The Ascension

The church that marks the place where tradition says Jesus left the earth flying up to heaven has an octogonal shape, with a circular dome. In the old days the roof was open and you could see the sky. On the floor there is a glass covering the rock where Jesus’ feet touched our ground for the last time. It is a reflection of how we should live our lives: with our feet firmly anchored on earth and our eyes constantly fixed on heaven. On the rock you can see the marks of Jesus’ feet, most likely carved by a pious Christian, who missed the figure of the man of God. The church sits on top of the Mount of Olives, close to the garden of Gethsemane, where everything began, when Jesus felt the agony during his prayer. When Jesus was lifted up towards heaven, he blessed his apostles as a last gesture: everything should begin and finish with prayer. We see the beginning and the end of Jesus passion: through the cross, we reach our resurrection.

What is Jesus telling us today before he goes up to heaven? What is his last will? “Now it is your turn. I’m going, but I’m leaving you here in charge. I gave you the Gospel, now you can pass it on to others. No worries, you are not going to be alone. I’ll be with you till the end of time.” This is what the angels reminded the apostles, when they were looking towards the sky, after Jesus flew away. Maybe they thought he was going to come back again, as he had done during these days after the resurrection. They were waiting for him, without knowing what to do, paralysed. Jesus had to send his angels to wake them up and to tell them: “Go back to Jerusalem and begin to work. Your days of glory with Jesus are finished. Now it is Mission Impossible.”

Saint Luke says that after Jesus left them, the apostles returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They knew Jesus wasn’t coming back, but they didn’t go back to the city discouraged, or downcast, because they trusted that Jesus was going to be with them for ever. They had only to wait for few years to be reunited with him again, and with the other apostles together in their glorious bodies. Meanwhile Jesus was going to walk with each one of them, while preaching the Gospel around the known world.

Our lives here on earth are never fulfilled. There is always something missing. There is a point of frustration when we experience the lack of perfection, an awareness of everything passing by, an impossibility of stopping our magic moments from disappearing. This is why God has placed in our hearts a longing for heaven, a timeless eternity, a desire for an infinite and definitive encounter. Jesus is gone, but he left us with a spark, a passing shooting star, a tiny thirst for him, because he wants to be with us for ever. Something we can never quash or delete completely.

Can you imagine the welcome Jesus received in heaven when he arrived there? It is impossible for us to imagine because heaven is not a place but a state. Nevertheless with our imperfect and earthly human intellect, we can try every year to go to heaven on this day to witness the big welcoming party, a countless multitude of angels and saints, all these people that have been waiting for him for centuries, with plenty of time to prepare an amazing feast.

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