Dear St. Paul Family and Friends,

First of all, I want to thank you for sharing with us your thoughts on the eight (8) synod questions that we printed on the bulletin for four (4) consecutive weeks. We have gathered many responses from you. The summary is in the works (and soon we will share them with you) but our responses appropriate to what you have shared already begin. We continue to reflect on them and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and empower us to move.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Mark 16, 19 tells us that “the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.” St. Luke also describes that Jesus blessed them as “he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” (Lk. 24, 51). It is noteworthy though, that the Ascension of the Lord is reckoned forty days after his resurrection. Our first reading today details to us “all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up… He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1, 1-3)

With strict reckoning, the 40th day after Easter Sunday was last Thursday (and will always be on a Thursday). From very early on, the Church celebrated this solemnity on this day. However, due to pastoral considerations (i.e., the unavailability of Catholics on Thursdays and the importance of this feast), the US bishops petitioned the Holy See to transfer the day following Canon Law No. 1246: “With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.” Hence, in the US, all but Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha, have transferred the celebration to the Sunday after Ascension Thursday.

The Ascension of the Lord is the final step in Jesus’ victory over death. His resurrected body, in fulfillment of the promise of Easter, enters fully into the glory of heaven. It is to us also the confirmation and guarantee of the doctrine of our faith that, as Christ did, those who believe in him shall rise from the dead and, with glorified bodies, begin life of true and eternal happiness. We are blessed to have the good fortune of knowing, with reason and faith, that death is not the end of man. In death, life is changed, not ended.

Quite naturally, even for faithful Christians, the death of a loved one causes sorrow and tears. Yet the certainty of resurrection with Christ brings us comfort and consolation that our loved ones, and us when the time comes, will enter into the glory of heaven where there is no more pain, sadness and grief but only joy, peace and light. So as St. Paul says, “we are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair… for this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” (1 Cor. 4, 8.17)

Today, look up to heaven. Remember your departed loved ones. Thank Jesus for giving us the assurance that we will all be reunited in heaven, and see God face to face. Amen.