Off the top of my head, it’s harder to think of a group that is better trained to
respond to verbal cues than Catholics. So many of the responses at Mass are
triggered by cues from the celebrant to which the people automatically respond.
“Forever and ever” elicits a quick “amen.” “The Lord be with you” gets a prompt “and with your spirit” (as long as you’ve been to Mass consistently since 2011). One of the difficulties as a celebrant is that the preface dialogue usually contains one “through Christ our Lord” that doesn’t require a response, so I
have to find a way every time I have Mass to communicate with verbal cues that the congregation shouldn’t say anything that time. It’s not one of the greatest challenges of the priesthood, but I do think about it often…

There are some major feasts and celebrations of the liturgical year that are mentioned in the creed that always bring this phenomenon to mind for me. As beautiful as it is that we can say the creed without even thinking about it, it also means that sometimes we mention the central mysteries of our Faith without really meditating on them and letting them sink in. This week the Church celebrates Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven, which is something we say every week in the Creed, but in all likelihood, we rarely reflect on its significance. What then is the importance of Jesus’ Ascension? There must be something more meaningful than the simple fact that he walked among His
disciples after the Resurrection, and now he’s gone.
 
The Catechism (paragraphs 665-667) sums up the theological significance of Jesus’ entry into heaven with three points:
 
-Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again; this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3).

-Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever.
 
-Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
 
Today’s feast is not abstract or built on dogmas that we have no hope of understanding. It is a promise that Jesus Christ, Our Savior, makes to us with his very being. The Word became flesh in order to redeem our fallen nature, and, having passed through the veil of death, has now risen and ascended to His Father, where he waits for us to join Him. He sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes for us, not only as the Son of God, but also as one who has taken on our nature and walked among us. The Ascension is the fulfillment of the Incarnation, and therefore it is the consummation of the greatest love story ever told, God’s undying pursuit for us. As we
reflect on this great feast, may we take this opportunity at the conclusion of another Easter Season to recommit ourselves to loving Jesus Christ more and more each day, in response to the perfect love He pours out for us.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC