By Fr. Antony Christy, SDB –
Ascension. The Lord goes up, the Lord goes up to his Father, to the One who sent him, to the one who had given him a mission to accomplish! The Lord goes up, but has he accomplished?
The Lord goes up, with the PROMISE OF THE FATHER: I am going, but you remain!
I am going says the Lord; but assures that he will not abandon us totally. The Lord will give us a helper who would fill us with the same passion and fire that was in the Son of God. The promise is so concrete and sure, that the next step depends on that. They would be told to do what they have to do. And then it happens…the promise of the Father, crying out to the apostles, to us: you are my beloved sons and daughters, today I have begotten you in my Son! It is the promise of the Father as we read in the Book of Joel (chapter 2) that the Father will fill us with the Spirit!
The Lord goes up, with a PARTING MESSAGE: I am going, You too go!
Go and be my witnesses! Go proclaim my message! Go continue my task! It is like the famous relay race! The Lord has done his rounds, and now the baton is in our hands. It depends on us to take it forward, says the Lord, as he gives his parting message to the Apostles. Go all over the world; Go to all people; Go to take my message!
The Lord goes up, into a PRESENCE BEYOND: I am going, but I am with your forever.
This going of the Lord is not a going in the literal sense of the word, because if the Lord were to be gone, we would not exist. The Lord goes, to be with us ever more powerfully, ever more closely and ever more unceasingly. As the Lord promises, the Lord have overcome the World (Jn 16: 33). The Lord goes, precisely that he could be with us always and everywhere, till the end of times, as a conqueror, as the power that enlivens us, as a person who has gone before us showing us the way.
The Lord Goes… to be with us…forever, always and everywhere!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.