**APPLICATION: **As his coming on earth was for our sakes, and as all his actions during his life including the voluntary acceptance of death by crucifixion were for our sakes, so his last thoughts, before ascending in glory to his Father, were for us.
He gave to his Apostles and through them to their successors, the command and the power to bring his message of salvation to all nations and peoples. That day on a hill in Galilee Christ foresaw each one of us here present as his future followers. It was then that the life-giving sacrament of Baptism which made us members of his Church —his mystical body on earth—was instituted. By means of it we were incorporated not only into the Church the new people of God—but even into the divine family of the Blessed Trinity. We were made brothers of Christ and heirs to heaven.
We didn’t know it then, if we were baptized as babies, but that day of our Baptism was the most important day of our lives. From being mere human beings we were changed into super-beings, humans transformed into semi-divine beings in a broad sense, because we were adopted by Christ as his brothers, and therefore by the divine Father as his adopted sons, with an eternal inheritance waiting for us in heaven.
Could even the infinite love of God have done more for us? The Father as Creator gave us the spiritual gifts which will enable us to enjoy an eternal life. The Son bore the humiliation of becoming like us—a creature—in order to raise us above our mere creaturely nature. The Holy Spirit inspires and directs us from Baptism to our last breath toward the goal planned and intended for us.
How do we react to this infinite love and benevolence shown to us? Coldly and ungraciously very often, I am afraid. If any of us were in God’s place, and looked down on the millions of Christians any day of any week and saw the ingratitude of the vast majority of these millions on whom he had already conferred such benefits and to whom he was offering infinite unending gifts, would we not feel like dropping all interest in them out of sheer disgust?
Yet God is God and not a limited, small-minded man. He does not forget and ignore us, even though we forget, ignore and insult him much more often than we honor and thank him. But let today, at least, be an occasion when we remember his divine benevolence and thank him from our hearts for having made us Christians and for having given us the privilege of sonship, with heaven as our inheritance. Let us resolve to repeat these acts of thanksgiving much more frequently in the future.
We were made heirs to heaven on our baptismal day, let us never sell our eternal inheritance for the worthless mess of pottage this world offers us in exchange.
Code:* What does the expression “baptized in the Holy Spirit” mean to you (1st Reading, verse 5)? Why do you think that being a witness to Jesus’ death and Resurrection would require power from the Holy Spirit (verse 8)?
Code:* In the 2nd Reading, what does “knowledge” of God mean? How does Paul pray that you will acquire it?
Code:* Upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, how do the disciples respond (verse 17)? Why is doubt mingled with their worship? What do they doubt?
Code:* Of the four actions commanded of the disciples (verses 19-20), which one is central? How are they to make disciples? Of whom? With what resources? Toward what end?
Code:* In what manner is Jesus with the Church always (see last week’s study)?
Code:* What is your experience with evangelizing? What is your attitude toward doing it? What do you think god wants you to do with any fears you have? In what ways can you fulfill the “commission” of Jesus in the context of your family? Work? Community?
Code:* How did the reality of Jesus’ Resurrection “dawn” upon you? Were you more of a quick believer, or a slow doubter?
Code:* How do you recognize the ongoing presence of Jesus in your life? What do you do to encourage his presence there?
"While Jesus blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven"
**
Scripture:** Matthew 28:16-20
**Meditation: **Why did Jesus leave his disciples forty days after his resurrection? Forty is a significant number in the scriptures. Moses went to the mountain to seek the face of God for forty days in prayer and fasting. The people of Israel were in the wilderness for forty years in preparation for their entry into the promised land. Elijah fasted for forty days as he journeyed in the wilderness to the mountain of God. For forty days after his resurrection Jesus appeared numerous times to his disciples to assure them that he had risen indeed and to prepare them for the task of carrying on the work which he began during his earthy ministry.
Jesus’ departure and ascension into heaven was both an end and a beginning for his disciples. While it was the end of Jesus’ physical presence with his beloved disciples, it marked the beginning of Jesus’ presence with them in a new way. Jesus promised that he would be with them always to the end of time. He assured them of his power – a power which overcame sin and death. Now as the glorified and risen Lord and Savior, ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, Jesus promised to give them the power of his Holy Spirit, which we see fulfilled ten days later on the Feast of Pentecost (Luke 24:49 and Acts 2:1-4). When the Lord Jesus departed physically from the apostles, they were not left alone or powerless. Jesus assured them of his presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ last words to his apostles point to his saving mission and to their mission to be witnesses of his saving death and his glorious resurrection and to proclaim the good news of salvation to all the world. Their task is to proclaim the gospel – the good news of salvation – not only to the people of Israel, but to all the nations as well. God’s love and gift of salvation is not reserved for a few or for one nation alone, but it is for the whole world – for all who will accept it. The gospel is the power of God, the power to release people from their burden of guilt, sin, and oppression, and the power to heal, restore, and make us whole. Do you believe in the power of the gospel?
