Ascension, Revelation and Hope

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author. 

“As they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way, as you saw Him go into heaven.” Why did our Lord, ascend, visibly for all these apostles and disciples into heaven? Because He could have just told them that He’s going to do this, and just disappeared. He could have said, In a few days I will ascend into heaven and just disappear. He didn’t have to do it visibly.  Why did he do that? And in fact, we know that from – this is one of a whole series of apparitions of Jesus, beginning at the very time, at the very day of His resurrection. Scripture gives us some of those, but it shows that there’s a whole series of Jesus appearing, but He didn’t have to do that. And I think it’s helpful because oftentimes things like apparitions, and visions, supernatural manifestations, these gifts from the Lord are kind of despised as something or kind of looked down upon as something that’s kind of just a curiosity. We see it because those are ongoing. The Lord, our Lord, our Blessed Mother, continue to appear, Apparitions continue, like for instance, the apparitions of Jesus, in His apparitions of Divine Mercy to St. Faustina. So those continue, and so this helps us to understand that these apparitions from the very beginning help, that help us to believe and to understand. And this is the way the Lord often acts, He uses what is visible, to lead us to invisible realities. And so, this apparition, Jesus ascended into heaven, reveals to us, Jesus, leaving in His resurrected body, leaving this earth and going into heaven. And so that reveals something about Him, about who He is, and the truth of His divinity, the truth of His glory. But it also reveals to us in the reading rather, the first prayer that I recited at the beginning of Mass says it’s also revelation about us. It also reveals to us what God is calling us to, because we also are not called to stay on this earth. We’re here for a time, but the Lord wants to raise us also into heaven. And so it’s also a revelation this Feast of the Ascension, is also a revelation of our call. And so this helps us to have a proper attitude towards these manifestations that God gives, like apparitions. And as it should be a balanced one that doesn’t reject these manifestations when God gives these gifts because, as I said, the Gospel shows how important they were from the very beginning. But at the same time, we don’t demand them. But just because what’s important is to accept God’s will. So when God wants to give these gifts, we should accept them. And what God doesn’t choose to give these gifts, we should not try to demand.  And because Jesus said, “blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.” And so this feast day, this great Ascension, is talking about your call. It’s not just about Jesus, it’s about what He’s calling you to. And it’s about a lot we can’t see, we don’t usually see sometimes and sometimes there can be special graces, but most of the time, for instance, people we love, we don’t see them ascending into heaven. So this day reveals to us that.  And we have today, a prayer from St. Paul. St. Paul is praying. He says that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you – (give you what?) a spirit of wisdom and of…”  Wisdom that’s more expected but he says, wisdom and…. do you remember what it said? wisdom “and revelation. Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.” So not the not our physical eyes, but the eyes, the understanding of our hearts enlightened, “and a light coming into our heart that you may know. And so he says that you may know three things. And this is not about God. It’s about you, about your call. He says that you may know first of all, he says, “What is the hope to which He has called you.” So it’s about your call, the hope, that divine hope that you are called to. St. Paul’s praying that you may know this divine hope that you are called to. And he says, What are the second thing he says? What are “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,” In the saints, that is not just a canonized saint, but all those who have arrived in heaven, or who will arrive in heaven. And he wants us to know the riches of this glorious inheritance because we can say, well, the Saints go to heaven and enjoy God. But words cannot begin to describe what that is that we call it the beatific vision. But again, no words can describe it. And so he’s praying that we have a grace of revelation and wisdom, to begin to understand that a little bit. And then he says, a third thing. He says, and “what is the immeasurable greatness of His power,”- where? – “the immeasurable greatness of His power, – where? – “in us who believe.” That’s what the Lord has insisted on for our little Mission of Divine Mercy is faith, the importance of faith. And here he is talking about the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in us who believe. We’re not yet saints, we’re still struggling sinners, we struggle every day with sin. But if we believe if as Jesus has on the image of Saint Faustina, “trust,” if we trust, if we believe in