![\"Cloud](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/cloudcomputing-500x282.jpg\")
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On this Solemnity of the Ascension,
\nthe Scriptures describe Jesus as being lifted up into the cloud.
\nWe hear a lot about \u201cthe cloud\u201d these days.
\nWe can put our documents in the cloud.
\nOr we can keep our pictures in the cloud.
\nWe can even put our music and books in the cloud.<\/p>\n
It’s really convenient having our music or all of our books
\nat our fingertips.
\nBut for many of us,
\nswitching to the cloud can be a difficult transition.
\nWe\u2019ve probably got file cabinets
\nfull of folders that contain important legal documents.
\nMaybe we have boxes of CDs, or cassette tapes, or even records.
\nWe\u2019ve also got shelves full of photo albums or cases full of books.<\/p>\n
Putting items like these in the cloud is a bit scary
\nand hard to get used to.
\nWhere do they all go? Are they secure?
\nPlus, we like the idea of having the concrete items to hold on to.
\nWe like the way they feel and to see them organized on a shelf.
\nThere\u2019s a security in being able
\nto physically flip through an album of pictures
\nor hold a book in our hands
\nrather than looking at them on a tablet or e-reader.<\/p>\n
The disciples are facing a similar problem in the first reading today.
\nAs they were looking on,
\nJesus \u201cwas lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.\u201d
\nJesus has moved to \u201cthe cloud.\u201d
\nHe is no longer physically with his disciples on earth.
\nThey stand there \u201clooking intently at the sky\u201d as he ascends to the cloud.
\nThey would like him to stay on earth, in the flesh,
\nrather than vanish within the cloud.
\nLike those of us who would rather feel the pages of a paper book
\nor see our photos in a leather-bound album,
\nthe disciples would rather be able to see Jesus,
\nto place a hand on his shoulder,
\nto speak directly to him.
\nAnd I suspect many of us feel the same way.
\nIt\u2019s hard to place our faith in a person we can\u2019t see or hear or touch.<\/p>\n
Maybe we would have liked it better if Jesus had not ascended,
\nbut stayed on earth with us.
\nWhat if that would have happened instead?
\nWhat if Jesus had simply continued living on earth
\nfor all these centuries?
\nMaybe he\u2019d have continued living near Jerusalem
\nfor a few decades more,
\nand then maybe he\u2019d have gone on to Africa, or China.
\nAfter that he could have made his way through Russia
\nto Europe and then the Americas.
\nHe could have traveled all over
\nand been seen by millions of people in the flesh.<\/p>\n
But there would have been many more who could not have seen him.
\nBillions of people who lacked the money or the time
\nto travel to where Jesus was.
\nEven if Jesus was alive today
\nin this era of planes, trains, and automobiles,
\neven with Skype or FaceTime,
\nthere would still be people who could not get to Jesus:
\nthe poor, the homebound, those in war zones, or in prison.
\nAnd even if Jesus went to visit them, he couldn\u2019t get to everybody.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s where the cloud can help us understand.
\nWhen we keep our documents and photos and music and books
\nin the cloud,
\nthey’re available to us everywhere:
\non our desktop computers, our laptops, our tablets, our e-readers,
\nand even on our smart phones.
\nWe can share them with others with the simple click of a button.
\nThough it seems like our documents, our pictures, our music, our books,
\nare nowhere,
\nthey’re really everywhere.<\/p>\n
In a similar way,
\nthough it seems like Jesus is nowhere,
\nhe is really everywhere.
\nAll because he was lifted up to the cloud.<\/p>\n
The cloud is an ancient image for the presence and glory of God.
\nFor instance, when God called Moses up to Mt. Sinai
\nto receive the tablets of the law
\na cloud covered the mountain for six days,
\nand then God called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.<\/p>\n
And on the Exodus journey,
\nGod\u2019s presence and glory among the chosen people
\nwere seen in the pillar of cloud by day
\nand the pillar of fire by night.<\/p>\n
Later, God instructed Moses to set up a tabernacle in the tent of meeting
\nand after Moses did all that he had been instructed to do,
\na \u201ccloud covered the tent of meeting,
\nand the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.\u201d<\/p>\n
And even in the gospels,
\nwhen Luke describes the Transfiguration,
\nthe disciples see Jesus, Moses, and Elijah
\nconversing on the mountaintop
\nand then they see a cloud cast a shadow over them,
\nand from within the cloud they hear,
\n\u201cThis is my chosen Son; listen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cloud is almost always mentioned when God makes his glory visible.<\/p>\n
This is the cloud into which God lifts Jesus up.
