Fr. Jason Damon celebrates first Mass at Ss. Columba-Brigid

The Feast of the Ascension at Ss. Columba-Brigid Church on Buffalo’s near East Side saw the first Mass celebrated by Father Jason Damon, O.F.M., a Franciscan Friar, who had been ordained at Holy Name College in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 4. 

He used the theme of the Ascension to discuss why some may view this as Jesus’ abandonment of us as He ascended to Heaven. 

“Sometimes my understanding of Jesus doesn’t go much beyond that. His own resurrection and ascension… Jesus as absentee landlord. He leaves a doomed planet and left us to our own devices,” Fr. Damon explained.

“At times, we marvel not at the obvious presence of Christ, but at His seemingly conspicuous absence. Climate change, wars, famine, and genocidal actions in Ukraine and Gaza. We are entering the start of another grueling, debilitating, rancorous election cycle and our diocese is amid turmoil that seems unending.

“It seems like Jesus has left and bid farewell to his followers. News that the Franciscan Friars after 166 years will no longer minister within the City of Buffalo. I hope that you don’t see us as skipping town and giving up and packing up during a very difficult time for the church, especially for the diocese, and I can definitely see why there would be some sentiments along those lines.”

On May 1, Br. Lawrence Hayes, OFM, provincial minister of the Franciscan Friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, communicated that the Franciscans in the community at Ss. Columba-Brigid will be leaving later this year.  Fr. Jason will leave for Joliet, Illinois to minister in a Spanish speaking parish. 

“Amid all these problems in our neighborhoods and in our world, there is quite naturally a longing for a Messiah to come and set things right,” he said. “With the apostles, it is natural to ask Jesus when he is going to restore the kingdom to put things right.  To end the carnage and hopelessness we seem so mired in. Create more vocations and summon more people to the pews.

 “Jesus’ ascension seemed a dramatic final signing off. The reality though is the ascension is not about Jesus leaving, but a radical new way of divine accompaniment and cosmic re-creation. Jesus doesn’t leave us alone, and says so long and flee. We are given the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that is the promise of the Father, the same Holy Spirit that allows us to carry on the mission of Jesus in His name. 

After suggesting some might see Christ’s ascension as an abandonment, Fr. Jason further explained that it was the opposite, it was instead the first step in a new hope, which was delivered by the Holy Spirit on the occasion of Pentecost.

“We are baptized in the Spirit and sent to go into the world and preach the Holy Gospel to every creature.  And we do so united in spirit,” he continued.  

“In a recent parish meeting, the beautiful imagery of a tapestry was brought up. We are brought together yet we are distinct in our talents and our backgrounds. And in that diversity, we are united under that one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and a Father of all.

“You don’t have to stare up at the heavens to know that we have already been taken there by Jesus, and will one day will be united with Him in body and spirit.  

“And this parish, I’m sure, will continue to minister in the Franciscan spirit regardless of whether there are Franciscan friars physically here or not.  Because as we are assigned elsewhere, we are still with you and we take all of you with us in our hearts…”