When a Philmont crew starts out on their 10-day trek through the backcountry, they never go out alone. They have their Ranger with them to guide them. He’ll teach them about the “bearmuda triangle,” how to cook and set up their tents, and many other important skills. Starting out can be difficult but, after a couple days, the crews normally start to function fairly well. Then comes the fateful day… the Ranger leaves.
I remember my first trek. After three days, our Ranger announced that he was leaving and we were now going to be on our own. I wasn’t so sure we were ready, but our Ranger was confident in us. That night, we had the excitement of setting up camp on our own and knowing that we were now really doing it. We were really our own crew. There were difficulties for sure, but there is a great wisdom in the Philmont way of not having a staff member along “babysitting” the whole way.
On today’s solemnity of the Ascension, Jesus does something similar with the apostles. Like a good Ranger, Jesus has taught the apostles well. Now they are ready to go out on their own. Yet, just as Philmont has plenty of support available to crews, the apostles are not really on their own. Jesus promises that he will be with them always. It’s not really a sad day when your Ranger leaves, and it’s not really sad for us that Jesus is not immediately present to us.
Now is the time for us to go out boldly and do what we’ve been trained to do. Jesus has taught us well. Now it’s our turn to go out and do the things he did, “and greater things than these,” he promises. But we also know that we’re really not completely on our own. Like a good Ranger, Jesus is there.