Joke: "Life is unfair. I lost my car keys at a ball game and never found them. I lost my sunglasses at the beach and never found them. I lost my socks in the washing machine and never found them. I lost three pounds on a diet--I found them and five more."

Just as I lost three pounds on a diet, and I found them and five more, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and found himself still with us together with the Holy Spirit as well. Was Jesus taken up into heaven and left us alone? Today’s Alleluia verse reminds us that Jesus is with us always until the end of the world. Is he still with us? Perhaps, not physically, but spiritually?

Last year, some of us went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we went to visit the Ascension Church. There are three Ascension Churches dedicated to the ascension of the Lord Jesus. One was erected by Queen Helena recalling chapter one of the Acts of the Apostles, reported in today’s first reading, Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives, it was a Sabbath day journey from Jerusalem. He blessed them and commissioned them, and then ascended into heaven in front of their eyes. The second Ascension Church was erected called the Chapel of the Ascension which later became a mosque possessed by Muslims. The third one is the Russian Church of Ascension whose tower has marked the skyline of Jerusalem since it was built in 1878. Among these three Churches claimed the place of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus, the first one was the most impressive because it was in this Church of Ascension, built in 384 AD, a pilgrim by the name of Egeria found two large footprints embedded in the rock believed that precisely the point where Jesus was taken up into heaven. Therefore, Jesus was taken up into heaven and left us with his two large footprints. From this historical point of view, we might want to ask ourselves: Is Jesus still with us after he’s taken up into heaven beside these two large footprints? How would we know that he’s still with us now either physically or spiritually?

In today’s Gospel, Saint Matthew reminds us of the words of Jesus commissioning his disciples saying, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” The Lord Jesus might not be physically among us just as he was with his disciples before he was taken up into heaven, but his words and his blessing are always with us. The kind of blessing that he received from God the Father that Saint Paul was convicted and shared with the Ephesians community saying, “far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.” His blessing is extended through his apostles to the hands of the priests since their hands are consecrated at their ordination that they act en persona Christi, in the person of Christ. So, the priest’s blessing is the extension of the Lord Jesus’ blessing.

Not only did his blessing he left us, but he also promised his disciples before he was taken up into heaven, as reported in today’s first reading saying, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” His blessing empowered his disciples with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to go to be witnessed by the whole world and to the ends of the earth. This is exactly in our baptism, we are invited to live out our baptismal call to be the priest, the prophet, and the king. Through the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, he commissioned his disciples to go out to baptize people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In his ascension into heaven, Jesus also promised to be with his disciples always to the end of the age, and so he’s always with us to the end of the age as well. How is he present in our lives at this age?

Coming to America does not mean that we will never have a chance to go back to Vietnam again. My mother went back after two or three years of living in America. She went back because my older brother, left behind in Vietnam, got into an automobile accident. He got into this accident only a few months after he had lost his only child because of a miscarriage. He was in a coma for a month. When he woke up, he lost his memory. He didn’t even recognize my mother and had to learn everything again. My mother went back and forth a lot during this time. We, brothers and sisters living in America working hard to financially support him and my sister-in-law.

Since my father died when I was only fourteen years old and my older brother was three years apart from me, at the age of seventeen, he dropped out of high school to stay home to take over my father’s business as a blacksmith. My mother slowly taught him and guided him to carry on my father’s business. She truly was the anchor for the family when my father passed away.

She lived in America, but she always remembered and worried about the children left behind in Vietnam. Even though they were adults and had their own families, my mother never stopped thinking about them. Perhaps, she once told us, “We have a much better life in America than your brothers and sisters living in Vietnam.” My mother’s saying brings home to me when the Lord Jesus, reported in today’s Gospel, saying, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Even though my mother lived in America, her mind and her spirit were always with her children in Vietnam. As a mother, she never forgets her children regardless of distance, so our Lord Jesus never leaves us alone when he’s taken up into heaven. So, in our struggling of life, in our poor in spirit, in our suffering of any kind, in our sadness and sorrow, or in any difficult moment of life, we are reminded of the words of Jesus before he’s taken up into heaven that he is always with us to the end of the age. Do you believe that Jesus is always with you to the end of time? If yes, what would you do to get over what might constantly present you with difficulties and challenges in life? The decision is yours.