Puccini was one of the greatest Italian writers who authored such classic operas as “Madame Butterfly” and “La Boheme.” At a fairly young age, Puccini contracted cancer. He knew he was dying. So, he decided to spend his last days writing the final masterpiece, The Turnadot.
Seeing that Puccini was weakening by day, his friends and disciples would tell him, “You are ill; take it easy and rest.” And he would always respond, “I am going to do as much as I can on my great masterwork and it’s up to you, my friends, to finish it if I don’t.”
Puccini died before the opera was completed.
Now his friends had a choice. They could forever mourn their friend and return to life as usual – or they could build on his melody and complete what he started. They chose the latter. And so, in 1926, at the famous La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy, Puccini’s opera was played for the first time, conducted by the famed conductor Arturo Toscanini.
When it came to the part in the opera where the master had stopped writing because he died, Toscanini stopped everything, turned around with eyes welling up with tears, and said to the large audience, “This is where the master ends.” And he wept. But then, after a few moments, he lifted up his head, smiled broadly, and said, “And this is where his friends began.” Then he finished conducting the opera.
Perhaps, this story is more suited for a funeral reflection. Nevertheless, there is a remarkable resemblance between the story above and what we are celebrating at this Feast of the Ascension.
Jesus spent three years working and preaching the Good News. He died, rose from the dead, and finally he returned to the Father.
His returning to the Father marked the end of Jesus’ mission on earth. He no longer physically preached the Kingdom. He no longer touched and healed the sick with his own hands. The Feast of Ascension indeed marks “where the Master ends.”
But, just like Puccini, he left this earth entrusting his friends with a mission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
The group of the Eleven who stood there, where moment ago their Master was standing, also faced a choice. They could either keep gazing up to heaven and moaned their Master’s leaving, or they could go and continue the work Jesus started. They chose the latter. And those who succeeded them chose the same. Thus, the Apostolic Tradition was formed.
Now the choice comes down to each and every one of us.
As Christ’s followers, we all are entrusted with the task of becoming witnesses to the Gospel of Hope and Love. Each Sunday, we come to participate in the Liturgy of the Word and to part take in the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist. Our lives, hence, are blended in that of Jesus’. His mission becomes our mission. Will we, after having shared the Table of the Lord, return to life as usual, or will we carry on the work that the Lord started. That is the choice that we each ought to make.
Evidently, most of us will not have to go off to distant lands to be missionaries. Most of us will not have to endure horrible martyrdoms like the Apostles and many martyrs of history.
Nevertheless, the way we live our life and the way we conduct our actions speak loudly of the message we wish to convey. As it was beautifully said, “There are five Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, and Yourself. The last perhaps will be the only one people ever read.”
St. Teresa of Avila wrote a wonderful poem which serves well as our conclusion,
Christ has
No body on earth but yours;
No hands but yours;
No feet but yours;
Yours are the eyes
Through which he is to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet
With which he is to go about
Doing good;
Yours the hands
With which he is to bless now.
The Solemnity of the Ascension marks where the Master ends his earthly mission. Hopefully, it also marks where his friends, you and I, begin.
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