Him, His mercy, – St. Paul says, “the immeasurable greatness of His power can act in us.” So we won’t be limited to the little power, the little abilities that we have, but to His infinite power, can work in us. That that’s what the Lord called our little mission through faith, so that God can act, not just that we can act, but God Himself can act. So what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe, that’s what He needs, He needs our belief. He doesn’t want to just work in nature. He wants to work in you. And what He needs is your belief, your faith, “according to the work in of His great might, which He accomplished in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him sit at the right hand in the heavenly place.” And that’s what was manifested in this feast. So I want to share with you in the spirit of revelation, a lot of you are aware that the Lord has been giving to our community for a long time, a number of prophetic messages. And we’ve just recently been able to start sharing those. And so I want to share with you all, one from, this was from January of 2023. And so the message is very rich. And like just that passage, I just read you from St. Paul. It’s very rich, it’s very dense. And so these, these homilies are recorded, so if you want to, you can listen to it again. So this was Sister Amapola, who received this and he says, “Write my Flora,” and she says, What shall I write, and he says, “that the harvest is about to come.” The book of Revelation speaks of this harvest, the Gospel speaks of this harvest, and he says, “the harvest is about to come, that the wheat and the chaff will be separated, there will be no more confusion.” That is, it’ll be clear who belongs to God, and who is on the side of the evil one. That’s all-mixed right now. But this will be that the wheat and the chaff will be separated. “Yes, my little one, I am your Abba. Yes, these words refer to the great grace and mercy that is about to descend over all that is created, the great light, which will descend to each heart.” I remember what St. Paul said, praying for the eyes of our hearts be a lumen enlightened. And this is talking about a special light into the eyes of our heart. And so where does that light come from? He says, “from the cross of my son.” So it’s a light coming from Jesus crucified. “Like a powerful lightning bolt.” So not just that, not just a subtle light, but like a powerful lightning bolt, a lightning bolt is not very subtle, right? I mean, you don’t want to get struck by a lightning bolt, because it’s not subtle. It’s powerful. And what will it show? He says, “to show the truth, to show the truth, to Thunder before the whole world that I am God.” Our world is in such a confusion in which we forget about God, we don’t know about God, does God even exist? Is there a true God? It’s just that everybody has their own ideas about a higher power. And he’s saying no, this will manifest that He is God, and He is the only God and how powerfully and how desperately that we need that today. So he said, that is what is coming. And many mystics have spoken of sensing that the Lord is going to provide an illumination of consciences and many apparitions have spoken about that illumination of conscience, so that in this world of confusion, where people don’t know what is good, what is wrong, where sin is called good. And so this Illumination of Conscience will be a light coming from God, to give each person, the light of God so that they can see and understand their life in the light of God. He says, “to my blind and deaf children, to my children torn apart by sin and the lies of the enemy, to my children who do not even know me, to my children who have rejected me.” So everyone, even those who don’t know, even those who have rejected, “this light will come,” he says “to all.  “Terrible light, and beautiful, light.” “Terrible light If we don’t want to accept it, and accept our sin, the reality of our sins, but beautiful light, if we are trying to be faithful to him. “Yes, I have said that many will die of freight. And that my priest will have an untiring work to reconcile my children to me, because there’ll be so many people desperately sensing the need for the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” of confession. But then he goes on to speak about the mystery of the moment of the death of each person, the mystery of His mercy. He says, “even in this terror, in these deaths, My Mercy will act.” His Divine Mercy, “for at the instant that a soul turns to me, even if it is just a second. Even if, if it were only out of fear, I will take that soul in that precise instant, as a victory of mine, that soul will be purified later.” And that’s a purgatory is a time for the soul that leaves this earth to be purified. “But it will be in my kingdom.” So the purification in Purgatory can sometimes be extremely intense, but they have the certain, sure hope that they will one day be with the Lord in heaven, that their salvation is no longer in danger. “Children, I availed the mystery of the hour of death, for it is in this hour that arise for each soul that my mercy acts in an immediate and limitless