There is a lovely true story that reflects somewhat on today’s feast day that I would like to share with you. It concerns the completion of the opera Turandot by Puccini, the composer who was dying of cancer in 1928. He was aware that he probably would not be able to finish his masterpiece, so he begged his followers to continue his work until it was finished. His followers did just as he had asked, and it was performed for the first time in Milan at the famous La Scala opera house by the Italian maestro Toscanini. During the performance, Toscanini stopped the music at the point where Puccini had died and, with tears in his eyes, turned to the audience and said, “But his followers finished his work.” It became a resounding success.
Although this is a very poignant story, it does not come near the significance of today’s event, when Jesus left this world and returned to His Father, both fully human and fully divine. In both cases, these followers experienced the great loss of a beloved friend and the challenge to complete a mandate. But in the case of Jesus, they were told that He would be with them until the end of the age. Not only did they have that assurance, but He also guaranteed them that they would never have to be afraid again, because the power of the Holy Spirit would enable them to spread the Good News not just to an audience of music lovers, but to the whole world.
On this particular Ascension Thursday, I like to picture Mt. Olivet as it was in that time, but with new faces replacing those of Peter, James, John, Andrew, and Thomas — with Kathleen, Nora, Christine, Nusrat, Joan, and Margaret, etc. — and hearing those same words: “Behold, I am with you,” and “Go make disciples of all nations.” Within only a century, these first-century apostles were able to spread the Christian message throughout the known world, from Spain to India. We too, today, continue to pass on Christ’s message of His love and presence every day, as we are called once again to be the hands, feet, and heart of the Lord Jesus Himself, as He walks with us on the streets of our cities, in the halls of our infirmary, on the sands of Pakistan, or across the wide-open fields of the Northwest.
Whenever this mission is completed, this feast day also offers us a clear picture of what awaits those who have faithfully proclaimed through the ages the Word of God as proclaimed in the Gospels. On that first Ascension Thursday, Jesus did not just disappear, but the apostles saw His human body assumed into heaven along with His divine nature. Thus, His words at the Last Supper offer all of us the promise that we too will be with Him when our human bodies rise again, for He said, “Where I am, so shall you be.” And to that we say: Alleluia, Alleluia! Or, in Americanized terms: Wow!
– Sister Helen R. Boyd, OP
Sister Helen resides at Dominican Convent, where she serves on the Life Enrichment Committee, co-chairs the Mission Outreach Committee, and regularly shares reflections with the community.