This is the great commission which the risen Christ gives to the whole church. All believers have been given a share in this task – to be heralds of the good news and ambassadors for Jesus Christ, the only savior of the world. We have not been left alone in this task, for the risen Lord works in and through us by the power of his Holy Spirit. Today we witness a new Pentecost as the Lord pours out his Holy Spirit upon his people to renew and strengthen the body of Christ and to equip it for effective ministry and mission world-wide. Do you witness to others the joy of the gospel and the hope of the resurrection?
*“Lord Jesus, through the gift of your Holy Spirit, you fill us with an indomitable spirit of praise and joy which no earthly trial can subdue. Fill me with your resurrection joy and help me to live a life of praise and thanksgiving for your glory. May I witness to those around me the joy of the gospel and the reality of your resurrection.” *
**“Knowing God”
Readings:**
Acts 1:12-14
Psalm 27:1, 4, 7-8
1 Peter 4:13-16
John 17:1-11
Jesus has been taken up into heaven as we begin today’s First Reading. His disciples - including the Apostles and Mary - return to the upper room where He celebrated the Last Supper (see Luke 22:12).
There, they devote themselves with one accord to prayer, awaiting the Spirit that He promised would come upon them (see Acts 1:8).
The unity of the early Church at Jerusalem is a sign of the oneness that Christ prays for in today’s Gospel. The Church is to be a communion on earth that mirrors the glorious union of Father, Son and Spirit in the Trinity.
Jesus has proclaimed God’s name to His brethren (see Hebrews 2:12; Psalm 22:23). The prophets had foretold this revelation - a new covenant by which all flesh would have knowledge of the Lord (see Jeremiah 31:33-34; Habakkuk 2:14).
By the new covenant made in His blood and remembered in every Eucharist, we know God as our Father. This is the eternal life Jesus promises. And this is the light and salvation we sing of in today’s Psalm.
As God made light to shine out of darkness when the world began, He has enlightened us in Baptism, making us new creations (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), giving us knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (see Hebrews 10:32; 2 Corinthians 4:6).
Our new life is a gift of “the Spirit of glory,” we hear in today’s Epistle (see John 7:38-39). Made one in His name, we are given a new name - “Christians” - a name used only here and in two other places in the Bible (see Acts 11:16; 26:28). We are to glorify God, though we will be insulted and suffer because of this name.
But as we share in His sufferings, we know we will overcome (see Revelation 3:12) and rejoice when His glory is once more revealed. And we will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.
Reading Acts From Ascension to Pentecost
Every year I make a point of reading through Acts of the Apostles between Easter and Pentecost. I do so to remind myself of the power unleashed by Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension and bestowed on the Church at Pentecost, a power that is fully available to us. This year I got a late start!
All four Gospels record that John the Baptist prophesied that in contrast with his own baptism in water for repentance, the one coming after him would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire,” as Matthew and Luke say! Interestingly, this prophecy is not fulfilled in the Gospels themselves.
The bestowal of the Spirit could not take place until Jesus had been “glorified” (John 7:39). Peter explains why Ascension precedes Pentecost: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, [Jesus] has poured out this which you see and hear” (Acts 2:33).
Acts begins with the Risen Lord foretelling the imminent fulfillment of “the promise of the Father” that Jesus had spoken about to his disciples: “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5).
That baptism with the Spirit occurs on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles, Mary, the mother of Jesus, his brothers, and other disciples—about 120 people all together (Acts 1:14-15). The arrival of the Spirit is marked by miraculous signs—the sound of wind, tongues of fire, the ability to understand unknown languages—and by altered behavior of Jesus disciples—spiritual joy that appears to skeptics as drunkenness, and by prophecy, inspired speech in other languages (“tongues”) telling “the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11). The immediate consequence of this Spirit-baptism is a holy boldness that enables the once fearful Peter to preach with power and great effectiveness.
