HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, YEAR C
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 1 JUNE 2025
There are many stories from the Middle Ages about court jesters teaching their masters a thing or two. In one, a king is so amused by his jester, he hands him a staff and says, “Keep this staff till you find someone more foolish than yourself—then give it to them.”
Years passed, and eventually the king lay dying. He called his courtiers to his bedside to say his goodbyes. The clown stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, when you journeyed in your realms visiting your people, your heralds always went before you, making preparations for you. May I ask what preparations you’ve made for the long journey now ahead of you?”
“Alas!” replied the King, “I have made none.” Stunned, the Jester replied, “You are going on a long journey, from which none returns, and have made no preparations? Then, Your Majesty, take back your staff—for at last I’ve found a bigger fool than myself.”
The Feast of Christ’s Ascension celebrates the crowning of His Easter victory over sin and death. Yet there is a certain ambivalence in our celebration. Jesus saw His pasch as a fearful baptism and wondered aloud if His followers could accept it (Mt 20:22-23). He knew they would also resist His departure, for they were human, and like all of us, wanted intimacy, security, even prominence in the coming kingdom. If there have been notes of homesickness, of longing for return, in the Gospels of the last few weeks, there has also been anxiety for his disciples.
In our first reading, they are like children on a long car trip who keep asking “Are we there yet? Has the time come? Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:1-11) We might laugh at their obtuseness. But we can be just as impatient and just as slow to realise what is necessary: to die to the world’s glittering prizes and abandon ourselves to the insecurity and longing occasioned by our absent Friend.
When it comes to Jesus’ departure, our reading talks of Him being “lifted up” to the skies. Our sacred art portrays things similarly. Our Creed also puts it geographically: He went up to heaven; He sat down beside the Father; He will come back again as judge. We can imagine Him, then, flying through the air like Superman, or in outer space “bravely going where no man has gone before” a la Star Trek. It’s as if He’s now fed up with down-market material existence, especially amongst beings as fickle and inglorious as us; He’s casting off the mortal coil and returning to His former existence as a pure Spirit.
Yet Christ’s Ascension is much more profound than space travel or casting off a human body suit! The Son of God who was ‘beside’ God the Father from all eternity, at last brings His created nature to share in that heavenly life. In so doing He assumes His rightful role as Lord of all Creation. Far from renouncing His humanity, this transition means God the Son has raised humanity ‘up’ with His human nature to God’s side, raised us to a dignity in some ways ‘greater than the angels’ (Heb 1:1-14; 1Cor 6:3; Lk 20:36). For as the Letter to the Hebrews explains (Heb chs 9 & 10), Christ our High Priest comes not from some man-made cathedral, but from that “greater and more perfect tabernacle” that is heaven. He comes not with earthly sacrifices—that make people ritually clean while harbouring corruption within—but with the sacrifice of His own Precious Blood to cleanse bodies and souls and “do away with sin”. When He comes again at the end of time, it will be “to bring salvation to all who are waiting for Him”, to draw us up with Himself to that “Most Holy Place” that is heaven. So, the Ascension of Christ is really our uplifting: our human nature is made a sharer in God’s throne of glory. The re-creation that began at Christ’s Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection continues: that process of transfer of the former creation, bruised and battered by the effects of sin, to God’s kingdom. Christ makes all things new!
But what does heaven really mean to us? Children with their wide-eyed innocence and open imaginations readily believe in heaven: for them it is a place in the sky full of kind people and treats. But as we get older and confront sin and suffering, as we are let down by others or let them down ourselves, as we experience rejection, isolation and dashed hopes, the dream of the fairy-land heaven fades.
We can end up talking more of hell than heaven and viewing life as like the story of Sisyphus pushing an enormous boulder uphill, only to find it rolls back to the bottom where he must start again. It can feel like we are being taken for a ride to nowhere. But to believe life is a meaningless trip that comes to a full-stop at death is tragic.
We all know the pain of incompleteness and impermanence, the fear of fragility and ageing. In the battle between love and death, death can seem the stronger force. But the Ascension says otherwise: that we are meant for heaven, for union with God, for perfect love. We too can have our crucified bodies, our broken lives, our abandoned hearts raised up to God. The Ascension is a declaration of hope for the human being as born for greatness and destined for glory. It is the graph of our future. Today’s retrospect is our prospect. Where Christ has gone, we are called to follow!
We believe that the life of Jesus with the Father is a new beginning for us more than for Him. For we now have a new homeland: heaven. Jesus has not left us orphans. He precedes us as our herald, He goes before us to prepare a place for us. We do not approach our final journey unannounced or unprepared. Having glimpsed His ascension glory, we now await the revelation of our own, “the glory of the children of God”.
INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, YEAR C – ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 1 JUNE 2025
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for our Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. During this final week of Easter, the Church’s holiest season, we celebrate two great solemnities: today’s commemoration of the Lord’s return to heaven and next Sunday’s celebration of the Spirit coming to earth at the birth of the Church.
Yesterday, the Church in Sydney had the joy of ordaining a new priest: Fr Tai Pham. He is our 36th new priest in the past decade Deo gratias! I am delighted to say there are presently thirty more seminarians for the Archdiocese. And there is plenty for them to do: we’ve had a 26% increase in adult converts in Sydney, year-on-year, for five years now; we’ve had to double the hours of confessions each week here at St Mary’s; our Mass numbers keep growing; the activities of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation are always over-subscribed; our school enrolments keep growing; lay groups are thriving; thousands attend our processions. So we need more priests! Please pray for our new Father Tai and for many more vocations to the archdiocese.
To everyone here today, both regulars and visitors, a very warm welcome to you all!
