Friend in High Places (2024-05-12, Ascension / Mother's Day)

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 [ver_04 ]    Homily, Ascension & Mother’s Day , 2024-05-12 (year B)  ●●Acts 1:1-11 ● ●Psalm 47 ● ●Ephesians 4:1-13 or Ephesians 1:17-23 ● ●+Mark 16:15-20 ● ●

[__01__]  On this celebration of the Ascension of our Lord  and of Mother’s Day, I’d like to touch on having friends from whom we receive guidance and the intercession of those who advocate for us in our times of need.

          The Ascension of our Lord and Savior is an event to be commemorated with joy and thanksgiving because, as Saint Paul reported, Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God and makes intercession for us. As we pray in the Creed: “and his kingdom will have no end” (John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, “The Ascension of our Lord”)

          Jesus who intercedes for us before our God and Father is our friend in the highest place. But Jesus’ Ascension to the highest place took place after he had actually condescended to be a divine person with a human nature on earth, vulnerable even unto death.

          Jesus is the ultimate biblical example of the last becoming first. Or, to use a very “slang contemporary” phrase – in the 43 days between Good Friday and Ascension, our Savior goes from “worst to first”.

          Cannot an intercessor be a friend or the bridge over troubled water?

         

[__02__]   In my case, the “troubled water” was not a journey over a river, a but journey out of an airport that was not going well.

          A few months ago, I experienced trouble at the security check point at Newark airport.

          I was and accompanying my parents on a flight to Florida.

          At the official security checkpoint – “TSA” – the guard told us that one of us in  our group - my mother’s name - did not match up correctly in the system.

          Mom, why are you on the FBI no-fly list?

          This was not the case. It was just a bureaucratic error, but it was

distressing because I feared I would either have to call the airline on the phone or stand in a very long line to get this resolved.

Fortunately, we were quickly assisted by an airport hospitality representative who knew exactly what to do. She interceded and took us directly to the United Airlines desk and she went straight to the front of a queue / line of 20+ customers already waiting. And, she talked to the United desk person on our behalf. At least one the 20+ waiting people was displeased. I would have been too!

          Within 2 minutes, the ticket, name, date of birth, everything was straightened out and we resumed our journey. It’s good to have friends who can intercede to get you over the troubled water.

          In biblical history, the people of God were blessed by prophets and intercessors – famously, for example, Moses by whom the waters of the Red Sea were parted in the desert.

          Moses also enable the people to get where they wanted to go.

 

[__03__]  This “interceding” and intercession by a Newark Airport representative gave us what we wanted and needed.

          Is this the only type of intercession or reason to pray before God, to get what we want?

          In our airport example, I knew not what the solution was, only that there was trouble.

          In some situations, we pray to our Savior not only for a solution but also for the virtue to withstand the waiting.

          If we are scared, to pray for courage … if we are uncertain, to pray for wisdom … if we are angry, to pray to be merciful.

          Jesus Himself urges us to become intercessors by, for example, “loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you.”

 

[__04__]   It is also Mother’s day, a day for mothers and children to rejoice in each other.

          We did not choose our mothers and our mothers gave us life in accord with God’s blessing and calling not necessarily in accord with their own selections.

          Did your mother ever give you something you did not really want or expect?

          Or guide you in a direction you did not want to hear.

          Just one example – my mother years ago once overheard me leaving a voice mail – phone message – for someone in a manner in which I thought I was being professional and efficient.

          Not so fast, hombre, my mother said. Slow down.

          My mother has advised me in this and other ways to allow things to unfold or as she would day, make your plans, do not plan your results.

          I often did not want to hear this.

          I’m still trying to slow down.

          When you and I ask for intercession or guidance, we are not simply trying to get what we want to get what God wants for us.

          “Thy kingdom come thy will be done.”

 

[__05__]   Interceding and inntercessory prayer is something we are also called to do for others. We can do this by praying the Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the Our Father or Hail Mary, to pray for example, for

·       Government leaders

·       Priest and missionaries and religious sisters and brothers.

·       Pope Francis

·       The poor and the homeless and hungry

·       Your family and friends.

·       To pray for those who have no one to pray for them.

 

It is also our calling to put the money of our prayer where our mouth is… meaning to connect our prayer to some self-sacrifice or fasting or abstinence.

This fasting is not just for the 40 days of Lent but for anytime we are serious about interceding, we can give “hand over” something good so as to acknowledge our need for something truly of God. What is the good we can give up…

     Maybe the good we hand over 30 minutes or longer of sleep to wake up earlier to pray.

     A dessert or snack or coffee

     Entertainment or media.

Giving up these things and praying for these things is HOW we do it and we become more aware of our need for God’s strength and guidance and his guidance for our loved ones, for those who are with us in church, to pray also for those who do not come to church.

          That’s how we do it… by praying, fasting, petitioning for others.

          But why do we do it? We do so because Jesus gave us the example of this sacrifice, first, and interceding for us before God as he prayed for his disciples and still prays for us.

 

 [__06__]   May we recall that we are all made in God’s image and able to call on his mercy through Jesus Christ his son our Lord, our friend in the high place:   For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.