B: Solemnity of the Ascension (16 May 2021) - THE RESTORATION OF THE THINGS OF OLD (Acts 1:1-11)

We celebrate today the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. Our first reading is taken from the first verses of the Acts of the Apostles, where Luke relayed to Theophilus (literally, the “lover of God” in Greek) the things that transpired in the life of the resurrected Jesus (vv. 1-2). He talked about his ultimate encounter with his apostles. Notably, they asked him about the current state of affairs, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?” (v. 6). What the apostles were hinting at here is that they were expecting that everything would go back to normalcy as they had experienced the past three years: they went around preaching in towns and villages, performed miracles, dined with people, and moved freely with no fear of any persecution. As Jesus was back to life for the past 40 days, they hoped, too, that their old lives would be reclaimed or, possibly, improved.

But Jesus responded in the negative: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (vv. 7-8). While saying these things, he was lifted before the eyes of the apostles (v. 9) and left them for good. The fulfilment of this promise of Jesus, however, would soon arrive ten days later during the Pentecost (2:1-4). What Jesus implied in his speech is that the sense of normalcy would never be restored again, because there would now be the mitigating presence of the Holy Spirit that would radically change the lives of the apostles. Thus, their normal lives as fishermen and as mere spectators of Jesus would never return. Because this time, they would be the main catalysts as Jesus’s “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8). This prophecy came into fulfilment after they received the Holy Spirit that immediately gave them the courage and the zeal to preach and witness to their belief in the Risen Lord (Acts 2:14ff.).

In relation to our present context nowadays, we can say that there has been a relative progress in our collective battle against the pandemic crisis. Vaccines are made available now in mass volumes and many have already received these doses with no cost. Some countries have even lowered their guards in terms of social distancing, public gathering, and even wearing of facemasks. Many societies have also recovered from the big blow of the pandemic to the global economy as several industries and services restart their operations.

While many communities have gotten nearer to a sense of normalcy, the old normal way of living can never be realistically reclaimed. Why? Because even if we have the most sophisticated technologies and the unlimited resources to implement a virus-free society, the fact of the matter remains: we have all experienced its horrors, pains, and losses that tally now to more than 3.3 million deaths world-wide, and counting. With this catastrophic human tragedy, we should be changed persons by now because of the tremendous impact the pandemic has given us for the past 17 months. But, are we changed for the better or the worse?

The apostles were headed in the direction of the latter since they were described as physically frozen in a gaze as Jesus was ascending to heaven. They were dumbfounded, seeming uncertain of what to do next without Jesus by their side. But “two men in white garments stood by them and said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” (v. 11). The same question can be also asked of us at this point, “People of the world, why are you just standing there in your homes looking at the sky, hoping for better things to come?” While our old lives can not anymore be restored, there is more left to living than just despairing ... as we must have spiritually matured all along during this crisis to be main catalysts of societal change.

- Rex Fortes, CM