Yesterday we had First Communion at all Masses so the recorded homily is from one of those Masses and you will see I mention it in the homily several times. I hope you get some time to reflect on the message.

God Bless

The space shuttle Discovery has been to space and back over 20 times. It is such a common occurrence in people's minds in America that we are no longer in awe of it. We have sort of taken it for granted -such an incredible feat of taking not only this vehicle into space but to return it, and then return it time and time again visiting a space station up there. It has become a routine event if you would. Yet it is such an awesome experience to watch it live. Indeed anybody who has ever gone to watch it live at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral which is about a 7-mile from the launch pad, are in awe of the whole experience; they're really transformed by the experience as a first hand account. So I thought we should take a look at it now. [1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH8Oq0PuIU8
It is really an amazing feat to watch and we sometimes take it for granted.

Today's readings about the Ascension are of the same nature. We often take them for granted. Now, admittedly, Jesus did not blast off into the sky using a space shuttle and certainly did not come back in a shuttle. Although I suspect the apostles would have been equally in awe and amazed at what they were seeing. Yet we have heard the story so often, we might say, "oh yeah, it's just another story about the Ascension." But do we understand the profundity, the incredible depth of what happened. Jesus in that moment confirmed exactly who he was, that he truly was the Son of God, the Messiah; he had been with them for some 40 days and now he was returning to the Father as he had promised; he would then now send them the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We hear two different renditions of this same event: One is at the conclusion of Matthew's gospel, and in the other is the beginning of the Acts of Apostles which is written by the evangelist Luke. They doubted but the worshipped nonetheless. The apostles would to receive, not right away, the gift of the Holy Spirit and then they were commanded to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching everyone about what he had commanded.

You see we have to sometimes recognize how incredible the story is, that Jesus Christ is real, that Jesus is the Messiah, and t hat he came for all of us to know that we have eternal life. He came for us, all of us, so we would live that joy now, and not wait until eternal life itself; that we could have the knowledge and the joy of Christ here. He ascended into heaven so that we would know that he is the Messiah. He is the Messiah and we come to follow him and do as he commanded.

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, with all your mind and all your soul and to love others as yourself. But that is not easy. For children, it is sometimes difficult to love our siblings. For adults, it is sometimes difficult to love our parents. But that is why we come to this table every week.

Boys and girls making their First Eucharist, this is only your First Eucharist, but rest of us keep coming back to the table because this is where we get nourishment. This is where we get the strength to do it over and over again. We know it is hard work. We know we fail and so at the beginning at every Mass, we acknowledge that we have not done so well but that we are going to try at it again, we are going to hunker down and work even harder. That is the message of Jesus. The message of Jesus is to keep trying, to keep loving God with all our hearts, to keep loving others with all our hearts, and that is what we are called to do. To really love God with all our hearts by loving one another.

So, today's celebration for the First Eucharist children is very exciting. It is very good to know what we do here today we want to do each and every week; that it is the strength that we receive from God and we say we become what we receive. So when we receive the Body of Christ, we become the Body of Christ. And when we receive the Blood of Christ, we become the blood of Christ for others. In other words, everything we say and do becomes evidence to others we are members of the body of Christ.

Every time we play with that one child at school no one else wants to play with, we are giving an example that we are loving as Christ has asked us to love. Every time that we are kind to our brothers and sister even though they are not kind to us, then we are showing an example of how we are the body of Christ. And when we are kind and good to our parents and do as they ask us, then we are showing examples of how we are the body of Christ in our families.

The Lord asks us to practice his commandment in really simple ways, in our families and with our friends and then we go out into the world. So today, as we celebrate the First Eucharist of the children and all the other people here who are receiving their umpteenth Eucharist, we all come for the same purpose. We come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Messiah, Jesus as our Lord, and our King and we come to receive the strength from the bread and the wine, made into the Body and the Blood of Christ.

Today, we do not want to take the story for granted. We do not want to forget the incredible message that Jesus is our Lord and our Savior.

The Ascension of the Lord

Reading 1
Acts 1:1- 11

In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for "the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

When they had gathered together they asked him,
"Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth."
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, "Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 

R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia. God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
Ep h 1:17-23

Brothers and sisters:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe,
in accord with the exercise of his great might,
which he worked in Christ,
raising him from the dead
and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,
far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion,
and every name that is named
not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Gospel
Mt 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."