What many readers fail to notice is that Acts reports similar “altered behavior” on the part of subsequent groups of believers in Jesus who are “baptized in the Holy Spirit”:
Code:* Philip’s Samaritan converts (Acts 8:14-19) * Gentile believers in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:45-47) * Disciples of John the Baptist who come to faith in Jesus (Acts 19:6)
What’s the point? For the early Church reception of the Spirit was not merely an article of faith regarding the effects of baptism or confirmation. It was an experiential reality that was so obvious and universal among the early Christians that St. Paul points to it as a proof against the doctrine of the Judaizers in Gal 3:2-5:
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so many things in vain? — if it really is in vain. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
What about Catholics today? How many have so distinct an experience of the Spirit in their lives that they could find Paul’s argument persuasive?
Baptized as infants and confirmed in early adolescence, very many Catholics lack the understanding, desire, faith, or repentance necessary for the reception of these sacraments to be fully efficacious when they receive them (see Catechism 1131). Consequently for many, the grace of Pentecost, the experience of being “baptized in the Spirit” that Jesus came to bestow, awaits their understanding, faith, and desire.
Pope Benedict spoke of this in 2008: “Let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.”
As Pentecost approaches, let us ask in faith that the Holy Spirit be poured out on us (Luke 11:9-13; John 7:37-39; Eph 5:18-20), so that we may be renewed in the Spirit as the Church in Jerusalem was in its time of need (Acts 4:31-35). Let us be docile to the Holy Spirit and open ourselves to his charisms as Blessed John Paul urged us to do.
Between Ascension and Pentecost let us read through Acts again to stir our faith regarding “the promise of the Father,” to remember what the Church was like under the powerful influence of the Gift Jesus came to bestow, and to renew our zeal for the mission entrusted to us.
LIFT OFF
“Wait, rather, for the fulfillment of My Father’s promise.” —Acts 1:4
We have been in intense prayer for eighty days — forty days of Lent and forty days of Easter. Today we reach the feast of the Ascension, the beginning of the grand finale of the Easter season. Two days ago, we began a Holy Spirit novena, nine days of prayer for a new Pentecost in our day. Our prayer will be answered as the Spirit will be lavished on us (Ti 3:6) without ration (Jn 3:34). Then we will have the power to be Jesus’ witnesses right where we are and even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In the power of the Spirit, we will make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them to obey all Jesus commanded (Mt 28:19-20).
On this feast of the Ascension, we begin the countdown to a new Pentecost. Celebrate this feast with your whole heart. Don’t just sandwich a quick Mass into the midst of a busy day. Make this a holy day — a day especially set apart for God. Plan for the Holy Spirit novena. Cancel or postpone whatever you can in this week before Pentecost. Give yourself more time to give God prime time. Go into the upper room with Mary and all the saints. Wait there for the fulfillment of our Father’s promise, for “within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5).
**
Prayer:** Father, may I thirst for the Spirit more than for anything else (see Jn 7:37).
Promise: “It is like the strength He showed in raising Christ from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in heaven.” —Eph 1:19-20
Praise: Praise You, risen Jesus. You sit in majesty at the right hand of the Father. Alleluia!
The Ascension of the Lord
*You will receive power … and you will be my witnesses. *(Acts 1:8)
Can you imagine how the apostles must have felt when Jesus made this promise just before he returned to heaven? Surely they would have recalled the fear and intimidation they had felt since the crucifixion. Memories of their having abandoned Jesus were probably still fresh in their minds. How could they even begin to hope that Jesus would give them a share in his power? How could they—weak men that they were—even begin to bring his message to the ends of the earth? But Jesus promised, and he always keeps his promises. In just a few short decades, the apostles did spread the gospel all over the known world!
Little did they know, but Jesus’ promise wasn’t just for them. It was for all people in every age to come. In a sense, Jesus was limited when he walked the earth as a man; he could be in only one place at a time. But now that he was going to heaven, he could send the Spirit to millions of people and work through all of them at the same time. When the Spirit did come on Pentecost, the disciples touched more than three thousand people in one day—and that set off a chain reaction. Day by day, and in the centuries to follow, countless disciples have spread the gospel to every corner of the earth.
Today, we are part of this glorious band of witnesses. Through us, Jesus can bring his kingdom to hurting and lost people all over the world. The power of sin can be pushed back more and more through our witness, our holiness, and our prayer. In homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods everywhere, Jesus can open hearts—through us!
So don’t be afraid to share God’s love. Jesus Christ, the ascended Lord, has given you the very same power that governed his life. And he gave it to you so that you could give it to everyone else.
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:“Jesus, it is an honor to be called your disciple. I want to see you exalted today as I proclaim your gospel with my lips and with my actions.”
