June 1, 2025
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
Lectionary: 58
Reading I
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
R (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a
blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
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 to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for
the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
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 God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for
the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns
of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits
upon his holy throne.
R God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for
the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
Reading II
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.
OR:
Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23
Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands,
a copy of the true one, but heaven itself,
that he might now appear before God on our behalf.
Not that he might offer himself repeatedly,
as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary
with blood that is not his own;
if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly
from the foundation of the world.
But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages
to take away sin by his sacrifice.
Just as it is appointed that men and women die once,
and after this the judgment, so also Christ,
offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since through the blood of Jesus
we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary
by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil,
that is, his flesh,
and since we have "a great priest over the house of God,"
let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust,
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed in pure water.
Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope,
for he who made the promise is trustworthy.
Alleluia
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
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you;
but stay in the city
until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany,
raised his hands, and blessed them.
As he blessed them he parted from them
and was taken up to heaven.
They did him homage
and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and they were continually in the temple praising God.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060125-Ascension.cfm
Commentary on Acts
1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28,10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53
The First Reading and the Gospel today seem to be in
contradiction with each other. Although both are written by Luke, the Gospel
says that Jesus’ ascension was on Easter Sunday and the Acts of the Apostles
says it was 40 days after the Resurrection. The Gospel also seems to say that
the Resurrection and the Ascension are one thing while Acts seems to say they
are two separate events.
In fact, the Ascension is part of the Resurrection.
Resurrection emphasises that Jesus has entered a new life and not just that he
recovered his previous life. The Ascension emphasises that the risen Jesus is
together with the Father and that he shares the place and dignity of the
Father.
Real meaning of Ascension
The real meaning of the Ascension is in the Second Reading, a passage from St
Paul’s magnificent Letter to the Hebrews. The author makes a clear distinction
between the role of Jesus and that of the Jewish High Priest. Christ did not
enter a sanctuary made by human hands; he entered the dwelling place of God
himself. Nor, unlike the High Priest, did or does Jesus enter the sanctuary
again and again, as the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies every year. Nor
did he, again unlike the High Priest, offer blood that was not his own—the
blood of goats and bulls. Jesus entered God’s presence by the spilling of his
own blood on the cross:
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of
many [i.e. all], will appear a second time, not to deal with sin
but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Washed totally clean
How are we to share in all of this? It is again put very well in the
second part of the Second Reading:
…since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the
blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the
curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the
house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water.
Jesus has totally replaced the old way, i.e. the old
covenant. The place where God is is the new Holy of Holies.
Jesus is the curtain through which we, all of us sharing in the priesthood of
Christ, have access to that presence. That is the meaning of the Ascension,
which we celebrate today.
Therefore, we have no need to fear. We have freedom and, by
the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, we can go into the holiest
place. This is the path which has been opened for us through our baptism and
our participation in the life of the Christian community.
Continuing the work of Jesus
But before we go to share Jesus’ glory, there is work to be done. When
Jesus left us, he made it clear that he wanted us to carry on the work he had
begun. He said that we could do the same things he did, and even greater. So
before leaving them, he tells his disciples to go back to Jerusalem and there
wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
This experience will be their baptism when they will become
filled with the very Spirit of Jesus. But before Jesus leaves them, Acts tells
us that the disciples ask him:
Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom
to Israel?
Even at this late moment, they still do not understand the
meaning of Jesus’ life and work. They still do not understand what kind of
Messiah he is.
Jesus will not just restore the kingdom of Israel; he will
establish a new Kingdom altogether. This Kingdom will be open to include all
the people of the world. It will not be a political force or a military power.
Rather, it will be—as the Preface of the Mass of Christ the King says,
An eternal and universal kingdom:
a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.
The disciples will soon learn this, accept it and promulgate
it everywhere. For after they receive the Spirit of Jesus themselves, they themselves
will begin to inaugurate the Kingship of God not only in Israel (Jerusalem and
Judea), but in time to the very ends of the earth. This is their mission—and
ours—to carry the message of Jesus to the whole world.
As Jesus spoke, he is covered by a cloud, clearly indicating
the enveloping presence of God. Jesus can no longer be seen. But the Ascension
should not be understood too literally, as if Jesus floated up into the sky to
a place called ‘heaven’. Rather he is wrapped in the all-embracing presence of
his Father, symbolised by the cloud.
Lower your eyes
As Jesus disappears from their sight, the disciples continue to gaze
upwards into the sky. It is then that two men wearing white clothes stand
beside them and say:
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.
Did they take these words to mean that they, in their
lifetime, would see him return? Time would show that this was not the meaning
of the messengers’ words. The nameless messengers in white are understood to be
angels—direct representatives of God—indicating the importance of what is
happening. They were also present at the Resurrection.
A new lesson
The disciples have a new lesson to learn: they will not now find Jesus
in the sky, in “heaven”. The Jesus they knew before the Crucifixion has left
them for good. They have to go back to Jerusalem. There, through the outpouring
of the Spirit of the Father and Jesus on them, they will begin to understand
and grow in understanding. If they want to find Jesus, they will find him in
the Christian community—in those they mix with every day of their lives.
