can give. The eyes of the heart pierce the clouds. They bring us, on the wings of love, into the presence of Jesus who, at His Ascension, “was lifted up, and a cloud took Him from their sight,” from the sight of the Apostles.
When we see with the eyes of the heart, the sky is no longer the limit. We can glimpse what the Lord has in store for those who love Him. Think of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen who, as he was dying, cried out (Acts 7:56), “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God…Lord Jesus, receive my spirit…Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
At the Ascension, when Jesus returned to His Father in heaven, our humanity entered heaven with Him. Just as Jesus’ divinity came to earth at Bethlehem when He took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary, without ceasing to be one with His heavenly Father, He became one with us in our lowly human nature. Now at His Ascension, Jesus does not break his bonds with us as He returns to heaven. Through His Spirit, we are members of His Body, the Church. We share an intimate unity with Him through the Sacraments, especially Baptism and the Eucharist.
Like the Apostles, however, our faith in Jesus’ presence is often put to the test. We feel weak, even afraid, in the face of doubts and temptations. This is the problem St. Paul addressed among new Christians in Ephesus. The popular pagan society ridiculed their practices and mocked our beliefs, such as “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God; Blessed are merciful for they shall receive mercy; Forgive your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” They mocked these beliefs because they could not see with the eyes of their hearts. Above all, non-believers mocked their belief in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. To be a faithful follower of Jesus in Ephesus in the First Century, made them a sign of contradiction, and it does the same for you and me today. But this is not bad news; it is rather a great opportunity, if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Therefore, we find St. Paul writing to the Christians in Ephesus,
“May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened that you may know…what are the riches of glory in His inheritance among the holy ones and what is the surpassing greatness of His power for us who believe…which He worked in Christ, raising Him from the dead and seating Him at the right hand in the heavens.”
The power of the Holy Spirit is our strength and helps us to see with the eyes of our hearts. What seems like foolishness to nonbelievers is to us who love Jesus, the power and the wisdom of God. The Apostle St. John affirmed this same truth when he wrote in His first letter (1 Jn 4:4), “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” May we never doubt this truth. We carry within us the Holy Spirit, who is the presence and the power of Christ.
Dear sisters and brothers, sons and daughters in Christ, never doubt the great treasure that is ours in coming to know and love the living Jesus Christ. Never doubt the ability given us by the Spirit to see with the eyes of the heart the hope that is ours as Jesus’ disciples, the mercy that restores human dignity, and the future that He secures for every member of His Body. With the eyes of the heart, we see what the world cannot see and does not even suspect.
What happened at the Ascension, when Jesus took our humanity with Him to heaven, demonstrates how the power and presence of Jesus is available to us now, the grace that overcomes the world. Recall that the human body of Jesus that lay lifeless in the tomb for three days is now gloriously ruling in heaven; it is the same human nature as our own. And, through His Holy Spirit, Jesus is closer to us now than He was with His Apostles when He walked the hills of Galilee; for now His own Spirit lives within us – He who has the power to renew the face of the earth. In the presence and power of Christ, we find the strength to resist temptation, and the courage to be faithful witnesses to Jesus and the Gospel.
So why should we ever be afraid? Why should we ever lose hope? There is no place where we can be distant from Jesus. There is no time when He is not near. Amid sorrow, He is with us. Amid failure, He is with us. Amid misunderstanding or a pandemic, He is with us. As St. Paul writes to the Romans (8:39), “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ”. His Presence is no less real than when He walked the roads of Galilee and Judea.
Let us keep in mind the last words of Jesus before He ascended into heaven (Mt 28:20): “Go, and make disciples… And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
