A Commentary for Ascension by Sr. Kathleen Yeadon, OSB

May 24, 2009
The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ
Mark 16:15-20

Saying goodbye is never easy. Goodbyes can come from leaving a job, a friend moving, or the death of a loved one. For me, the feast of the Ascension is Jesus’ goodbye to the apostles. It is the time where Jesus says, ok, you have to put into action what I have taught you.

The Ascension says, we connect with our loved ones through living out the actions that we have learned from them. It is the great mystery of life and grace, that participation in our loved one’s actions, draws us closer to them. Thus, Jesus commands the disciples to go and preach to the entire world.

The second gift of the Ascension is the longing to be connected to our loved one energizes us for action. It is our remembering and living out the actions of Jesus that calls us to community. Thus, our desire for union with God creates the energy to live in a manner worthy of our Lord.
This all came alive for me when my dad died. I had a new desire for Heaven so I could be with him. As the years have passed, I have connected with him in the words he spoke and the actions he showed my family. I look for those words and actions in my other family members as well.
We have done this here in the monastery as well. At each wake, we have remembered the person’s words and actions. On the feast of All Souls, we remember each person’s life.
With the end of each administration, we have taken time to say what it was that we learned from the outgoing prioress and subprioress.

The Ascension gives us time to remember the center of Jesus’ teaching. Mark’s Gospel ends with the line of . . . the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. For me the signs would include Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: . . .live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentlenesss, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. . . Ephesians 4: