Don't just stand there

Why are you standing there looking at the sky?

That is the question angels ask the Apostles in today’s first reading for the Solemnity of the Ascension (Acts 1:1-11).

This Jesus
who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way
as you have seen him going into heaven.

This snaps the Apostles out of their amazement, enabling them to recall the Lord’s instructions to stay in Jerusalem to await the Holy Spirit and then to proclaim Christ to the ends of the earth.

So too we can get lost in daydreams or spend too much time in theological speculation and fail to keep our attention focused on our prime objective: to be faithful to Christ and to be his witnesses to all.