“Hello.  My name is Fr. Kevin Haines, and I approved this message.”  Can you believe all of the political ads on TV and the radio?  It’s unbelievable.  And this is just the primary election this Tuesday.  Can you imagine what the commercials are going to be like by the time that we get to this November?  And you know, aren’t things bad enough, with the price of gas, and the home mortgage crisis, and the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?   Doesn’t it just make you madder when you keep hearing about how bad things are, in the political commercials?  I feel worse when I see and hear those ads than I do when I’m actually standing there at the gas pump filling up my car!  These are crazy days.  It’s a good thing that this primary election is this Tuesday.  Then maybe the local TV and radio stations can go back to their old commercials, like for Charleston’s and Buddy’s Carpet.  It’s time.

       We come to Mass today on this Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, and it’s time.  Seven weeks ago we celebrated Easter.  It’s been a great Easter season.  The Easter readings, the music, the decorations, and the prayers have all been nice.  It’s been a quick seven weeks.  Today, it’s time to recall that last time that any of us saw Jesus.  Jesus gathered the Apostles and the Church together, and He went outside of town, on the slope of a mountainside.  And it was time.  Jesus was taken up to Heaven right in front of their eyes.  And this is the way that St. Matthew ends his Gospel.  It’s quite an ending.

       Now, I suppose that there are those who think that, “Gee, that’s a nice story.  Let’s just sit around and wait until He comes back.”   We could take the kinda “couch potato” view of things, and just sit around, staring at the sky, wondering when He’s going to come back.  And probably, there were a few people who did that, back in the day.  Many of them thought that Jesus meant “right away”.  So when He didn’t come back right away, they had to go back and check out His last words to them.  Jesus’ words are very important here.  Not only was it time for Him to go back to His Father.  But it was also time for the Church to go to work.  Jesus had initiated the Kingdom.  With His Ascension, He hands the keys to the Kingdom over to His Church, and He tells THEM, He tells US, that it’s time for us to go to work.  It’s time.  We’ve sat around way too long.  We can’t keep coming here every Sunday, sitting in the same pew, and going through the same motions, and getting the same results.  My brothers and sisters, it’s time to go to work.  Sometimes I think that we are driving God crazier than all of those political commercials are driving us crazy.  We’re not supposed to be sitting around.  Jesus gave us a job to do.  Did you catch that in today’s Gospel?  We, all of us, are to go out into all the world.  Jesus didn’t say stay seated in Westfield, Indiana.  He said “Get up and Get out there!”  We are to be baptizing people, and bringing them to be baptized.  Let’s be honest here: How many people have you brought to church to be baptized lately?  Guys, it’s our job.  Our RCIA should be packed full of people.  We are to be teaching others about Jesus and about His way of life, just like we were taught.  So our new job is a teaching job.  And what’s the best way of teaching?  Is the best way to teach people by beating them over their heads with our words?  No.  The best way to teach people is to do it by example.  St. Francis of Assisi said that we are to “Preach the Gospel at ALL times, using words only when necessary.”  Can you imagine how much more effective we could be as a Church if we followed St. Francis’s advise?

        People are sick to death of hearing words.  It’s just like the political commercials.  People don’t believe words any more.  They want us to show them WHY they should be Catholic Christians.  Are we showing others this?  Or are we just saying lots of nice words? 

        It’s time.  It’s time to go to work.  It’s time to get busy.  It’s time to pray more, and serve more, and love more.  It’s time for the Kingdom to get built.  It’s time for us to show our love for God.  It’s time for us to evangelize to a world that is starving for God.  Oh, we can stand there staring up at the sky, waiting for His return.  But He’s not going to be very happy with us if He comes back, and that’s all we’re doing.  It’s time to do something new.

I’m Fr. Kevin Haines, and I approved this homily.

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

St. Maria Goretti …Pray for us !!!