Solemnity of the Ascension 2015
May 14, 2015 by Liz Estler
Pope Benedict XVI taught in a 2009 homily on the Ascension, that this solemnity “invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Lord’s Ascension…[wherein] we [are] urged to fix our gaze on our Redeemer: who died ‘for sins once for all’ that he might bring us back to God, … [and who] ‘has gone into Heaven’ and is at the right hand of God ‘with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him’ (cf. 1 Pt 3:18, 22).”
Christ did not abandon the Apostles, nor does He abandon us, but is present now in a new and different way: a way of continuing presence that is closer and more intimate than His disciples experienced, up until the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a way that sets aside the human way of clinging to Him, like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, for a newer, fresher, and ever more complete way of being in relationship with Him. This relationship is filled, not with worldly joy, but with the deep joy and peace that only God can give, a joy even greater than that joy the disciples experienced when Jesus departed (cf Luke 24:52).
Just as His followers were commissioned to bring the Good News to all nations, we, too, have been commissioned as priest, prophet and king by our baptism, to live the life of Christ in and through us, as co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord, by the example of our lives in our many different vocations and by our prayers. But, where Jesus is, we also will be. He rules from the throne of the Cross, the mercy seat of God. And, there is no Resurrection without the Cross, no ascending into glory without suffering first (cf Luke 24: 26), no trouble-free life in this world (cf John 16:33).
But, take courage, He has conquered the world (cf John 16:33)! And, where He is, there also will we be. We can take great consolation that He has preceded us into heaven and there intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. We can take great joy that, as members of the Body of Christ, in communion with Him, we are already seated at the right hand of God.
Let us pray that, with all the helps He gives us–His grace, His mercy, the Blessed Mother, the Saints, the holy Angels, His Church to guide us–when our earthly journey is done, we will, like St. Paul, have competed well and finished the race, faithful to the end, so that we may also enter into the fullness of our Master’s joy, the Kingdom of God, prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
Behold, He makes all things new!
The virtues, labor, and sufferings of St. Mathias have not been handed down to us: this explains the lack of proper lessons on his life, such as we have for the feasts of the rest of the apostles. Clement of Alexandria records in his writings several sayings of our holy apostle. One of these is so very appropriate to the spirit of the present season, that we consider it a duty to quote it. 'It behooves us to combat the flesh, and make use of it, without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by faith and knowledge.' How profound is the teaching contained in these few words! Sin has deranged the order which the Creator had established. It gave the outward man such a tendency to grovel in things which degrade him, that the only means left us for the restoration of the image and likeness of God unto which we were created, is the forcible subjection of the body to the spirit. But the spirit itself, that is, the soul, was also impaired by original sin, and her inclinations were made prone to evil; what is to be her protection? Faith and knowledge. Faith humbles her, and then exalts and rewards her; and the reward is knowledge. 
According to certain very unreliable "Acts", Boniface was a Roman citizen who for a time lived in sinful union with a noble woman named Aglae. Upon his conversion he determined to do penance by seeking the remains of martyrs and giving them honorable burial. At Tarsus he found many confessors about to be martyred for professing the faith; he kissed their chains and encouraged them to bear their sufferings courageously, assuring them that everlasting rest would follow a brief struggle. Finally he himself was taken captive, his body mangled with iron hooks, and boiling lead poured into his mouth. In spite of excruciating pain only one cry came from the lips of Boniface: "I thank You, Christ Jesus, Son of God!"