Clothed with Power from on High

Homily: The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (C)

Luke 24:46-53

1 June 2025

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

How many are retirees here? Please raise your hand? Normally the retirement age is sixty (60) or sixty-five (65) but there are some who opt for early retirement and still others can retire much later in life like doctors, authors, business owners, priests, etc. Do you remember what it was like on your last day at work? Was there a formal turnover? Were your colleagues sad to see you go or happy that you were finally leaving? (Just kidding.) Most often retirement demands from us a letting go of the role we once carried, the routine we followed, the busyness that filled our days. It is an end, but also a beginning. 

The Ascension of Jesus was sort of His last day of work on earth. In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of that dramatic moment when Jesus is lifted up before the eyes of His disciples and taken into heaven. The disciples are left staring up at the sky, perhaps feeling what many of us feel after a major change in life — “What now?” Suddenly, there is quiet where there once was constant noise and movement. Now that their boss, their rabbi, their master has departed, there was a stillness that also felt like a loss. 

However, the Ascension was not just about Jesus leaving. We mentioned earlier that retirement is both an end and a beginning. In this case, Christ’s departure was making space for the Spirit to come and continue the work Jesus started by empowering His followers.  Jesus left but He did not abandon the Apostles. He told them to wait in Jerusalem where they would receive the Father’s promise and be baptized with the Holy Spirit. He assured them “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8) We hear of this again in the Gospel from Luke where Jesus promises that the disciples will be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49) — a reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit. He then blesses them and is taken up to heaven.  

Jesus ascended to the Father but throughout His brief ministry He made sure that the Apostles were prepared and able to continue the mission.  On His last day, He promises them a parting gift. That gift is what enabled the Good News to reach us today.  In turn, this mission has been entrusted by the Apostles, through the ages, to all those who believe in Jesus.   It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we have become an Apostolic Church, descended of the Apostles, founded on Jesus Christ.  Hence, the Ascension is not the absence of Christ — it is the expansion of Christ’s mission into every corner of the world through His followers. Today, that mission is in our hands.  It is our turn to step up. 

I asked you earlier about how your colleagues reacted to your retirement. Were they happy or sad to see you go? Did you notice that the reaction of the Apostles in our gospel to Christ’s Ascension was not one of sadness or depression.  It is said that they worshipped Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God. (Luke 24: 52-53) They were joyful because they understood: this was not an ending, but a new beginning. They understood that they had to pick up from where Jesus had left off and although it was daunting, they could not contain the Good News that had overwhelmed them and was bursting from within them. 

Maybe if we find ourselves at the end of a job needing to shift roles at work or in life, let us remember that although we may initially ask ourselves “What now?”, we have to trust that God is not really retiring us — He is redirecting us. He opens new doors for us to serve others in a new environment or a new capacity. The Ascension invites us to stop looking up at what was, and to start perceiving what can be — empowered, sent, and ready for the path God is unfolding for us!