Happy Mother’s Day!
I find it curious sometimes to see the comparisons we can make with the events in our lives and our faith. Our Mothers gave us human life. Jesus gives us eternal life, divine life with him, through his Death, Resurrection and Ascension. The Ascension is a promise of that divine life with Jesus. The Ascension can be seen as a moment of rebirth for all believers, because he opened Heaven for us.
Jesus, who shared our humanity, has entered into the inner life of God. There is a flesh and blood human being dwelling within the Holy Trinity. The second person of the Holy Trinity is totally human. Pope Benedict has said that,
“… man has found an everlasting place in God.”
So where do we go when we die? For baptized believers, we are already in Christ. We go to heaven because we are already in Christ. Our bodies will wear out. The early Church taught, like Jesus taught them, we will all fall asleep. Jesus destroyed the power of death. For the Baptized, we will awake and rise again. We will have resurrected bodies like Jesus in Heaven. Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection, as we heard,
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.
Then he ascended to the Father.
Jesus’ Ascension is our path, our way, our destiny. If we lose our way by rebelling against Christ, or we reject him or depart from him, then we lose our destiny. What is our destiny if Jesus didn’t ascend back to the Father? Jesus’ Ascension is our destiny. The Ascension is a journey; and it is our journey, also.
Jesus gave us food for the journey when he gave us his Body and Blood. Jesus said,
Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink…
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:54-56
He gave us his Body and Blood to remain in us and with us.
Do you want to have eternal life with Jesus? Remember, to have eternal life, there are only three things you have to do if you are Baptized:
First, don’t miss Mass. Third Commandment of the Ten Commandments. Keep Holy the Sabbath.
Second, receive Holy Communion as often as possible. And,
Third, when you fall off the bicycle, get up and go to Confession.
If you do those three things, you have Jesus’ promise of eternal life with him.
How much does Jesus want us to live with him? He loves us. He not only has given us his Body and Blood, but he has also shared with us his Sacred Heart. On June 3rd we will celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Jesus told St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, almost 350 years ago,
“I ask of you that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honor My Heart by communicating (Taking Holy Communion) on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars.”
We learn from this that Jesus wants us to receive Holy Communion as often as we can. Frequent Communion was not encouraged during the lifetime of St. Margaret Mary. Jesus encouraged her to receive as often as possible. We also learn from Jesus’ revelations to her that receiving Holy Communion is also to make amends for our sins and indignities toward Jesus and His Body and Blood.
Jesus received his body from his Mother, Mary. He gives it to us in the Sacrament to give us Life.
The Ascension is our destiny if we choose to follow him. Jesus shows us the way, by asking us to come to Mass and receive his Body and Blood so that we may be with him, and he may be with us and that we may have life eternal.