The Ascension of the Lord
Many dioceses celebrate the Ascension on Sunday. In that case, see today's alternate reflection for the Feast of Saint Matthias.
There are several watershed moments in the course of salvation history, and the Feast of our Lord’s Ascension marks one of these. At the Annunciation, God proclaimed through the angel Gabriel that he was coming to free us from the slavery to sin and death that we ourselves were powerless to overcome. By uniting it with his own divine nature, Christ elevated our human nature and gave it renewed dignity. Through his Passion and Death, Jesus, the true Lamb of God, accomplished our redemption through the offering of his infinitely precious body, blood, soul and divinity to the Father. Through his glorious Resurrection, Christ paved the way for our own resurrection and made it possible for us to receive the gift of eternal life.
The Ascension takes all of this a step further. While it may superficially appear that Christ is leaving his disciples, he takes apparent leave of them in order to confer even greater gifts upon humanity. As he himself states, it was necessary for him to ascend to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could be sent. But also, when Christ ascends into Heaven and takes his place at the right hand of the Father, he receives renewed honor, glory, power, and authority beyond our capacity to imagine. As sons, daughters, and ultimately heirs, we all have been offered a share in the glory of the wonders that Christ has accomplished through his own sacred humanity.