A Homily for the Ascension (B)
Where is your heart?
Jesus tells us in one of the Gospels that where our heart is, there also is our treasure, and He repeatedly urges us to “change your hearts.”
In today’s parlance, the heart is often seen as the seat of the emotions, and having to do with our feelings. We give hearts to those we love on Valentine’s Day. However, at the time that Jesus was speaking to the disciples, there in the Middle East, the heart was seen as much more than just a person’s feelings. The heart was seen as that which unified all the different aspects of the person, so in a way the heart was the whole of the person — their senses, their emotions, their mind, their will, and their spirit. So when Jesus urged His followers to change their hearts He was calling them to become new creations, and this is what happens to us in our baptism. In baptism we become reborn as a child of God.
Of course Jesus wants our hearts to be with Him. As Jesus remains present with us, most especially in the Blessed Eucharist, even after ascending into Heaven, Jesus wants us to give Him our hearts so that while we continue to live on earth, our hearts will rest with Him in Heaven. This is what the virtue of hope is; a deep yearning for Heaven, so that all of us can be where our hearts lie.
Only when our hearts are with Jesus can they be filled up with His love, empowering us to do what He commands in today’s Gospel reading, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” It is to this that St. Peter refers, in his letter, when he says, “Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope.” The proclamation of the Good News is not just the job of priests, deacons and religious brothers and sisters. It is the mission of all the baptized. All are called to show others where their hearts lie.
So, where is your heart?