- The first reading describes the ascension of the Lord. After Jesus ascends, we hear these words from what are obviously angels: “This Jesus who has been taken up into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” How important to you is Jesus’ second coming? How important should it be? Why?
- The responsorial psalm provides a foreshadowing of the joy and celebration that may have occurred in heaven upon Jesus’ return. Spend a minute or so in quiet reflection and try to imagine what your first day in heaven would be like. Were you surprised at what thoughts came to your mind?
- In the second reading, St. Paul prays a powerful prayer for the believers in Ephesus, and for us. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father is part of this prayer. Pray this prayer slowly and meditate on the words as you do. What does this prayer mean to you?
- The Gospel reading ends with the words that are the very last words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Why should these words fill us with joy, no matter what our current circumstances are? What steps can you take to be more open to Jesus’ presence during the day?
- In the meditation, we hear these words: “So don’t be afraid to share God’s love. Jesus Christ, the ascended Lord, has given you the very same power that governed his life. And he gave it to you so that you could give it to everyone else.” In what ways have you experienced God’s love and power in your life, and then given it to others? What are the obstacles that hold you back from doing this? How can you overcome them?
- Take some time now to pray to receive the courage, boldness, and power to be a witness to others of the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.
The Catena Aurea on Matthew 28:
In more dioceses than not, the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated this weekend. The liturgist in me regrets the move, but here we are any way. So let’s ascend with the Lord, three days late!
This marvelous feast is not merely about something that took place two thousand years ago. For, though Christ our head has ascended, we the members of his body are ascending with him. Since he was ascended, we too have ascended. In my own life, as a Christian, I am brought higher every year by the Lord who is drawing me up with him. This is not some mere slogan, but something I am actually experiencing. An old song says, I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained with sin, sinking to rise no more. But he master of the sea, heard my despairing cry. And from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I. Love Lifted me, When nothing else could help. Love lifted me!
Yes, the feast of the Lord’s Ascension is our feast too, if we are faithful. Let’s look at it from three perspectives.
**I. The Fact of the Ascension. – **The readings today describe a wondrous event that the Apostles witnessed. The Lord, by his own power is taken to heaven. In so doing he opens a path for us too. The gates of paradise swing open again: *Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in! *(Psalm 24:7). In Christ, man returns to God. Consider three things about the Ascension:
**A. The Reality – **Imagine the glory of this moment. Scripture says, As they were looking on, he was lifted up and cloud took him from their sight….they were looking intently in the sky as he was going (Acts 1:9). So impressive was the sight that the angels had to beckon them to get along to Jerusalem as the Lord had said, Men of Galilee,” they said, *“why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven *(Acts 1:11). Yes, it was glorious. Jesus had once said as a summons to faith, What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? (John 6:62). He had also encouraged them saying: *Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man *(John 1:51) So here is a glorious reality, and a fulfillment of what Jesus had said.
**B. The Rescue – **In the Ascension, it does not seem that the Lord entered heaven alone. As we have remarked, in his mystical body we also ascend with him. But consider too this remarkable text that affirms that: *Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things *(Eph 4:8ff). Yes, the Lord had earlier, just after his death, descended to Sheol and awakened the dead and preached the gospel to them (cf 1 Peter 4:6). And now, for those he had justified, came the moment ascend with Jesus as a “host,” as an army of former captives, now set free. Behold the great procession that enters behind Christ through the now opened gates of heaven: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac Jacob, Rachel, Judith, Deborah, David, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, John the Baptist….and one day you! Yes this is a great rescue. Adam and his descendants have not simply been restored to some paradisical garden, they have entered heaven.
Continued on the next post…**C. The Rejoicing – **Consider how, this once captive train, sings exultantly as they follow Christ upward to heaven. The liturgy today puts before us a likely song they sang: *God mounts his throne to shouts of Joy! The Lord amid trumpet blasts. 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. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne *(Psalm 47:6-7). I also have it on the best of authority that they were singing an old gospel song: I’m so glad, Jesus lifted me! Yes I also have it on the best of authority that they were even singing an old Motown song: Your love is lifting me higher, than I’ve ever been lifted before!
Yes, Here are some glorious facets of the Ascension.
**
II. The Fellowship of the Ascension – *We have already remarked that, when Christ ascends, we ascend. Why and how? Scripture says, Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it (1 Cor 12:27). It also says, All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. By baptism we were buried together with him so that Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, we too might live a new and glorious life. For if we have been united with him by likeness to his death we shall be united with him by likeness to his resurrection *(Rom 6:3ff). So, when Christ died we died. When Christ rose, we rose. When He ascends, we ascend.
