Ascension School Mass 2009
May 2009
Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of Jesus of Nazareth into heaven.
His followers thought that he was leaving them but soon realised that this was not so.
Up to this point the disciples had to look around to see where Jesus was or ask someone if they had seen him. Then they had to go to him and say ‘excuse me but I want a word with you’ but soon after the Ascension they realised that they no longer needed to do this. They found that Jesus was now in them. They no longer needed to look for him. He was in them and they were in him.
Jesus was present to them in a new way. He was part of them.
I will give you an example to show what I mean.
When I was at school like you, long long ago, I had to learn poetry.
The poems were in a book which I had to carry to school and bring home aain every day. Every time I wanted to read a particular poem I had to find the book and read the poem. Then after a period of time, doing this every day, I realised that I no longer needed to find the book and read the poem. I knew the poem by heart and I could recite it any time I wished without the book.
Now I knew the poem in a different way. The poem had become part of me.
Even today, over fifty five years later, it is still part of me and I can recite it any time I wish. (recite poem).
This is what happened after the Ascension. Jesus was no longer visibly among them. They no longer had to look around to see where he was. He was now part of them and present to them all the time but in a different way.