There might be certain feasts in the liturgical year we have difficulty entering into. We may look forward with eagerness to the feast of Christmas, or feel a great anticipation for Easter, but when it comes to other feasts, like the Ascension, we may not have that same eagerness.
That certainly is an ordinary experience and one we shouldn't trouble ourselves over too much. Our hearts may not be ready to receive something that God is preparing for us.
At the same time, we can try to dig deeper into that feast by reading a homily or commentary by a saint. When we do so, we may see the event through a different lens and come to appreciate the spiritual lessons of it.
Letting our hearts rise with Jesus
When contemplating the ascension of Jesus, one helpful resource is a homily by St. Augustine that is featured by the Office of Readings in the Church's Liturgy of the Hours. St. Augustine does a masterful job of helping us enter into the feast, especially if it is not one of our most favorite feasts of the year.
He begins by immediately pointing us upward:
Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are agove where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
St. Augustine can help us visualize our own hearts rising up with Jesus into Heaven, as well as reminding us that we should set our hearts on the things of Heaven, instead earth.
He continues by challenging us, asking us why we do not let Christ's peace reign within our hearts:
Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now? While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity but in him, we can be there by love.
While Jesus may have ascended into Heaven, he did not truly leave us, as he is always here, at our side. If we can truly believe that reality, we can rest in Jesus' peace and calm our hearts from all the anxieities that weigh us down.
You can check out the rest of St. Augustine's homily here, hopefully finding new inspiration for a feast we may not be the most excited about.
