12 May 2024 – The Ascension of the Lord, (A, B, C.)
12 May 2024 – The Ascension of the Lord, (A, B, C.)
1st Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Ascension concludes Jesus’ ministry on earth and prepares for the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Responsorial: from Psalm 47
R./: God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness.
For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth. (R./)
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the Lord, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise. (R./)
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne. (R./)
2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23
God has raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him above every created being. It is a privelege to belong to his body, the church
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Gospel (Year A): Matthew 28:16-20
Before he leaves this world, Jesus promises his disciples that he will be with them always
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Gospel (Year B): Mark 16:15-20
The final instructions of Jesus, according to Mark
Jesus said to his disciples, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Gospel (Year C): Luke 24:46-53
Jesus promises his followers the Holy Spirit and sends them out to witness
Jesus said to his disciples, “So it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Last Will and Testament
In the gospel we have just heard Our Lord’s final instructions, his Last Will and Testament. Just before leaving them, he reminds them of what he expects of them. Earlier he had sent them out to spread the Kingdom of God. Those who go in his name, do so with his authority. The authority goes with the mission, so to speak. In Matthew’s version he now adds this great promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Mark says that the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it”. And Luke emphasises that they will be “clothed with power from on high”, that is, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is very definite about what he has to say. Like any gathering of people, the feelings of his disciples were varied. But he sends them out to speak and act in his name.
Their mission was both easy and hard: easy to understand but hard to carry out. It was to teach others all that he had taught them. Just as he asked them to follow his way, they were to ask that others should follow that way too.
Has a doctor ever put you on a course of antibiotics. The most basic guidance about antibiotics is to complete the course. Even if the patient starts to feel well after a few days, to discontinue taking the medicine can let their condition grow worse.
Similarly, the message of salvation must continue to be shared until the end of time. With all the changes in the church and in society, neither Jesus nor his message have changed. His Gospel remains a call to live our lives to the full.
You write a new page of the gospel each day,
through all that you do and whatever you say.
Others read what you write, be it faithful or true.
So what is the gospel according to you?
He is with us always. This can be a real help against loneliness. Being alone is not the same as being lonely. One can feel lonely in a crowded street; or alternatively, like Cicero, never less alone than when alone ( “minus solum, quam cum solus”). This applies especially to those who believe the promise, “l am with you always.” Talking with him doesn’t even need words. If we are open to His presence in our heart, and treasure it, we can experience fully that “Joy of the Gospel” so warmly described for us by our good Pope Francis.
‘Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.’
This is the close of St Luke’s Gospel. It differs from his account in Acts 1 in several respects. First, it happens on Easter Sunday and there are no 40 days during which they eat and drink with him. Second, the phrase describing the Ascension is vague: diestē ap’autōn kai anaphereto eis ton ouranon. There is no cloud that hides him from their sight and no men in white apparel, interpreting angels. The cloud and angels are part of a conventional symbolic landscape. Third, he is blessing them when he withdraws and is carried up, whereas in Acts he is speaking about their future mission. Acts 1:9 kai tauta eipōn blepontōn autōn epērthe is literally ‘saying these things, they looking on, he was lifted up.’
What we retain from all this is some sort of heavenly vision, like those listed in 1 Corinthians 15. When we pray the 5 Glorious Mysteries, the details elude us but the general impression of a realm of resurrected heavenly life is what we contemplate. Enough to confidently say, ‘He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!’
The Ascension brings a particular nuance: it tells that our human experiment has a bright future, that humanity is called to glory. It was Teilhard de Chardin’s favourite feast for this reason. Newcomers amid the trillions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, can we believe that the Creator has reached deep down into our creaturehood to raise it up? Well, yes, because spiritual realities have their own powerful authority, they are infinitely qualitatively different from even the most imposing material ones (such as those exoplanets that are 500,000 miles across). All Nature may conspire to crush the thinking reed, and the eternal silence of those infinite spaces may terrify it, but the fact, to paraphrase Blaise Pascal, that it thinks puts it on a completely other ‘order’ from the material, and the order of charity, the resurrection order, is on another plane again.
Key Message:
Like our Lord Jesus, can we ascend to Heaven victoriously?
Homily:
Our Lord Jesus started His missionary journey after He received the Holy Spirit in the river Jordan. The Bible says that our Lord Jesus Christ also needed the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill His purpose of His life. Let us ponder a few points on the changes after receiving the Holy Spirit.
