Well, first I’m going to ask for a confession, 

A public confession over the tv airwaves. 

I’m going to ask if you called your parish 

Asking what day is holy Thursday mass. 

Did you call? 

So many people are confused about holy Thursday 

Because we used to always, sorry, ascension Thursday mass. 

So many people are confused about ascension Thursday mass 

Because it was always on Thursday. 

Did I say holy Thursday? 

I meant ascension Thursday, ascension Thursday. 

It was always on Thursdays, but about 10 years ago, 

15 years ago, ascension Thursday was bumped 

Three days to the Sunday, so we all could celebrate 

Ascension Thursday together. 

So here we are celebrating ascension Thursday 

Together, not 40, but 43 days after 

Our easter celebration, 43 days later. 

On this ascension Thursday, we have the great joy 

Of celebrating the gift that Jesus gave all of us, 

His ascension into heaven, 

And then as he promised the sending forth 

Of the holy spirit, which we’ll celebrate next Sunday. 

As we come together, we remember this great gift and power, 

And it’s captured very beautifully in Luke’s gospel. 

Jesus explains to his disciples. 

This is what was prophesized, 

And this is what’s going to happen. 

I will send the holy spirit among you, 

And then they went off to the hill, 

And Jesus ascended into heaven. 

Luke’s gospel gives that to us very beautifully, 

As does Luke’s acts of the apostles 

That was read for us so well today. 

In the acts of the apostles, we have the narrative, 

The story of the unfolding of what happened 

From the perspective of the 12 apostles. 

We have it in the acts of the apostles. 

So both in the perspective of Jesus 

And in the perspective of the apostles, 

We have the recounting of this glorious ascension of Jesus 

Into heaven with the powerful promise 

That Jesus will send the holy spirit out among us 

To encourage us, to fill us up, 

To give us all that we need. 

All seven gifts of the holy spirit will be ours, 

Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, 

Knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. 

We have this great promise 

That Jesus will send the spirit upon us. 

We hear about the acts of the apostles from Luke. 

We hear about Luke’s gospel, 

But I want to talk for one last second about Paul’s letter 

To the Ephesians, the Ephesians. 

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. 

You know, some church ministers go back and forth 

About how we receive the good news of Jesus in our, 

Do we receive it in our head? 

Do we receive it in our heart? 

And in Paul’s letter to Ephesians, 

I’d like to point out that St. Paul refers to both, 

The head that receives the wisdom 

Through the power of the holy spirit 

And the heart that’s opened up in the eyes of our hearts 

See clearly the gift of faith. 

As we gather together today, we know that our head, 

Our head has received the good news 

Of Jesus’s life, his death, his resurrection, 

And his ascension into heaven. 

We receive that with our head 

And we can tell you the story, but also with our heart, 

We know that Christ is very much alive in the world, 

Alive in us, alive in the eucharist, 

And Jesus is healing, Jesus is salvation, 

Jesus is kindness, Jesus is hopefulness, 

It’s all very much alive in our hearts. 

And because Jesus’s love is alive in our hearts, 

We pass that on to others that we encounter every day. 

On this ascension Thursday, on this ascension Sunday, 

We celebrate the great gift that Jesus gave us 

As ascension, but more to the point, 

We celebrate what we know and how we live out 

That great faith in Jesus who’s alive in our hearts 

And therefore alive in the world. 

Jesus promises on the spirit and he does, 

But even before we celebrate Pentecost, 

Let us be very much aware of Jesus alive in our hearts 

For the transformation of the world, 

Building God’s kingdom.