Several children made their First Holy Communion yesterday. As they walked up the aisle, many people were taking their picture. They probably felt pretty famous! We take pictures (especially today with cell phones that have cameras in them) in order to remember what someone looked like on a certain day, or in order to remember a special occasion.
In Jesus' time of course there were no cameras or cell phones. So at the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples to remember him and those special days in this way: come together for prayer, ask God to bless your bread & wine, and then eat my Body and drink my Blood. Do this in memory of me and in memory of my death and resurrection. And so that is what we do.
But on this feast of the Ascension, we remember the disciples looking intently at Jesus as he was being taken up into heaven, almost as if they were trying to take a mental snapshot of him since they knew they would not see him in that physical way any longer. But the angels asked them, "Why are staring up into the sky? Jesus has been taken up into heaven but you must be his presence in the world today." So after we remember, but then we share the image of Jesus in the way we live.