When Father Paul asked if I would give the homily on May 8, he said, “Mother’s Day, our parish feast day, the Ascension.” I assume his asking a woman, a mother, on this day had more to do with the first than with the other two. But, I assume that his sequence was building to a climax. Certainly, the most important of the three is: “Feast of the Ascension.”
As the mother of seven, grandmother of 15, I take particular delight in that facet of my life. And, I think my children and grandchildren do also! My own Mother, 9 years enjoying the Beatific Vision, comes to mind nearly every day in one joyful or humorous memory or another, or sometimes in an “Oh-I-have-become-my-Mother” moment!
Whether we are mothers or not, whether our mothers are near us or not, whether our mothers are living or not, this day should be celebrated by everyone, because we each have a mother to thank and honor. If one’s relationship or memories aren’t so positive, it becomes a day for reconciliation and forgiveness.
But there are many here worshipping who have never been and will never be mothers and our being here is about all of us together. So even on Mother’s Day, there are things more important than mothers.
We are here in this beautiful worship space, parishioners and visitors together, engaging in vibrant liturgy, celebrating a Feast Day which embodies the message that is our parish name: Christ Our Hope. It is a name that is given substance in our mission statement that we will all proclaim in a few minutes. The message is Spe Salvi! Saved in Hope. The hope which is our name lives in us because Jesus Christ has gone to the Father to prepare a place for us.
…which brings us to the most important of the three things we celebrate today: the Ascension of Jesus Christ. Many of you were present at this Mass 4 weeks ago when my grandson, visiting COH with his family, sang in the choir. He placed himself there because a few weeks before (when he was here with David & me) Sam Sweeney told him, “You have a beautiful voice. You should sing in the choir.” Jack takes such compliments literally! When his father parked on that Sunday morning, he told his parents, “I have to go. They want me in the choir.” And he ran all the way to the church door! Sitting right there next to Elizabeth Hernandez, he raised his 9-year old hand boldly, in response to Deacon Pierce’s question, “Why are we here?” and he answered loudly and firmly, “Because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.”
That is why we were here that day and every time we come to Mass. Today we celebrate the next, important event of salvation: Jesus Christ has not only risen from the dead, He has ascended to heaven.
Our readings from Acts of the Apostles, the Letter to the Hebrews and the Gospel of Luke all fit together today to recount for us the fullness of the saving act: Jesus died to take away sin. He appeared alive to the Apostles. He promised to send the Holy Spirit to make them witnesses to the world. He ascended to heaven in full view of those Apostles.
The Ascension is the foundation of our Hope. Hope nourishes us and sustains us like a mother feeds her child. Our tradition calls our institution “The Holy Mother Church,” because the church has passed on from the Apostles the teachings of Jesus Christ and the body of Scripture which tells us of His actions during His public ministry and which recounts His saving act. The Church nourishes us in our faith.
In the lives of most of us, our own mothers and their mothers before them and their mothers, and mothers back through the centuries have told the story and nourished faith which gives rise to hope. Certainly, our daughter is the one most responsible for my grandson being able to profess: “Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.” Mothers and fathers are the primary teachers of their children in faith and morals.
Pope Francis re-emphasized this in his recent apostolic exhortation on family life, Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love. Christians in each generation continue to pass on the faith, which brings forth hope and is expressed in love: the love of mother (and father) for child, the love of child for parent, but even more, in each of us loving God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves.
In love, in faith, and in hope we move to the altar where Jesus Christ will become truly present to us - body and blood. As He showed Himself to His Apostles during the 40 days, He presents Himself to us right here at this altar. We will consume the sacrament and become what we eat: the body and blood of our Lord.
We will be sent forth to carry that body and blood in our own persons to a world greatly in need of hope. We share in the mission which Jesus gave to the original disciples. We have been baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. We are to go out, taking His message of hope, imitating His actions of healing and forgiveness and mercy. We go out in joy, just as the disciples did when they returned to Jerusalem after witnessing the Ascension. We can do no less because Christ is Our Hope.
We have the promise of a new life in heaven. Our hope for that new life lies in our faith in Jesus Christ. Who ascended into heaven. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us, we “have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary…he opened for us.” Christ is Our Hope.
We profess our faith in Christ Our Hope, the Patron of our parish, on the Feast of the Ascension our parish feast day, on Mother’s Day. What more excellent lining up of three celebrations? What a great coming together of the three virtues: the love of God felt by us through our mothers, the faith we profess here at Christ Our Hope Catholic Church as members of the Universal Church, and the hope which is Jesus Christ made clear to us in His Ascension. Spe Salvi – Saved in Hope.
Ruth Ard