by Fr Fabian Dicom
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 46:2-3,6-9
Hebrews 9:24-28,10:19-23
Luke 24:46-53
Theme: I am with you always, until the end of the world
My dear brothers and sisters, today we hear of how Jesus was lifted up, how the clouds received Him out of sight and how His friends stood there, heads tilted back, necks craned watching the sky, waiting for something more. But then the messengers asked them, and they asked us too this evening:
Why do you stand there looking up?
Don’t we all do this? Looking up, looking out, waiting for God to come down and fix everything. We long for the holy, we long for healing, we long for justice as though it was something out there still to come. But what if today’s Solemnity of the Ascension is not just about absence but about presence? Presence?
The book of Hebrews, the Second Reading, tells us that Jesus has already gone into the holy of holies. We hear the words ‘In the actual presence of God‘.
He has gone there, not to leave us behind but to open the way for us to enter too. He has fulfilled His promise. He has already poured out His Holy Spirit upon us. Believe me, we have already been given the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to wait every year for Pentecost. We have it.
All that Jesus promised at the Ascension has already happened to the Apostles. It has already happened to us and it continues to happen. So let us listen closely to this heartbeat of truth.
The Spirit is HERE.
The Kingdom is NOW.
The Ascension is not about Christ going away. It is about Christ going deeper into the marrow of the world, into our own hearts.
It is not a departure. It is an unveiling. It is as though the very act of disappearing is really an appearing in a new way.
When we stop grasping for God out there, when we stop that, we begin to discover the Spirit already alive, already moving within us and around us. It is not about absence but about a deeper, quieter presence. And I repeat this:
We have already received what was promised. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. The Kingdom has already begun.
So the real question is this. The real question is not when will it come. The real question is:
How will we live NOW knowing that it is here? How will you and I live NOW knowing that the kingdom is here?
Look around. Think about this. Look around in the kindness of strangers, in the resilience of the poor, in the silent courage of those who suffer quietly. This Spirit is already moving.
We are already living into the Kingdom when we speak truth to the power, when we care for the earth as our common home, as we welcome the stranger, as we forgive what feels unforgiveable, when we live with open hands and open hearts.
But, we are also invited to go deeper. Not to wait for more but to awaken to what already IS.
So the Spirit has already been given. What we need know is the spirituality of surrender, of availability. Of surrender and availability.
A spirituality that says I don’t need to earn God’s love. It is already here.
A spirituality which says I don’t need to wait for heaven. It is breaking in now.
A spirituality that says I don’t need to look up. I need to look around.
And so let us say it again:
The Spirit is HERE.
The Kingdom is THERE.
It is in the faces of those we encounter.
It is in the bread we break.
It is in the stories we share.
In the wounds we tend.
The apostles did not just stand there looking up forever. They returned to the city, to the ordinary world. With eyes now open, with hearts now ablaze. And so must we.
The Ascension is a call to live with holy boldness. To live our lives worthy of the promises fulfilled. To be witnesses of that kingdom breaking in NOW. And say it once more:
The Spirit is HERE.
The Kingdom is NOW
And so my dear friends, let us not simply stand still, waiting for the church to move us or crane our necks to the hierarchy as if the Spirit whispers only from there.
No. The Spirit has already been poured out upon us, each of us, right where we stand or rather right where we sit, right where we stumble.
The call is clear.
~ Let us no longer hide behind familiar rituals and safe traditions.
~ Let us not divide the world. Let us not do that into what is sacred and what is secular or profane, what is holy and what is ordinary.
~ But for the Kingdom is breaking through the cracks of our everyday life. Let us listen not to the loudest voices but to the quiet truth in your own heart.
~ Let us gather in small circles. Let us do this. Perhaps for a change let us gather in small circles to break open the Word together and to listen to one another’s stories, not to correct, not to judge but to be transformed.
~ Let us step outside our safe places and meet the people and communities we have ignored for too long. Let us live lightly. Let us live lightly, gently and humbly.
~ Let us pray deeply, not to summon God from afar but to awaken to the God who is already here. Let us do that in our prayer.
So let us stop waiting for heaven to arrive and start living as if heaven is already among us because it is. Believe me, it is. Christ is not far away. Christ is here.
The Spirit is in us.
The Kingdom has begun.
And as we continue into this week, when you feel anxious, when you feel hurried, when you feel alone, pause. Pause. Place your hand over your heart. Breathe and remember:
The Spirit is HERE.
The Kingdom is NOW.
Amen.
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