Solemnity of the Ascension
By Fr. Victor Feltes
As a child in CCD class, I remember being told that a pope from the United States would never happen in our lifetimes. The common view was that having the earthly leader of the Catholic Church come from the world’s strongest superpower was something most cardinals would want to avoid. So it was quite surprising when the 69-year-old, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV. But that concern about coming off as “America’s Pope” is probably why he only spoke Italian, Spanish, and Latin during his first public appearance.
If you’re like me, it’s surreal having so much in common with the pope. Like all of us here, he’s a Midwesterner. He speaks English without a foreign accent. He has consumed our movies, TV shows, and music and been active on social media. He has enjoyed American sports, like when he attended a White Sox World Series game. He has voted in our U.S. elections and attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. He ministered in Peru for many years but we have something in common there too. Our diocese has supported Servant of God Fr. Joe Walijewski’s Casa Hogar orphanage in Lima for several decades. Like me, the new pope has a mathematics degree. My parents and relatives come from the Chicagoland area too. And we both picked the name “Leo XIV” — this new pope was literally named after my 12-year-old cat. He has a friendly smile and a sense of humor, he’s easygoing but takes Catholic teaching and worship seriously, he sings well, and writes out homilies to help him preach clearly. You probably have personal connections to our new pope yourself, like belonging to the same American Baby Boom generation.
Of course, the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV is still very young and its substantial fruits have yet to unfold. In the first week following his election, a reporter shook Pope Leo’s hand as he passed by and asked, “Holy Father… any message for the United States?” The pope smiled, lifted his hands, and replied, “Many! May God bless you all!” It’s exciting to have a pope who probably understands us, our country and our culture, both the good and the bad, better than any pope before him. So what does any of this have to do with the Solemnity of the Ascension we celebrate today? Much! And it relates to our June celebration of the Sacred Heart as well.
The Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus Christ’s human nature into heaven. His humanity enters everlasting divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and sky. And from heaven, seated at God’s right hand, he constantly intercedes for us before the Father. Jesus Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will perfectly attuned to his divine intellect and will, knowing us and loving us all with a human heart. As Pope Francis wrote about the Sacred Heart last year, “The eternal Son of God, in his utter transcendence, chose to love each of us with a human heart.” Jesus possesses “genuine human emotions and feelings like ourselves, albeit fully transformed by his divine love. … Entering into the heart of Christ, we feel loved by a human heart filled with affections and emotions like our own.” Divine knowledge and love are eternal and we have had popes before. But the Ascension and Sacred Heart of Jesus are significant. Like a pope who intimately understands us, because he is one of us, we can rejoice that we now have a Lord in heaven, Jesus Christ, who knows us and loves us with a human heart like ours.
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