am I scared of heights?

Homily

Solemnity of the Ascension

24 May 2020

St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG +JMJ +m

Am I scared of heights?

You bet I am.  It's my #1 fear.  Most of my nightmares end with me falling!  Thank God I sleep alone, so no one hears my screaming!  Airplanes are fine.  Hiking 14ers ok - unless there's are ledges and high winds.  But cliffs - hate 'em.  Bungee jumping.  negative!  Skydiving?  No thanks. Rock Climbing - hell no.  I watched Free Solo last night in preparation for this homily - Alex Honnold - free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite?  Are you kidding me?  That guy is insane!  I'm too chicken to even like trampolines.  This white man neither jumps nor dunks.

Am I afraid of heights?  It's our pivotal question for the Ascension.

Heck yes I am!  Aren't you?

They worshiped on the mountain, but they doubted!  Sounds like me.  I trust the rule of gravity completely.  Everything that goes up, must come down.  I worship, raising my heart and soul to God, but then I come down - I doubt!  Yet the rule of the Ascension is just the opposite.  Whatever goes down, must go up!

Jesus has completed the greatest free fall of all time!  From the heights of heaven, falling to his own death, descending even lower to the gates of hell, his ridiculous condescension of mercy to save us in unbelievable.  The guy knows how to take a dive for someone He loves.

Today He shows that He's even better at going up - at climbing!  Jesus takes everything encompassed in his free fall - every second of salvation history and every ounce of his saving mysteries - he takes it all UP in his glorified and redeemed human body to where He started, to the heights of heaven.  

Man did you and I make out good on this deal!  At the Ascension, my humanity which at first was only an outer glimpse of the glory of God, now has a new home and destiny in the inner heart of God, in the middle of the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Jesus knows how to make a climb for someone He loves.

Jesus now works from home - but not only his home, but also from my dream home!  He dares me to follow, to climb, and to come to my true home.  He who once was happy to descend to where I am, now dares me to climb where He is.

Don't stare at the sky though, the angel says.  Jesus is still with you, closer than ever actually, for his Ascension paves the way for an even more daring free fall that is the descent of the Holy Spirit.  Every second of salvation history and every ounce of Jesus' saving mysteries taken up in the Ascension will in 9 days descends even more radically from Heaven once again into the mystical time of the liturgy and the mystical body of the Church and Her sacraments.

Jesus works from home, but home is not in a galaxy far, far away.  Home is right here, at this liturgy, where earth is taken up into heaven in a greater ascent than our first fall from Eden.

And this is how love and life works.  For death, what goes up must come down.  For love and life, what goes down, must go up.  Love is not a one-way street, where the lover simply lowers Himself in death, compassion and mercy, but even moreso love heals, fills up, inspires, enlivens, ennobles and elevates the beloved!  The law of the Resurrection and Ascension is what prevails - life is stronger than death - that what goes down, must be lifted up!

So, am I afraid of heights?  I've had the worst Easter if the answer is yes.  For today's liturgy is nothing if it is not my willingness to embark beyond my fears on the most dangerous climb of my life - to use the descent of the Holy Spirit to give me clear vision of my highest destiny.  Our veterans who went to die for our country didn't die so that we could sit scared at home.  No, we honor them by living like Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati taught us -by going verso l'alto - to the heights!  If Mass doesn't make me nervous, if it's not the biggest risk of my life to ascend, then I'm missing the point.

The climb in front of us is into the very heart of God, into the fullness of relationship.  For Eden from whence we fell is less of a place and more of a relationship.  So too heaven, to where now we are invited to go up, is less of a destination and more of a person.  This climb, surely the scariest one that defines my life, is to dare to become like Him, more capable of relationship with Him as his child, more courageous in pursuing my highest destiny.  

This fearless climb marks the life of  a real hero, and a real disciple of Jesus.  To live less by fear and doubt, that what goes up must come down, and more by faith, hope and love, by the rules of the Resurrection and Ascension, that what goes down, must go up!

The pivotal question thus stares me in the face, and cuts me to the heart, at this pivotal moment of Easter.  Am I afraid of heights?  The only answer for a disciple is no.