Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension (B – White)
ANTIPHON (Acts 1:11)
Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia.
INTRODUCTION:
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension. Jesus’ return to the Father marks the end of his public ministry and his appearance to the disciples after his resurrection. Through his gift of the Holy Spirit, he will accompany them in their task of preaching the Good News, as they build communities of disciples.
Today is also the 52nd World Communications Day, which focuses on the theme: “The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32): Fake News and Journalism for Peace. Pope Francis sternly reminds us of our shared commitment to stop the spread of fake news and to rediscover the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth.
FIRST READING (Acts 1:1-11)
Luke explains that, with Jesus’ return to the Father; a new chapter begins: the Holy Spirit will come and he will empower the apostles to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
IN THE FIRST BOOK, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? 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.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: (Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; Response: 6)
R – God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
1. 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)
2. 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)
3. For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne. (R)
SECOND READING (Ephesians 1:17-23)
Paul explains that Jesus’ ascension means his exaltation at the right hand of the Father. As we reflect on Christ in glory, we are made aware of the glorious heritage he gives to the members of the Church.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.
ALLELUIA (Matthew 28:19a, 20b)
R – Alleluia, alleluia.
Go and teach all nations, says the Lord; I am with you always, until the end of the world.
R – Alleluia, alleluia
GOSPEL (Mark 16:15-20)
JESUS said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands. and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus. after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
REFLECTIONS:
In today’s Scripture readings we find two descriptions of Christ’s ascension. Saint Luke’s Acts of the Apostles notes that “as they [i.e. the disciples] were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight” (1:9). Saint Mark’s Gospel simply says: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven” (16:19). Christ’s ascension should not be understood as an isolated event; it is intimately connected with Jesus’ death and resurrection as well as with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Indeed, the Lord’s passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and the Pentecost all coalesce into the Christian understanding of the Paschal Mystery.
As the Acts describes the ascension scene, two men in white pose an interesting, even curious, question to the disciples: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up into the sky?” (1:11). At first glance this may appear to be a silly question, but it has a deeper meaning. The real question is: Why are you standing here staring at the sky when Jesus has given you an important mission to accomplish? Jesus had told the disciples: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus commanded his disciples: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). Expressed in blunt terms, the message is: “Don’t just stand around. Get busy. You have a job to do, a mission to accomplish. Go and announce the Good News. Spread the joy of the Gospel. Become my witnesses!”
On this feast of the Ascension, we can turn to Pope Francis’ words and writings to understand this missionary dimension of our faith. A unique expression that (Pope) Francis frequently uses to describe Jesus’ followers is to call them “missionary disciples.” The term appears nine times in Evangelii Gaudium (EG, Latin for “the joy of the gospel”). Written in 2013, Evangelio is (Pope) Francis’ masterful presentation of the Church’s missionary challenge in contemporary times; it bears a close reading for its numerous profound insights.
Pope Francis writes: “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples…. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus; we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries,’ but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples'” (EG, no. 120). Truly, a “missionary disciple” is both a disciple (a follower of Jesus Christ) and concomitantly a missionary (one who carries Christ’s message to the world). For (Pope) Francis, you cannot have one without the other; both are intimately linked!
In Evangelii Pope Francis asserts that the Church herself is “a community of missionary disciples” (no. 24). Again, “the Church is herself a missionary disciple” (no. 40). To be an authentic Christian community, we must follow “the approach of a missionary disciple” (no. 50). Thus, in the Church, our parishes, schools, and communities, we can draw strength and inspiration from one another: “Missionary disciples accompany missionary disciples” (no. 173). Friends, on this feast of our Lord’s ascension, may we feel anew the urgency of proclaiming the Gospel in and through our daily lives. We cannot just stand around, looking heavenward. It is time to get busy. We have a message to announce. We are on fire; we are Christ’s “missionary disciples”!
—oOo—
PASTORAL CATECHESIS FOR THE YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND THE CONSECRATED PERSONS
Fr. James H. Kroeger, MM
Topic: Frequent Examination of Conscience
All Christians, including priests and religious, need to constantly examine their conscience and style of life. Pope Francis speaks of “discerning every day how my vocation is growing.” He offers a very brief examination of conscience for priests and religious: ”Where is my heart? Among the people, praying with and for the people, involved in theirjoys and sufferings, or ratheramong the things ofthe world, worldly affairs, my private space?”
For another approach, (Pope) Francis suggests examining ourselves based on the ”hymn to charity” in Saint Paul’s first letterto the Corinthians. In addition, do we priests realize that we are ”useless servants” (Lk 17:10), “whom the Lord blesses with the fruitfulness of his grace, seats at his table, and serves us the Eucharist”?
The pope has frequently spoken about the destructive effects of gossip. “The enemy of harmony in a religious community…is the spirit of gossip… There is one image I like to use in describing the spirit of gossip. It is terrorism. Yes, terrorism, because those who speak ill of others do not do so publicly…. Please, bite your tongue in time.”
COMMUNION ANTIPHON (Matthew 28:20)
Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, alleluia.
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The Mass Readings are from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.usccb.org/bible/readings) and Reflections by Fr. James H. Kroeger, MM, is taken from the 13th of May, 2018 edition of Sambuhay Missalette, printed in the Philippines by St. Paul’s Media Pastoral Ministry. The views and opinions in this post are those of the authors and does not necessarily reflect those of the blog site.
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