way.” So that hours often seems to us so, so obscure, and often so sad. He said, it is the great hour of His mercy. Because He acts in an immediate way. God, God’s mercy is often acting through many different ways on this earth. For instance, it gives us the diary of Saint Faustina to teach us a lot about His mercy. But this way, he says He will act in an immediate and limitless way. “I veil before your eyes what I do in that hour.” So we can’t see that, we don’t know what he’s doing at that time. “Therefore, children do not look too much at the manner of death.” And Sister Amapola adds here a note, she says, I perceive that He permits certain deaths to be more visible testimonies before the world, as the sign of the union with God, or as a help for the families, or as a warning, and a call to repentance. It is to communicate that behind every death, there is a great mystery. So it says “do not look too much at the manner of death, or at the apparent uselessness, or at the apparent lack of dignity in the death of a person. Pray, for I use all prayer. Prayer goes beyond the limits of time.” And perhaps what He means when He says goes beyond the limits of time can mean that our prayers can benefit persons, even persons who lived and died before the time of our prayer. “I remind you children, that no one dies alone. No one.” We sometimes think that sometimes a person died alone. But he says, No one dies alone. “Your guardian angel is with you. As well as myriads of angels.” In how many myriad are myriad. It’s from the Greek word for 10,000. So and he doesn’t say a myriad, he said, Myriads, myriads of angels. “The love and presence of your Heavenly Mother is with you. My son and his offering is with you. No one dies alone children. Remember this children, for you will see death increasing. What the enemy tries to cause as destruction of what I have created, I use to snatch my children away from him to bring to my kingdom, those would falter in that hour that is coming.” And so this both the devil here can be causing death. But the Lord says that he can use even a devil’s action to snatch souls from the enemy. And he says, “and I accept the sacrifice and offering of the army of my martyrs, and of the hidden victim souls.” And Sister notes here, all those who give their lives for the sake of truth, and for the salvation of all the children of God, great deaths because they are united to the crucifixion, but that God often hides, as if to prevent them from being profane. That is deaths that we might just think as a normal death. In God’s eyes they might be victim souls, and martyrs. “Children, raise your eyes to me.” And so that’s very much for this feast of the ascension. “Raise your eyes to me. Remember that my ways and plans and my actions are not like those of the world, nor like what your reason would imagine them to be. They are infinite, full of mercy and justice, infinitely greater than the plans of the enemy.” So satan has his plans were which are at work right now. But God’s plans are infinitely greater. And God’s plans are at work now too.  “That is why children look up at heaven.” That’s what this ascension is, yeah, that’s what the apostles were doing. They were looking up at heaven, “look up at heaven, raise your gaze from the rottenness of this world and see how I see. Think as I think. The hour is drawing near.” And I think that’s why the Lord shares these messages with us. Because that’s why we felt we needed, the Lord wanted us to begin sharing these now, because the hour is very near. “And more than ever, it is necessary that you stop seeing with the eyes of the world and see with the eyes of eternity. Raise your gaze my children because I am here above. I, your Abba who loves you so much, who smiles at you, who encourages you. You need to see my face, my truth so that you can resist and be able to help your brothers to resist. Little children of my heart, everything that you see, that you hear, that you feel, that causes you terror, fear, anguish, despair, sadness, doubts.” So what should we do with all that? He says, “bring it all to me. Give it all to me.” And so that’s what we can do, especially in the moment of the offertory. Bring all of that to him. You can do that in this Mass. “Let us look at it together, so that I may give you my light,” as St. Paul says, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened – “that I may give you my light, that I may teach you how I see it, so that you may regain hope, so that your faith is strengthened, so that you recognize me more and more, and you become more and more abandoned, to my love.” And then he concludes, “trust in your Abba, children. I have shown you what my love for you is capable of. I have given you my Jesus. I have bathed you in His redeeming blood. Could I ever abandon you? No children, even if in appearance, you feel abandoned, I will never abandon you. Never. I am your Abba, your father, who only wants for you to be with him in the fullness of love for all eternity. Do not be afraid. I love you. You’re Abba.”  Amen.  I’ll now say a few words in Spanish.    

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23