Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-05-16-usccb-daily-mass-readings

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord – May 16, 2021

Happy Easter and welcome to the one hundred and sixty-fourth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.

My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.

In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Year B). Last weekend, my family and I went to a riverfront park to enjoy a picnic lunch and watch the passersby on the land and on the water. There was a couple nearby who brought their boombox with them. They were playing Christian music and were evangelizing. The wife had a scarf that said something about Jesus on it, and she waved it as she danced to the music. The husband would call out to the people as they walked by and the people ignored the couple. While the couple’s intention was good, their impact wasn’t. We got up from where we were sitting and moved away from them.

Unfortunately, when I hear the word “evangelize,” I think of people like this couple who turn me off. The last thing I want to do is be like them. Yet, evangelization is exactly what we are called to do, as our readings for the Ascension tell us.

In our first reading, Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) and in our Gospel he said, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16:15) How do we live out this obligation? For those of us who go to work every day, the whole world includes our workplaces. So how do we evangelize at work, without crossing that line that is either written or implied by cultural norms? How do we become his witnesses and proclaim the Gospel without turning people off? The answer, may I suggest, is through relationships.

In February of this year, Bishop Barron spoke to the Catholic educators of the Archdiocese of Vancouver on the importance of sharing the Gospel. He said, “Evangelization is not sharing information about Jesus.” While that may be important, it is not what evangelization is. Instead, the bishop said, “Evangelization is sharing a relationship. It is sharing a friendship. This friendship you have with Jesus the Lord that is the most important friendship of your life.”

Most Important Relationship

If you want to fulfill your obligation to proclaim the Gospel, the place to start is your relationship with Jesus. There is an old Latin idiom nemo dat quod non habet that essentially translates as, “you can’t give what you don’t have.” This applies to sharing your relationship with Jesus. You can’t share it if you don’t have it. You can’t share a friendship effectively if it isn’t central to your life.

Years ago, I made a commitment to go to daily Mass and I’ve only missed a handful of days since when it was just not possible because there was no Mass available, I was on an airplane or cruise ship, or I was sick in bed. My daily schedule revolves around when I will be able to go to Mass. I’m blessed to live in an area of the country where we have a lot of options. Some places are not so lucky.

I tell you this because placing daily Mass as a priority in my life was how I started placing Jesus as a priority in my life, and it has changed my life for the better. God uses this relationship to speak to me through the daily scripture readings and the priest’s homily. He uses this relationship to strengthen me with his grace through the Eucharist. He uses it to correct me, guide me, affirm me, convict me, and love me.

All friendships need this kind of time and attention to flourish. Daily Mass isn’t the only time I spend in prayer, but it is the important part of my relationship with Christ. How’s your friendship with Jesus? Does it get the number one place in your day? Or does it get fit in here and there when there is time leftover? Does your time with Christ get squeezed by all the other stuff you’ve got going on in your life? Or, does it set your schedule and everything else revolves around it? Be honest.

How you allocate your time will say a lot about who or what is most important in your life. If your schedule isn’t aligned with your priorities, maybe it is time for a change. If Jesus isn’t your priority, maybe that needs to change.

Prayer is essential for the cultivation of the relationship with Jesus Christ and the Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic prayer. For the past year, some of our churches have been closed and for others that have been open, the bishops have issued a dispensation for the Sunday obligation. For some, this has created a void where they used to spend time with the Lord. This empty space has been filled with other activities and it has wounded their relationship with Jesus. Many other people have benefited from online streaming of the Mass and have added daily Mass to their routine because it is so readily available. One thing is for certain, the pandemic has thrown a wrench into everyone’s routine. The question is, has your prayer routine changed for the better or the worse? Be honest.

Sharing Your Relationship

Networking is a common practice in business. If I know someone who I think might help you in some way, I’m happy to introduce you. It is the natural thing to do. And when you have an important relationship, it is also natural to want to share it with others in your life. In his inaugural homily, Pope Benedict XVI said, “There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.”

When my husband and I were dating, I was eager to introduce him to my friends. He was quickly becoming the most important person in my life, and I wanted my friends to meet him. It is natural for us to want to share someone who is important to us with our other friends. So why not Christ? And why not share Christ in the workplace?

You might be surprised to discover that the Code of Canon Law 225 §2 says we are bound to do so. It says, “According to each one’s own condition, they are also bound by a particular duty to imbue and perfect the order of temporal affairs with the spirit of the gospel and thus to give witness to Christ, especially in carrying out these same affairs and in exercising secular function.” In other words, as “the Christian faithful”, we are bound to instill the spirit of the Gospel and give witness to Christ when carrying out our worldly affairs and our secular work. But how?

First, be natural. When you’re involved in a relationship with someone you love, it shows. It changes you, your attitude, and your outlook on life. So too with your relationship with the Lord. It changes you, or at least it should. People notice the change. When they ask you what’s different or new in your life, you tell them. It is natural to talk about that person.

Second, be selective. You wouldn’t start talking about your new love to a stranger in an elevator, and you probably shouldn’t start talking to strangers at work about Jesus either. The normal thing is to have a relationship with the other person before you introduce your new love or Jesus to them.

Third, be inviting. When you introduce your new love to a friend, you are inviting your friend to get to know him. You aren’t pushing them into a relationship with your new love. Instead, you are inviting them to get to know him and why he is important to you.

Finally, be authentic. I always find answers to my problems in scripture, so it is natural for me to quote scripture when working with my clients. It is just part of who I am. I present it as good advice for a particular issue they may be dealing with. Although I’m not good at quoting the chapter and verse, nor can I accurately quote the text, I can paraphrase saying something like, “There is a scripture passage that says … and it could offer a solution to your dilemma.” We quote the authors of other books all the time. Why not Christ?

In being authentic, we are living out our unique calling. In our second reading, St. Paul wrote, “He gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-12) Jesus has equipped each of us uniquely for our unique ministry. So perhaps, the reason I don’t want to be like that couple in the park is because it is not natural for me to go out on the street and share Jesus with strangers who happen to walk by. I was not equipped for that type of evangelization.

But I was given an affinity for business and a passion for witnessing to businesspeople about living their faith in the marketplace. Living according to the Gospel is good for business. Scripture does offer good advice for your problems. A relationship with Jesus Christ does change your life. I know this is true and all of this is good news I want to share with others.

What is your unique calling? When you know your subject and you are passionate about it, it makes you compelling. Do you know Jesus and are you passionate about him? If so, you can’t help but be compelling and you can’t help but want to share.

What Are You Waiting For?

One final thought, what are you waiting for? In our first reading, after Jesus had been taken up, the two men dressed in white said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” (Acts 1:11) In other words, don’t just stand there, get moving. We’ve been commissioned by our baptism and confirmation to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. But you don’t have to go that far. You can start today with someone close to you who needs to hear the Good News.

In the Gospel for the Seventh Sunday of Easter which was celebrated this Sunday in several dioceses in the northeast, Jesus prayed to his Father on the night before he died. He said, “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” (Jn 17:18) “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (Jn 17:20-21) Let’s pray that as we go into the world, that we may not belong to the world but that we may be consecrated in truth so that through our word, others may come to believe in him.

May God bless you abundantly this week as you share your most important relationship with your friends and may you glorify the Lord by your life. Amen.

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