Today, our Mother Church celebrates the Ascension of the Lord. This is one of the great solemnities of the Church because it is one of the significant events in the resurrected life of our Lord Jesus.

There is a song titled, “The trouble with hello is goodbye.” We all know that saying goodbye is never easy because of all the physical and emotional attachments that we have, especially if we have a close friend.

One summer I spent a few days in Darwin as part of my summer break. While I was walking on the streets of Darwin, I happen to pass by the Cathedral of the Diocese of Darwin. Outside the Cathedral, there was a statue of the crucifix mounted on the wall.

One of the exciting events in Track and Field is the 4 X 100 metre relay. There’s a team of four athletes and they’re standing 100 metres apart and the first athlete runs for 100 metres then they pass the baton to the next athlete and the fourth athlete gets the baton and runs straight until the finish line.

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus spent the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension into Heaven moving in and out of the lives of His disciples. 

At the scene of the Ascension, St Luke, the author of The Acts of the Apostles, makes mention of two men dressed in white who say to the Twelve:

The mandate we are given today, on the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, is to ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation.’

In the second reading in today’s Mass St Paul writes to the Ephesians: May he (Jesus) enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Ascension of the Lord; the feast of our Lord’s ascension to heaven.