Every time they receive the love of a brother or sister, it
is the presence of Jesus. Every time they share their love with a brother or
sister, they are making Jesus present to that person. They—and we—are to be
Jesus in this world. We are to be the visible presence of Jesus. It is really a
great challenge and a rather scary responsibility.
When people see me, do they see Jesus? When people see me,
do they want to know Jesus? When people see me, do they want to join our
community, share our life, and take the Gospel as the foundation of their life?
That is the meaning of the Ascension.
Today we gather here not only to remember something that
happened a long time ago; we are also here to remind ourselves that when Jesus
left us he gave us a very important mission. That mission was and is to continue
his loving and redemptive presence in the world. Let us ask him today to help
us, together with him, to carry out that huge responsibility in the way he
wants.
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Sunday,
June 1, 2025
The Ascension of the Lord
Opening Prayer
Shaddai, God of
the mountain, You who make of our fragile life the rock of your dwelling place,
lead our mind to strike the rock of the desert, so that water may gush to
quench our thirst. May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the
darkness of the night and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning, may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the
Absolute who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master, the flavor of
the holy memory.
LECTIO
The text - Luke 24: 46-53
46 and he said to them, 'So it is written
that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and
that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to
all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses to this. 49 'And
now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city, then,
until you are clothed with the power from on high.' 50 Then he took them out as
far as the outskirts of Bethany, and raising his hands he blessed them. 51 Now
as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. 52 They
worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy; 53 and they were
continually in the Temple praising God.
A Moment of Silence:
Let us
allow the voice of the Word to resonate within us.
MEDITATIO
Some Questions:
•
In the name of the Lord: In whose name do I live
my daily life?
•
To all nations. Am I capable of welcoming all or
do I discriminate easily according to my point of view?
•
Stay in the city. Do I have staying power in the
most difficult situations or do I try, even before I understand their meaning,
to eliminate them?
•
My prayer. Do I praise the Lord for all he does
in my life or do I ask things for myself?
A Key to the Reading:
These few lines speak of life, motion,
journey, meeting. This is the aim of the so it
is written and all
the nations. Life is marked by witness. The apostles are those sent,
they do not bring anything of their own but become life, motion, journey,
meeting, a way that brings life wherever they go.
•
v. 46. So it is written that the Christ would
suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. What is written? Where? The
only scripture we know is that of encounter. It seems that God cannot do
without humankind, and so God goes seeking people wherever they are and will
not give up until God embraces them. This is what is written: An eternal love,
capable of enduring suffering, of drinking the chalice of pain to its dregs, so
as to look once more upon the face of the beloved children. In the depths of
non-life, Christ descends to take the hand of humankind to lead humankind back
home. Three days! Three moments: passion, death, resurrection! This is what is
written for Christ and for all those who belong to him. Passion: you surrender
trustingly, and the other does with you whatever he wishes, he embraces you or
ill- treats you, he welcomes you or rejects you… but you go on loving to the
end. Death: a life that cannot be taken back… dies, is snuffed out… but not forever,
because death has power over the flesh but the spirit that comes from
God goes back to God.
Resurrection: Everything makes sense in the light of Life.
Love once given will not die but will always resurrect again.
•
v. 47: And in his name, repentance for the
forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. Jesus’ word, spoken in time, does not come to an end. It
needs those who proclaim it. The apostles go, sent in the holy name of God.
They go to all nations. No longer to one chosen people, but to all who are now
chosen. They go to put their arms around the shoulder of their brothers and
sisters and to convert them, to turn them around towards them and to tell them:
All is forgiven, you can live the divine life once more, Jesus died and rose
again for you! Faith is not an invention. I come from Jerusalem, I saw him with
my eyes, I experienced him in my life. I am telling you no more than my story,
a story of salvation.
•
v. 48: You are witnesses to this. We know God
from experience. To be witnesses means carrying the word that is
Christ written in one’s skin, woven syllable by syllable. When one is
touched by Christ, one becomes a bright lamp, even without one’s knowledge! And if one
wanted to put out the flame, it would light up again, because the light
comes not from the lamp but from the Spirit poured into the heart and beams
eternal communion endlessly.
•
v. 49: “And now I am sending upon you what the
Father has promised. Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with the
power from on high.” Jesus’ promises are always fulfilled. He goes away, but he does
not leave his friends orphans. He knows that they need God’s constant presence. And God
comes back to humankind. This time no longer in the flesh, but invisibly in the
fire of an intangible love, in the ardor of a bond that will never be broken,
the rainbow
of the ratified covenant, the splendor of God’s smile, the Holy Spirit. Clothed
in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, the apostles will not be afraid and can
finally go!
•
v. 50: Then he took them out as far as the
outskirts of Bethany, and raising his hands blessed them. The moment of
separation is a solemn one. Bethany is the place of friendship. Jesus raises
his hands and blesses his own. This is a salute and a gift. Goes does not draw
away from his own, God simply leaves them to come back in different guise.
