You know, as human beings, we have the remarkable ability to hear part of the story. Oftentimes, we hear what we want to hear, in a given message. So car dealers advertise a popular car at good price, and we want to buy it. We don’t think about things like insurance, or license plates, or tax. Those things are those reality things that hit you later on. Or somebody was telling me about this great new Italian restaurant that was opening up in Indianapolis that has this fantastic Alfredo chicken pizza. And you know, I’m thinking this sounds like dinner. But they don’t tell you about what Alfredo sauce can do to your cholesterol, or to your heart. There’s always more to the story. And sometimes we don’t want to hear it. This year, my favorite, “But wait, there’s more” to the story, is the construction of our new church. You know, six months ago this weekend, we dedicated our new church. Six months ago. And so much of it has been great: the stained-glass, the beautiful Altar, the kneelers that don’t move around. It’s really been a lot of fun. But the part they don’t tell you is that they will be working the kinks out for a long time. Some day the sound system is going to work right. And some day the air pressure won’t make the doors blow open. And some day birds won’t get into our new church from somewhere. Oh the joys of new church ownership. They just don’t tell you about that part.

Frequently the same thing happens when it comes to the Ascension of our Lord. Each year, we have this celebration, when we recall that day that Jesus left this world and ascended to His Father in Heaven. That was nearly two thousand years ago. And we listen to what Jesus said and promised. And we think about what the Apostles must have felt like. And we try to imagine what it looked like that day when He was taken up, body and soul, into Heaven. And then, we get ready for Pentecost. We do this every year. But there’s one aspect of this little celebration that frequently we forget about. We all too conveniently leave part of the story out. And the part that we leave out is that Jesus did say that He was coming back again. The Gospel is very clear about this. The Gospel and the Church have also been very clear about the fact that nobody, NOBODY, is going to know the time or the place. The Church has always said the same thing: We must be ready at all times. Today, we’ve got to be people awaiting their Master’s return. If it happens in five minutes, we’ve got to be ready. If it happens in five years, or fifty years, or five hundred years, it doesn’t matter when, we still have to be ready. We want to be found busy building the Kingdom of God when He returns. This is because it is going to happen some day. We can’t say that we didn’t know. We won’t be able to claim that we needed more time. Our job is not to know, or to guess, or to be afraid, our job is to be ready at all times. That, my brothers and sisters, is the real rest of the story.

And so as we celebrate Jesus’ leaving us two thousand years ago, are you ready for His return? If Jesus walked in here today and told you that it was time to go home, would you be prepared? A lot of people over the years have looked for signs. The poor Book of Revelation has been dissected over and over again looking for clues. People have written books, and made movies and T V shows to try and scare us about the end. And yet, when it really happens, we aren’t going to want to be afraid. We are going to want to be ready.

So what would you have to do in your life to be more ready? Think about this for just a minute. Are there changes that you need to make in your life? Are there things that you need to say? Are there things that you need to do? Are there things that you need to be forgiven for? And if there are any of these things in your life, what are you waiting for? You know, when Jesus comes, it’s not like we’re all going to be able call and ask for forgiveness. We’re not going to be able to run to our computers and delete things that we wish were not on them. We’re not going to be able to write a check and be generous all of a sudden. Time will be up. It will be time to go home. No, make no mistake about it, our time is now. If we want to be ready on the day that Jesus returns, then we need to be ready NOW. Are you? Are you going to be IN? Or are you going to be OUT? God gives us the choice. Now is the time for us to decide.

The Ascension of the Lord was an amazing event. People were completely blown away. Jesus was taken up into the Heavens right in front of their eyes. Let us be extremely clear that it will be no less amazing when He returns. A lot of people will be in shock. A lot of people are going to be in trouble. Let us make sure that we are neither. Let us be ready. Always!

May God bless us on this Feast Day, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN!!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!