May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
More than fifty years
ago, my grandparents moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina. Before the family moved, my grandparents made
the long drive and searched for a house.
Since they did not find one to their liking, they made the long drive
back to Wisconsin, and they agreed that my grandfather would find a house while
he was working in North Carolina. My
grandmother, however, gave one very clear instruction about the house. She said to my grandfather, “I do not care
what the house looks like, just get me a nice kitchen.” That was the end of the discussion. The next time my grandmother came to North
Carolina, she and my mother and my uncles, moved into the house where my
grandmother would spend forty-one of the happiest years of her life. She had never seen the house before, but she
was happy, because her home had been prepared by one who loved her.
Today we celebrate the
Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Forty days after his resurrection, the Lord Jesus returns to the glory
of the Father. Entering the temple of
the heavenly glory, the Lord Jesus continues to bear the marks of his passion,
but now his wounds are trophies of victory.
Every wound and every suffering is now radiant in the splendor of the
Kingdom. Sin and death have been conquered by the blood of his cross, and now
the Lord Jesus returns to the Father. He
goes to prepare a place for us. And
though he has returned to the glory of the Father, he has promised to remain
with us always. The Lord Jesus has
promised to be present to us until the end of the world.
With the ascension of
the Lord Jesus, the power and presence of Christ’s earthly ministry passes into
the sacraments. The promise of the Lord
Jesus to remain with his disciples always is fulfilled through his presence in
the sacraments of the Church. What that
means, dear brothers and sisters, is that in every sacramental celebration, we
are offered a personal encounter with the Risen Lord. Like Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, like
the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, each
of us is offered an encounter with the Risen Lord. Our encounter with the Risen Lord is no less
real than the encounter of those who walked with him in Jerusalem. The way that we experience the encounter is
different, but the One whom we encounter is the same. We meet the Lord Jesus in the sacraments, and
the Lord Jesus meets us in the sacraments of his Church.
Though each of the
sacraments is celebrated in the context of a public liturgical celebration, each
of us receives the sacraments individually.
These moments of grace, where God in his love and mercy has promised to
act in a particular way, are personal.
One by one we were baptized and one by one we were confirmed. One by one we are absolved in the Sacrament
of Reconciliation and one by one we receive the holy anointing. One by one we receive the precious body and
blood of the Lord in Holy Communion. The
promise of the Lord Jesus which is offered to all of us, is received by each
of us.
And the promise of the
Lord Jesus which is offered to us in the Sacraments, prepares us for eternal
life. We receive the very life of God as
a gift of God in each sacrament. The
life of God dwelling within us during our life on earth prepares us to dwell
forever in the life of God in heaven.
My grandfather found a
nice kitchen, and my grandmother was happy for many years. The Lord Jesus Christ has gone to prepare a
place for us, and through his sacraments, the Lord Jesus prepares us for his
place. As we now enter into the worship
of heaven, let us welcome the Lord into our souls so that one day he will
welcome us into his Kingdom. Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
