“With his Ascension, the Risen Lord draws our gaze to Heaven, to show us that our journey’s goal is the Father,” Pope Francis said at Easter 2019.
Clearly, the Holy Father is right, because the goal of every child of God is to be with the Father. But there is no need to die and rise again to be with God. He is with us now, at this precise moment when you are reading these lines, and throughout your entire life. As the psalmist recites: “There is no greater joy than being with the Father, preaching His word and knowing He is at our side at all times.” So, Luke, the evangelist, says in his book, The Acts of the Apostles… Do not just stare at the sky, daydreaming. Start walking, take action and tell everyone that the Kingdom of God is not only close, but it is right here, if we open our hearts to the Father, and doing it with joy, because Christ has risen.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.
Isaiah 53, 12.
But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”
John 20, 17.
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Matthew 28,20.
But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Mark 16, 20.
As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
Luke 24, 51-53.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Acts 1, 10-11.
