Half Moon Lane 

Offerton 

Stockport 

Cheshire 

SK2 5LB 

Daily Masses

Monday - Friday 9.15am

Saturday (Vigil Mass) 6pm

 Sunday 16th May  2010

Ascension Day

FAITH IN FOCUS: UP AND AWAY?

The feast of the Ascension of the Lord is almost the Cinderella of Lent and Eastertide. While we give great weight to Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost, Ascension seems to belong to a second division of feasts that rarely get much of a mention.

Traditionally the number 40 has a mystical significance in the bible. The Hebrew slaves wandered for 40 years in the desert, Jesus fasted and was tempted for 40 days in the desert, and the Ascension is said to have taken place 40 days after the resurrection. But what is this feast actually about?

It celebrates more than the mere fact that Jesus did not stay on earth after his resurrection. Yes, he went back to heaven. But today’s feast is not simply a historical memorial of that fact. It has a liturgical and spiritual meaning.

Essentially today’s feast is one of Easter hope. We rejoice in the fact that Jesus overcame the powers of darkness by rising from the dead. These powers still threaten us today but we are confident that Christ has crushed evil’s permanent hold over us, and that even death cannot hold us in its grasp for ever. That’s something to celebrate!

But Ascension goes further. It allows us to proclaim our confident hope that where Jesus has gone, we too hope to follow. The ancient Roman preface for today reminds us that although Jesus has passed beyond our sight he has done so not to abandon us but to be our hope. God might have gone up, but he’s not gone away.

In a very obvious way, Jesus’ ascending into heaven is a way of saying that he has returned to his Father in order to claim for us a share in his divine life.

In just a week’s time this cycle of earthly trial and victory will reach its climax when we witness the sending of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised us. In the meantime we are left contemplating a God whose care for us is such that he sent his only Son to clear away those obstacles which prevent us from sharing fully in the life he created us for, and who is with us till the end of time inviting us to follow him and proclaim the Good News to the whole world. That too is something to celebrate!