\nJesus in his humanity enters into the glory of God
\nso that everyone can be close to God forever.
\nThrough our baptism in Christ, we, too, are close to God forever.
\nBecause God wanted to come close to us,
\nhe sent his Son to be one of us, to be a human being.
\nAfter Jesus\u2019 suffering and death,
\nGod raised him from the dead,
\nand brought him into the cloud of his presence and glory.
\nWe who have been baptized
\ninto Christ\u2019s suffering, death, and resurrection
\nare also baptized into Christ\u2019s Ascension.
\nThe more we live out our baptism, the closer we are to Christ,
\nthe closer we are God.<\/p>\n
When Jesus disappeared into the cloud,
\nhe didn\u2019t just dissolve into thin air.
\nHe is still here with us,
\nbut in a new way, a way no one had ever seen before.<\/p>\n
Though at first it seems like Jesus is nowhere, he is really everywhere.
\nHe left the world one day in order to be available
\nto all people throughout all time.
\nHe can be encountered on every continent, in every city,
\nin the homes of both the poor and the wealthy,
\nby both the saint and the sinner,
\nat any time.<\/p>\n
The documents, photos, music, and books
\nthat are available everywhere once they enter the cloud
\nare a reminder to us that Jesus is available everywhere
\nsince he entered the cloud of the Father\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n
Christ is here with us now.
\nHe never leaves our side.
\nGod loves us so much,
\nhe is not content with simply being in one place at one time.
\nHe is with us in all places, at all times.
\nThat is something worth celebrating here at Mass!
\nThat is something worth coming here to sing about!
\nThat is something worth telling people about!<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why we hear in today\u2019s gospel that after Jesus was taken up,
\nthe disciples \u201cwent forth and preached everywhere,
\nwhile the Lord worked with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what we\u2019re being asked to do, too,
\nto be witnesses for Christ, to preach the gospel.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something we\u2019re already very good at.
\nWe love telling people about things that are good for them, don\u2019t we?
\nThat\u2019s why we post our favorite outfits to Pinterest.
\nOr share our favorite recipes on Facebook,
\nor our favorite music.
\nThat\u2019s why videos go viral and why we click the \u201cLike\u201d button so often.
\nThose are all ways of preaching, of being witnesses.
\nWe preach all the time on social media,
\nwe preach all the time by word of mouth.
\nWe tell people about the deal we got at the store,
\nor our favorite places to eat.<\/p>\n
What was the last thing I recommended to someone?
\nDid I tell them about a great movie I just watched?
\nDid I mention a book I just finished,
\nor a TV show I just binge watched on Netflix?<\/p>\n
We know how to preach
\nbecause we do it all the time.<\/p>\n
When was the last time I recommended a prayer I discovered?
\nWhen did I retweet something Pope Francis put on Twitter?
\nHave I told anyone about a retreat I made that really made a difference,
\nor a passage from scripture that I just can\u2019t get out of my head?
\nWhat kind of music is playing on the car stereo
\nwhen I drive to Mass and back?
\nThese are all opportunities to preach.<\/p>\n
This is what Christ is asking us to do:
\nto be his witnesses;
\nto tell everyone the good news that He is with them,
\nthat God loves them.<\/p>\n
On this Ascension day we remember
\nthat Christ was lifted up into the cloud
\nnot to leave us,
\nbut to be with us forever.<\/p>\n
We may or may not ever become comfortable
\nwith putting our documents, photographs, music, or books in the cloud.
\nBut the next time we stream music to our phones,
\nor download an ebook, or share our photos online with friends,
\nwe can remember that Jesus, too is with us no matter where we are.<\/p>\n
And we can be witnesses of his presence to the people we love.<\/p>\n