While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

An interesting picture to be sure; a small band gathered together on a hill in Bethany looking up at the sky.

I can imagine what may have been going through their minds. Maybe they felt amazement, expectation, fear, and wonder. Perhaps they experienced other emotions and thoughts.

Think of what they went through. In the past six months Jesus raised Lazarus, was greeted triumphantly, was arrested, tortured, and killed, rose, appeared to them, and was just taken up into a cloud.

People react to what happens in their lives in differing ways. The events of the past forty-three days saw Judas, so irreconcilable, as to choose death by suicide over forgiveness. They saw Peter, so irreconcilable, that he shed tears for days over his betrayal.

There was a lot going on as we say nowadays.

The angels appeared and said something startling. Somewhat akin to: ‘Hey, you, over here. What are you doing?’ Scripture recounts:

They said, —Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?—

In other words, you should be doing something else.

On this Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord, we are including the anointing of the sick as part of the Holy Mass.

We are doing that for a very important reason.

Brothers and sisters,

When we are sick or troubled we often turn inward. We may give in to looking at ourselves and lamenting our position, our situation.

Now there is no doubt that sickness is horrible; that sickness is a great cross for us to bear. Nevertheless, sickness in the Christian context is more. It is witness to the world.

The angels are speaking to us now, saying: ‘Hey, you, over here. What are you doing?’

Being a person with a chronic health condition gives me some perspective on the issue. The angels are asking me— —What are you doing?—

I need to respond by my choices; choices that are in keeping with my faith.

The world doesn’t want the yuckiness of sickness, the mess, pain, sorrow, and burden. Everyone hopes that their suffering will be short or better yet, non-existent. The world offers solutions, if suffering lasts. Those solutions reject God.

Well, we don’t want the yuckiness of sickness, the mess, pain, sorrow, and burden either. We don’t wish for it. But we know that it will come. So we must make our choice, and our choice is for God.

We have come here tonight. In faith we come to the healer, Jesus, our physician, and we ask Him for healing, for strength, and that we might be molded to Him in our suffering, and in His cross.

We come in faith, seeking enlightenment, securing our belief in the hope we have been given, and seeking the riches of Christ’s glory and the exercise of His power. As St. Paul reminds us:

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
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

We bear witness to Him by our faith, faith that overcomes the yuckiness, pain, and sorrow of the world. We bear witness as He asked.

—and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.—

Before He left them, He raised his hands, and blessed them.

May he bless you, secure your hope, and shower the riches of His glory and power upon you.

Amen.

Chrystus Zmartwychwstał
Prawdziwie zmartwychwstał!

Christ is risen
Truly He is risen! Alleluia

Because there arose no little dissension and debate

A strangle quote from scripture to say the least. But hey, it’s Mother’s Day and doesn’t that line just about capture the essence of what mom is all about.

Deacon, are you saying that mom is about dissension and debate?

Let me explain.

The Judiazers showed up in Antioch and the surrounding areas and immediately went to work upsetting the apple cart. The people of Antioch, especially the gentile converts, were being told to do all sorts of unimaginable things. They had to go and get circumcised, they had to stop eating the foods they liked, they had to follow all sorts of rules and regulations about work, hand washing, etc. The house got a little crazy.

Moms, you know how that goes. Your husband has a bad day at work, your children are frustrated with school, the television, iPod, video games, Internet, and radio are delivering all sorts of messages to your loved ones, telling them how they should act and what they should do. Maybe they even go so far as to develop ideas about how you should act, about who you should be.

So the community got together with their leaders, the ones who were speaking truth, that is, Paul and Barnabas, and they decided to get the final word. Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem. The Church convened an Ecumenical Council, the first ever, and decided the question. The Judiazers were wrong and the people received true direction.

Moms, when you see things going wrong you speak with your husband and children. You turn off the TV, the radio, and limit the video games, Internet, and iPod downloads. You call a family council and you lead the family in working things out. You set the ground rules and you indicate the way to go. Your family knows that it can come to you for advice, guidance, and love.

The Holy Church, sometimes referred to as Holy Mother Church and moms have a lot in common. Not only do they have a lot in common, but what they have springs from the same place —“ the love of God.

They both have the same mission, entrusted to them by Jesus Christ. I am the way. Show my people the way.

The vision of the life to come, which John cracks open for us, gives us this picture:

I saw no temple in the city
for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.
The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gave it light,
and its lamp was the Lamb.

The vision is the reality, namely God dwells in the midst of His people; the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the light among us.

That, my friends, is the present reality and the life to come.

All of us dwell in that reality and that hope. Moms especially carry that reality forward. Their vocation, however it should come to them, reflects that light and passes it on.

Moms, in their cooperation with the Holy Church, and in their vocation, stand as a bulwark against the fits of the world, against the Judiazers, the hypocrites, against all the messages that say: —Do as you please, do as we say, live today, for tomorrow we die.—

Moms have heard the message and have accepted the mission. They know that life is not just the here and now, the fads that fade, the influences that are like the grass that withers, the flowers that fade.

Moms believe in what Jesus said:

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

When the messages of dissension and debate come, they, faithful as they are to Christ’s message and mission, live and teach the promise given to all Christians, the message that is in the best interest of those they love.

—Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

Moms, grandmothers, godmothers, may our Lord ever bless you and enrich you in the graces needed to live out your vocation, to carry forth the message of Christ, and to be His missionary and messenger, standing for good and right against the sins of the world. May our mother Mary watch over, pray, and intercede for you.

Amen.