Two weeks ago, Marcus Knecht, the seminarian that was with us during the school year, invited the parish staff to Kenrick-Glennon seminary for lunch and a tour of the recently renovated campus. It is really beautiful, both inside and out and you can tell a lot of thought went into the remodeling project. I spent 8 years in that building so it was great to see a place which holds so many great memories brought back to life.
The first year at Kenrick-Glennon I had no car. This was no big deal during the school year, because I could always bum a ride with another seminarian who was headed to the same place or find someone who also wanted to get out of the building. But that summer was a different story. I lived in my little 10x12 room during June, July, and August and I pretty much had the seminary to myself. It was tough. This magnificent building, which was full of life, learning, faith, and friendship during the academic year, was a like a tomb. I thought I would enjoy living there for the summer. There was plenty of time to read, watch movies, and sleep after work but it was strange to be in that place without my seminary brothers. It was a major letdown. Kind of like you experience when get home after a great vacation with friends and family and reality starts to sink in. Or when you go on an amazing retreat or summer camp with fun people and the time comes to say goodbye and go back home. It is hard to describe this funk, but it is a subtle, nagging emptiness best described as missing someone or something.
I thought of this when I saw the first reading for today’s feast of the Ascension. The ascension is that moment when Jesus returns to heaven. He literally “ascends” from among the apostles to take his place next to God the Father. Our reading tells us that the poor apostles just kept looking up in the sky, even as Jesus disappeared from their sight. After a while, two angels appear and ask them why they are still looking at the heavens. They remind the group that Jesus, although he is gone for now, will return in the same way when the time is right.
I sympathize with the apostles. Much like I felt that sense of loneliness and sadness when I was alone at the seminary and all my buddies were gone. Much like we might feel after those great vacations or school or camps or times with friends come to close, so to are the first followers of Christ. Imagine: for three years you have been with the Son of God, who has also become your teacher, your savior, and your best friend. You have shared birthdays, meals, travels, jokes, and just about everything else in those special days. Suddenly, this divine friend was put to death and after three terrible days, raised. For a little over month, Jesus continues to appear to you and your companions, he explains why everything had to happen this way, he brings you peace, life is starting to look pretty good again…and then he disappears into the sky.
I can only imagine how the apostles must have been feeling. They miss Jesus already! It had to be scary thinking about life without him. Yet, we know Jesus does not truly leave them. In fact, in a few short days, he is going to be present to them forever and always through the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Instead of letting them sit there and feel sorry for themselves, he gives them a mission, a purpose for their lives. As he ascends to heaven he says, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”
This is the work that remains. This is what Jesus was preparing them for all along. After those three intense years of training and formation, now he is sending them out to be his witnesses not just in their families or towns, but to the whole world. This command, in a word, is what we call evangelization.
This exhortation of Christ, given 2000 years ago to the apostles, is something that is just as urgent today. There are still people who do not know Christ. There are still people who have not heard the saving gospel. Far too many people are still waiting to have Jesus and his loving message explained to them in a way that is compelling and real. And they aren’t all in some distant corner of the world. Many of them are our neighbors and friends and co-workers who have yet to see the gospel witnessed in the believers who surround them.
One of the terrible misunderstandings in the Catholic Church is the notion that evangelization is something reserved only for priests, bishops, and religious. For most people in the pews, evangelization is something best left to the professionals; it is associated with high-pressure conversations and bible-thumping arguments. But that is not evangelization!
Each and every person who has received baptism is called to evangelize and to do so always. The most effective way to do this is by living our faith with integrity and openness. The best evangelizers are not necessarily the people with the most factual knowledge of Catholicism but rather those who have a personal, living, honest relationship of prayer with Christ the Lord. It does not mean our every action or conversation has to be about God. The essence of evangelization is simple: (To carry God with us) Make God present in our words, our work, our families, and our life. The most compelling argument for or against Christianity is our example. Hopefully, when people think of us or spend time with us, they catch a glimpse of the love, peace, mercy, and hope of Jesus.
On this celebration of the Ascension, let us thank God for the gift of our faith, which was given to us by those following the Lord’s command. Secondly, let us resolve to share our own faith with those we encounter in life, not in pushy or preachy ways, but by the joyous and peaceful manner in which we act. Finally, let us recommit ourselves to the practice of personal prayer, so our witness to the gospel will not be mere words or empty showmanship but a genuine and passionate display of the life of the Holy Spirit. May each day of our lives here on this earth be filled with the missionary spirit of Ascension and when you leave Church today, may you “go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every person” you encounter.