But you may say, he is in glory, but I am still here, how is it that I am ascended or ascending? Consider a humorous example about our physical bodies. When I get on an elevator and punch the button for the top floor, the crown of my head gets there before the soles of my feet. But the whole body will get there unless some strange loss of integrity or tragic dismemberment takes place. So in an analogous way it is with Jesus’ Jesus mystical body. In Christ our head we are already in glory. Some members of his body have already gotten there. We who come later will get there too, provided we stay a member of the Body. Yes we are already ascended in Christ our head. We are already enthroned in glory with him, if we hold fast and stay a member of his Body. This is the fellowship of the Ascension.
**
III. The Fruitfulness of the Ascension – **Jesus does not return to heaven to abandon us. He is more present to us than we are to ourselves. He is with us always to the end of the age (cf Matt 28:20). But in Ascending, without abandoning us, he goes to procure so very important things. Consider four of them:
*[/A. Holy Ghost power – B]Jesus teaches very clearly that he is ascending in order to send us the Holy Spirit: Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (Jn 16:7ff) He also says, These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (Jn 14:25ff). And yet again, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come *(Jn 16:13-14). So the Lord goes, that he might, with the Father, send the Holy Spirit to live within us as in a temple. In this way, and through the Eucharist, he will dwell with us even more intimately than when he walked this earth.
Concluded on the next post…
**
B. Harvest – **Jesus says, *And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me *(John 12:32). While the immediate context of this verse is the crucifixion, the wonder of John’s gospel is that is that he often intends double meanings. Clearly Christ’s glorification is his crucifixion, but it also includes his resurrection and ascension. So, from his place in glory, Christ is drawing all people to himself. He is also bestowing grace on us from his Father’s right hand to be his co-workers in the harvest: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Yes, from his place in glory, Christ is bringing in a great harvest, as he said in Scripture: *Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” *(Jn 4:35-38). Harvest! And it is the Lord’s work from heaven in which we participate.
**C. Help – **At the Father’s right hand Jesus intercedes for us. Scripture says, *Consequently he is able, for all time, to save those who draw near to God through him, since he lives always to make intercession for them *(Heb 7:25). The Lord links his ascension to an unleashing of special power: *Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son *(Jn 14:12).
It is true, we must not understand asking in the name of Jesus as a mere incantation, for to ask in his Name means to ask in accord with his will. And yet, we must come to experience the power of Jesus to draw us up to great and wondrous things in his sight. Despite the mystery of iniquity all about us, we trust that Christ is conquering, even in the puzzling and apparent victories of this world’s rebellion. We read,* In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Though, at present we do not see everything subject to him, yet we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor….so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death* (Heb 2:8-9; 14-15). Thus, from heaven we have the help of the Lord’s grace which, if we will accept it, is an ever present help unto our salvation.
**
D. Habitation – **Simply put, Jesus indicates that in going to heaven he is preparing a place for us: *In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also *(Jn 14:2ff) Yes, indeed, He has the blueprints out, and a hard hat on. He is overseeing the construction of a mansion for each of us that we may dwell with him, the Father and the Spirit forever.
Here then are the ways that Christ, by his love is lifting us higher, than we’ve ever been lifted before. Yes, love lifted me, when nothing else could help, Love lifted me.
In the Diocese of Steubenville, as well as in most of the USA, Ascension Day is observed this Sunday. I wish the traditional observance on Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter was retained, but reality is what it is.
Therefore, this weekend we will look at the powerful readings for Ascension Day.
This is an unusual Lord’s Day, in which the “action” of the Feast Day actually takes place in the First Reading. We typically think of all the narratives of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels, overlooking that Acts records at least two important narratives about the activity of the Resurrected Lord (Acts 1:1-11; also 9:1-8).
Like most English translations, the one used in Mass does not adequately translate the Greek word *sunalizomenos *in verse 4. Above it is rendered “while meeting with them,” but literally it is “while taking salt with them,” which is a Greek idiom meaning “sharing a meal.” This is the usual meaning of sunalizomenos; the only justification I have seen in the lexicons (e.g. BAGD) for rendering it “spending time with” rather than “eating with” is that “eating with” supposedly doesn’t make sense in the context of Acts 1:4. On the contrary, I suggest it makes a lot of sense, and is in fact theologically significant in light of Luke 22:16,18, which seem to suggest that Jesus will not eat or drink again until the Kingdom comes. The fact that he is eating and drinking with them here, is an indication of the arrival of the Kingdom (see also Acts 10:41).
