When they were gazing intently into heaven as He was going away, there stood by them two men in white robes who said, "Men of Galilee, what are you doing there gazing into heaven? The same Jesus, who has left you to ascend into heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen Him ascend16. "Also like the Apostles, we remain between admiration and sadness when we see that he is leaving us. It is not easy, in fact, to get used to the physical absence of Jesus. I am moved to remember that, in a display of love, he has gone and stayed; he has gone to Heaven and is given to us as nourishment in the Holy Host. We miss, however, his human word, his way of acting, of looking, of smiling, of doing good. We would like to look closely at him again, when he sits by the well, tired from the hard journey (cf. Jn 4:6), when he weeps for Lazarus (cf. Jn 11:35), when he prays at length (cf. Lk 6:12), when he has compassion on the crowd (cf. Mt 15:32, Mk 8:2).
"It has always seemed logical to me and has filled me with joy that the Most Holy Humanity of Jesus Christ ascends to the glory of the Father, but I also think that this sadness, peculiar to the day of the Ascension, is a sign of the love we feel for Jesus, Our Lord. He, being perfect God, became man, perfect man, flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. How can we not miss him?
The angels tell the Apostles that it is time to begin the immense task that awaits them, that not a moment should be lost. With the Ascension, Christ's earthly mission ends and that of his disciples, ours, begins. And today, in our prayer, it is good for us to hear those words with which the Lord intercedes before God the Father for us: I do not ask that you remove them from the world, from our environment, from our work, from our family... but that you preserve them from evil. For the Lord wants each one in his place to continue the task of sanctifying the world, to improve it and place it at his feet: souls, institutions, families, public life.... For only in this way will the world be a place where human dignity is valued and respected, where it is possible to live together in peace, with true peace, which is so closely linked to union with God.
"Today's feast reminds us that zeal for souls is a command of the Lord, who, in ascending to his glory, sends us as his witnesses throughout the world. Great is our responsibility: for to be a witness of Christ supposes, first of all, to strive to behave according to his doctrine, to strive so that our conduct recalls Jesus, evokes his most lovable figure."
Those who live with us or relate to us must see us as loyal, sincere, cheerful, hardworking; we must behave as people who fulfill their duties with rectitude and know how to act as children of God in the incidents that each day brings. The ordinary rules of coexistence - which for many remain something external, necessary for social interaction - must be the fruit of charity, manifestations of an interior attitude of concern for others: greeting, cordiality, the spirit of service....
Jesus leaves, but he remains very close to each one of us. In a particular way we find him in the nearest Tabernacle, perhaps less than a hundred meters from where we live or work. Let us not fail to go many times, even if we can only do so with our hearts on most occasions, to ask him to help us in our apostolic work, to count on us to spread his teaching in all places.
The Apostles went to Jerusalem in the company of St. Mary. Together with her they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let us also prepare ourselves in these days to prepare the next feast of Pentecost very close to our Lady.