On today’s Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord, the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides three statements. I think they are worth meditating on as we contemplate this mystery in the life of Jesus Christ—and, in our own lives as people of faith:

First, the Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’s humanity into God’s heavenly domain. In the meantime, Christ’s humanity remains “hidden” from our eyes.

Second, Jesus Christ, as head of the Church, precedes us into God’s kingdom so that we, as members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever. 

And Third, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, Jesus now intercedes for us. He is the mediator who assures us of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which we’re preparing to receive anew on the Feast of Pentecost, which this year fittingly falls on Commencement weekend.

As people of faith living on this side of the very thin veil that separates Heaven and Earth, who by our baptism have become members of the Body of Christ and share with Christ his sacred identity as priest, prophet and king, these three points provide the “so what?” of the Mystery of the Ascension. And in turn, as vessels of the living God, we live in hope for the Kingdom of Heaven while the outpouring of the Holy Spirit enables us to live in union, even now, with the Risen Christ.

So, although Christ’s humanity is “hidden” from the eyes of the world – we – as those who bear Christ’s name and loving presence in the world, are called to embody his love, his healing presence and his power to humanity.

Christ’s Ascension into heaven completes the mission that was entrusted to him by God the Father, as carried out through his ministry, his passion, death and resurrection. And just as a runner in a relay enters the final stretch of their leg and having left everything on the track, all that is left is that blast into the exchange zone. We might think of ourselves as the anchor runner ready to receive the baton with a just few hundred meters (OK maybe 1600 meters) to go. It’s such a short distance but it feels like a lifetime to wait. There’s an urgency here, a surge of adrenalin, a feeling of nervousness, but assurance as well in that we made it this far. And just as he hands over the baton – and entrusts his mission to us, saying: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; you will be my witnesses (Acts 1). And we pray: Almighty ever-living God – grant, we pray, that Christian hope may draw us onward to where our nature is united with you.

Theophilus – (that is, God-lover, as Luke addresses us in today’s first reading) – finish strong!