We will receive a new heart and a new spirit:
In Ezekiel 36:26, God promises to give us a new heart and new spirit. We will start following His Holy ways. Our angry, violent, stubborn and unforgiving heart will be changed to a compassionate heart. We see this change in life of St. Peter. St. Peter was quick to cut the ear of the soldier. He was too quick in anger and argue. He was even arguing with our Lord Jesus. But after receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, when people accused that all the disciples are drunk in the morning, He made it an opportunity to spread the Gospel of Christ. Three thousand people were baptized in that single day.
Testimony: “Peace within me is the best change in me, after receiving the Holy Spirit. Earlier I always unhappy and lacking peace, even though I was not having a reason to be unhappy. Nowadays my heart stopped worrying about things… Sometimes I feel nothing to do, since I do not worry.”
We will receive the spirit of joy:
Testimony of a student: When all my friends have written in the autograph book that their classroom memories are the best memories in their life, I am not able to say like that. It is true that I also enjoy the class room memories, but what gives me more joy is my enjoyment in presence of my Jesus. I feel that I should always be connected with Him. I am not able to explain it. But I am thrilled and overjoyed in His presence. Enjoying His presence gives me a deep inner joy and the joy surrounds me completely too.
We will be able to see the face of our Loving Lord Jesus:
When the new Spirit comes, the face of our loving Lord Jesus will not be hidden from me any more. In Ezekiel 39:29, our loving God says, “I will not hide my face from you”. When we kneel down and pray in great sorrow, the Holy Spirit will bring the face of our Lord Jesus Christ before us. All our sorrows will be vanish. Every day we can see our Lord Jesus. This is a great privilege for us.
Testimony: “Once I was stressed out in life, not having any solution for all of my problems. I was totally perplexed. Then I heard the Holy Spirit’s whisper, “I am your Father am I not? Won’t I take care of you?” After that assuring whisper, I got peace in my soul and surprisingly I was able to see my problems resolved”.
We will be able to heal His children:
In Matthew 10, when our Lord Jesus was sojourning on this earth, He gave a training session for His Apostles to go and preach the Good News. Matthew 10:8 explains that our Lord Jesus gave the authority to His apostles to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. After Saul’s conversion to Paul, St. Paul was able to cure all the sick. Even his handkerchiefs were sufficient enough to heal the sick whom the doctors were not able to heal. He raised the dead and then continued to have his dinner and then went with his preaching. Even the poisonous snake in his hand could not make him to worry. He neither worried about his death sentence or the gutter flowing through his legs in the prison. He could not think a thought about himself.
He testifies that he had worked more than the other disciples. As our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25:29, “For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away”, the more we are committed to serve our Lord, the more the gifts will be given.
Our Lord Jesus has promised us in John 14:12 that we will be able to do greater works than Him. Our Lord Jesus wants to bless us with this great blessing since the world is in more need of it. We will be able to bring lots of souls to our Lord Jesus when we are able to do miracles in His mighty name. The Angels or the Saints cannot come visibly to our humanity and preach the Good News. Our Lord Jesus is entirely counting on us to save the souls of His children. He has paid a very high price for all our souls with His blood. How can we allow the souls to go to the dark dungeon? We are His responsibility and the other souls are our responsibility. This is our time. Our time to work for the salvation of souls.
Whom do we require in this journey? The Holy Spirit.
The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the more powerful servants we will be.
How to receive the Holy Spirit? Ask and receive the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 11:13 our Lord Jesus Christ says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We need to make our lives purposeful for our loving Lord Jesus. For knowing the purpose of our life also, we need Holy Spirit. For accomplishing the purpose of our life we need the infilling of Holy Spirit. Our Almighty Father is waiting to fill us completely with His Holy Spirit.
Let us ask our loving Father for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. So that we will be able to complete our story successfully and happily ascend to our loving Almighty Father in Heaven!!
Two things, especially, struck me at Mass yesterday.
May being the month of Mary there was a definite Marian theme throughout the hymns and music.
One of the verses of “Holy Mary, by God’s decree …” , verse 3, begins with the words “Refuge for your children so weak, sure protection all can seek …” Really !! Anything but, in fact, as we now know.
The weakest, the most vulnerable and the most impoverished were the children treated most appallingly by our institutional church. How could they?!!
Also, based on the opening lines of the Gospel according to John ” ..so that they may be one like us,”
much was made of how wonderful unity is and how harmful disunity is.
So, the obvious question must be why is the scandal — the sin, even — of Christian disunity still persisting?