The disciples ask, “Will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Jesus’ response is sometimes taken as a rebuff of the apostles, or a ducking of their question, implying perhaps that what they ask for will only take place in the eschaton. However, as Scott Hahn has pointed out, it is possible to take the Lord’s response as answering not when but how. It is the witness (martyria) of the Apostles from “Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth” (i.e. the Gentiles)—concentric circles of the ancient Kingdom of David (David’s city, tribe, nation, and vassals, respectively)—that will bring about the new Israel, the Kingdom of God, which is manifest visibly in the world as the Church.
In much of American Christianity, there is the view that we are to expect Jesus to come back and reign over a Jewish kingdom in Israel in the end times—even perhaps to rebuild the stone Temple and restore animal sacrifice. For this reason, some American Christians treat the modern State of Israel as a quasi-sacred entity that deserves our carte blanche political support.
The Catholic tradition has not and does not endorse this view, and it would seem to represent a retrograde action in salvation history. Why would we want to return to a Temple of stone when we have the Temple of Christ’s Body, which has now transformed our bodies into his Temple? Have we not learned the lesson that God does not dwell in temples made by human hands? Mutatis mutandis, the same points would apply to a political kingdom the size of New Jersey in the Near East. How would that satisfy, now that the Spirit has been poured into our hearts and reigns in us throughout the world, now that we who are made meek in the Spirit have inherited the earth? (Matt 5:5)
Concluded on the next page…It is often said that Acts is the story of the Church, which is not wrong. But from beginning (Acts 1:4) to the end (Acts 28:31) Acts is about the kingdom, of which the visible Church is the earthly manifestation.
The Responsorial Psalm is the powerful Psalm 47, whose original historical context must have been a dramatic liturgical procession, perhaps the bringing of the Ark into the sanctuary after battle, or perhaps even an enthronement festival in which the ascension of the Son of David to his throne was seen as mystical representation of the enthronement of YHWH in heaven. (If so, it would not be the only place in the psalms where the Son of David is “confused” with God himself—see Psalm 45:6 [Hebrew])
*
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.*
The Church sees this Psalm fulfilled, of course, in the Ascension of the Christ and his session “at the right hand of God” (Acts 2:33).
The Second Reading (Eph 1:17-23) continues to focus on the royal authority given to Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David and Son of God:
The “principalities, authorities, powers, and dominions” and “names that are named” referred to above indicate spiritual powers, i.e. angels and demons. Christ has been placed over the entire spiritual hierarchy. St. Paul says, “he put everything under his feet,” applying Psalm 8:6 to Jesus and providing one of the earliest witnesses to the messianic reading of this important Psalm. It is Christ’s session above the spiritual hierarchy that gives the co-seated Church (Eph 2:6) power over the demonic realm, exercised quite dramatically in the rite of exorcism (as displayed with many inaccuracies in the recent movie “The Rite”; better to read this) but no less powerfully in the Sacraments, especially (in my view) the Sacrament of Confession, which has great power for spiritual deliverance (discussed here). Christians are not meant to be pawns of the devil; the devil cannot “make me do it.” We are to be victorious by wielding the sword of the Spirit of the Risen One.
The Gospel is the famous “Great Commission” (Matt 28:16-20), often jokingly referred to as the “Great Omission”, in reference to our frequent failures as believers in spreading the Gospel. Actually, although great human failures have marked the spread of the Church, it still is to be found present and active on every continent, in every nation. One third of human beings identify as Christians, one sixth as Catholics. Even from a merely natural perspective of cultural history, the Church is a remarkable and singular phenomena.
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power 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,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus words in the Great Commission (“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me …”) reflect the theology of Psalm 2, the Royal Coronation Hymn of the Son of David (“Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession …”), which is perhaps the most important psalm to the theology of the New Testament. In any case, let us note that the Commission is not simply to “preach me as Lord and personal Savior,” as admirable as that may be, but it is “to make disciples”—which is a long-term process of formation involving self-denial (it took Jesus three years with the twelve)—and “to baptize,” a reference to the sacramental ministry of the Church. Finally, the Commission is “to teach them all that I have commanded you,” which seems to refer to a considerably large catechetical undertaking, instructing all the nations in the halakha (interpreted Divine Law) of the Messiah, the Son of David. In other words, the Great Commission is not satisfied by knocking on doors and passing out tracts—as good as those things may be. It is a description of the entire mission and action of the Church—evangelistic, sacramental, catechetical.