•
v. 51: Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from
them and was carried up to heaven. Every separation brings sorrow with it. But
in this case the blessing is a legacy of grace. The apostles live in such an
intense communion with their Lord that they are not aware of a separation.
•
v. 52: They worshipped him and then went back to
Jerusalem full of joy. Great is the joy of the apostles, the joy of going
through the streets of Jerusalem with a limitless treasure, the joy of
belonging. Christ’s humanity goes to heaven, to open a gate that will
never be shut again. The joy of the superabundance of life that Christ has now
poured into their experience will never cease…
•
v. 53: And they were continually in the Temple
praising God. To stay… is a very important verb for the Christian. To
stay presupposes a special strength, the ability not to flee from situations
but to live them out savoring them to their depths. To stay: an evangelical
program to be shared with all. Then praise flows out sincerely, because in staying God’s
will is sipped like a healthy and intoxicating drink of bliss. Reflection:
The witness of charity in the life of the
church is without any doubt the clearest mirror for evangelization. It is the
instrument that loosens the soil so that when the seed of the Word falls it may
bear abundant fruit. The good news cannot choose other ways to touch the hearts
of people than that of mutual love, an experience that leads directly to the
source: «This is my commandment: that you love one
another as I have loved you» (Jn 15:12). We find all this in the
early Church: «This is the proof of
love, that he laid down his life for us, and we too ought to lay down our live
for our brothers» (1 Jn 3:16).
The disciple who met and knew
Jesus, the beloved disciple, knows that he cannot speak of him and not walk the
ways he walked. «I am the way, the truth
and the life» (Jn 14:6). What better words can express that the high
road of every evangelization is gratuitous love? Christ is the way of
evangelization. Christ is the truth to transmit in evangelizing. Christ is
evangelized life. And the love with which he loved us is evangelization, a love
given without conditions, that will not retreat but goes forward to the end,
faithful to itself even at the price of death on a cross of malediction, to
show the face of the Father as one of Love, a love that respects the freedom of
human beings, even when this means rejection, contempt, aggression, and
death.
«Christian
charity has a great evangelizing force. To the extent that it reveals itself as
a sign and a window of God’s love, it opensthe minds and hearts to the proclamation of the
Word of truth. As Paul VI said, today’s people who look for authenticity and
concreteness, value witnesses more than teachers, and generally will only allow
themselves to be guided to discover the depth and the demands of God’s love if
they have been touched by the tangible sign of charity». (CEI, Evangelization and the witness of charity, in
Enchiridion CEI, vol. 15, EDB,
Bologna 1996 n. 24). Every pastoral
endeavor that wants to show the deep relationship between faith and charity in
the light of the Gospel, and that characteristic note of Christian love that is
proximity and caring, has the duty of motivating and sustaining openness to
others in service. (cfr Lk 10: 34).
ORATIO
Psalm 22: 22-31
I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full
assembly:
'You who fear Yahweh, praise him!
All the race of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all the race of Israel!'
For he has not despised nor
disregarded the poverty of the poor, has not turned away his face, but has
listened to the cry for help.
Of you is my praise in the thronged assembly,
I will perform my vows before all who
fear him. The poor will eat and be filled, those who seek Yahweh will praise him,
'May your heart live forever.' The whole wide world will remember and return to
Yahweh,
all the families of nations bow down
before him. For to Yahweh, ruler of the nations, belongs kingly power!
All who prosper on earth will bow before him,
all who go down to the dust will
do reverence before him. And those who are dead,
their descendants will serve him,
will proclaim his name to generations still to come;
and these will tell of his saving justice to a people yet unborn: he has
fulfilled it.
CONTEMPLATIO
Lord, I know that evangelization
requires deep spirituality, authenticity, and holiness of life on the part of
witnesses, people of mature faith, able to mix well so as to make their
personal experience of faith a meeting place and a place of growth in
interpersonal contacts thus building deep relationships open to the Church, the
world and history. As yet, I feel inadequate. In a context where images, words,
proposals, projects, and records follow each other swiftly and disorient,
almost intoxicate thought and confuse feelings, bearing witness is a privileged
word for a reflective pause, for a moment of rethinking. But am I one who is
carried away by these images, words, and projects? Of one thing I am certain,
and this comforts me. Even the most beautiful witness would in the long run be
powerless were it not enlightened, justified, made explicit by a clear and
unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News, proclaimed by a
living witness, sooner or later needs to be proclaimed by the word of life. I
will justify my hope by proclaiming your name, your teaching, your life, your
promises, your mystery as Jesus of Nazareth and Son of God. This seems to me to
be the simplest way to arouse interest in knowing and meeting you, Master and
Lord, who have chosen to live as son of man so as to show us the face of the
Father. Every pastoral endeavor today that finds itself chained by faith, will
be able to ask you, God, that the gates of preaching be reopened to proclaim
the mystery of Christ, the kind of preaching that as divine word works wonders
in those who believe.
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