This morning’s Gospel reading is Mark 16:15–20 (Ascension Vigil Mass on Saturday):

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Or John 17:11b–19 (Sunday Mass):

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

How many of us are directionally challenged? I grew up in Southern California, long before the advent of Google Maps or even MapQuest -- yes, I'm that old -- but I learned to drive while keeping my Thomas Guide close by in the car. Without its amazing organization of cross-referenced streets to pages and grid lines, I could still be tooling around the outskirts of Hacienda Heights, trying my best to find my way out of Turnbull Canyon. 

And when I moved to Minnesota, it got much worse. They had no Thomas Guide, so any attempt to venture out of my suburb or to deviate from the path to work turned quickly into an adventure. I didn't mind the time spent as much as I did the sense of being lost and looking foolish. When navigation systems became standard in vehicles, and later integration with phone apps, I felt much more secure when I needed to drive somewhere new.

I just needed to be shown the way. Usually more than once, too, and often repeatedly.

This weekend, we celebrate the ascension of Jesus, who came to show us the way. In John 14:16, Jesus tells the disciples, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." The early church identified closely with this teaching; there are more references to the Church as "The Way" in Acts (five) than mentions of Christians (three). Some ecclesial communities still call themselves The Way to this day. 

The term "Christians" offers better flexibility in language, but "The Way" has the virtue of going directly to the point. Our mission as Christians isn't simply to be Christians; we become Christians to better follow Jesus Christ to eternal life by following Him on The Way. As we do so, we are called to assist our brothers and sisters to follow Him along with us on The Way. 

Identity has its value; many martyrs died because they bravely proclaimed the Gospel and themselves as Christian. But identity is one step along The Way, not The Way itself. 

In both Gospel readings today, Jesus sends the disciples -- soon to be apostles -- out into the world to convert the nations. Almost all of them became pilgrim apostles, and all of them but John were murdered for their efforts. But they grasped that The Way is an active path to eternal life; converting the nations meant going on the road, bravely proclaiming the Gospel to strangers, and trusting in the Lord that their work would succeed through His grace even in their darkest moments. It was their task to show them The Way and to bring as many as would follow along it.

But even with the Gospels, the stories of the Apostles, and this vision of The Ascension, we sometimes get lost ourselves. It's not that we stop being Christians, but we start getting distracted from our mission as Christians, both personally and communally. We get too self-absorbed and lose focus on the spiritual truths; we grow angry and disconnect from people around us. This leads us off the path and into sin, and that will drag us further and further from The Way to the point where it can barely be seen at all. 

After all, someone can give us a map, and we can even read it once or twice, but we get lost if we decide to ignore it and go our own way. To beat the analogy of my own driving experiences to death again, the more you look for shortcuts, the more impossible the journey becomes -- and it will take you places you never wanted to go.

This is why Jesus also teaches that He is the true path to eternal lfe. Let's return to John 14:6 again, with my own emphasis: "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.[']" Jesus did not say that He was a way, or among a small group of options. There is one path to the Father, Jesus taught, one map route, and only The Way suffices. 

Today's celebration of the Ascension reminds us, therefore, of Jesus as The Way and what our destination truly is. In His ministry on Earth, Jesus gave us a map with his teachings so that disciples could follow Him, not just at that time in Judea and Samaria but everywhere in all times. The Ascension opened that last mile of The Way to all of us and gave us a clear picture of the way to get there. 

And all we need to do is follow the map, let others know about it, and not get distracted by the world around us. 

Addendum: In doing a little research for this reflection, I discovered that the Thomas Guide is still around in southern California. Never mind the American Express card; I never left home without mine in the car. I am not sure how useful it is in the age of instant mapping and nav systems, but it does bring back a lot of fun memories, especially on those times that I just read the map to see where the streets went. 

Previous reflections on these readings:

• Moving on up: Sunday reflection
• Coming home: Sunday reflection
• The wisdom of WSDAM: Sunday reflection
• Sunday reflection: Matthew 28:16-20 and John 17:1–11
• Sunday reflection: John 17:11b–19

The front page image is "Ascensión" by Hernando de los Llanos, c.1507-10. Via Wikimedia Commons. 

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.