Acts of the Apostles 1,1-11. 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."
Psalms 47(46) 2-3.6-7.8-9. 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 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.
For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne.
Letter to the Ephesians 4,1-13. Brothers and sisters : I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says: "He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men." What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended into the lower (regions) of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 16,15-20. Jesus said to the eleven: "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. THE WORD OF THE LORD
POPE FRANCIS - REGINA CAELI 16 May 2021 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Buongiorno! In Italy and in other countries today, we are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. The Gospel passage (Mk 16:15-20) — the conclusion of the Gospel of Mark — presents us with the Risen One’s final encounter with the disciples before he ascends to the right hand of the Father. Usually, as we know, farewell scenes are sad. They cause a feeling of loss, of abandonment in those who remain; instead, none of this happens to the disciples. Despite their separation from the Lord, they do not appear grief-stricken, but rather, they are joyful and ready to go out into the world as missionaries.
Why are the disciples not sad? Why should we too rejoice at seeing Jesus ascending into heaven? The Ascension completes Jesus’ mission among us. Indeed, if it is for us that Jesus descended from heaven, it is also for us that he ascends there. After having descended into our humanity and redeemed it — God, the Son of God, descends and becomes man, takes our humanity and redeems it — he now ascends into heaven, taking our flesh with him. He is the first man who enters heaven, because Jesus is man, true man; he is God, true God; our flesh is in heaven and this gives us joy. Now a human body sits at the right hand of the Father for the first time, the body of Jesus, and in this mystery we each contemplate our own future destination. This is not at all an abandonment; Jesus remains forever with the disciples — with us. He remains in prayer, because as man, he prays to the Father, and as God, man and God, he shows Him his wounds, the wounds by which he has redeemed us. Jesus’ prayer is there, with our flesh: he is one of us, God-man, and he prays for us.
And this should give us confidence, or rather joy, great joy! And the second reason for joy is Jesus’ promise. He told us: “I will send you the Holy Spirit”. And there, with the Holy Spirit, that commandment is made that he gives in his farewell: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”. And it will be the power of the Holy Spirit that will lead us there into the world, to bring the Gospel. It is the Holy Spirit of that day, whom Jesus promised, and then nine days later he will come in the Feast of Pentecost. It is precisely the Holy Spirit who made it possible for us to be this way today. A great joy! Jesus went to heaven: the first man before the Father.
He left with his wounds, which were the price of our salvation, and he prays for us. And then he sends us the Holy spirit; he promises us the Holy Spirit, to go to evangelize. This is the reason for today’s joy; this is the reason for the joy on this day of the Ascension.
Brothers and sisters, on this Feast of the Ascension, as we contemplate Heaven, where Christ has ascended and sits at the right hand of the Father, let us ask Mary, Queen of Heaven, to help us be courageous witnesses of the Risen One in the world, in the concrete situations of life.
FAUSTI - The Ascension takes place on the endless day of Easter. The return of the Son to the Father constitutes the full meaning of the Paschal Mystery, the point of arrival of the exodus and of creation itself. The exit from the earth, from the tomb, ends with the entrance into heaven: the creature rejoins its Creator. After the Ascension, God has nothing more to say or to give. He has already said and given everything in the flesh of Jesus. There is only the continuous need to receive His Spirit, to make Him known to us and to live. His Ascension - exaltation of His humanity to the dignity of the Son of God - is a certainty of blessing for every man. After a long labor, the Head is born. But where the Head is, the whole Body will be. In Him we see the hope to which we have been called, the treasure of glory that contains our inheritance (Eph 1:18). In Jesus who ascends to heaven we fully know the mystery of man and his body. We know where he comes from because we see where he goes: he comes from the Father of Light, and he returns to Him. Our life is no longer suspended in nothingness; it has found its beginning and its end. Jesus does not leave us orphans and without a country. It is precisely by His Distancing that He indicates to us the Father and His house, where He has gone before us. Our country is in heaven and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. In him we too have already risen, sat in heaven and glorified (Phil 3:20). Where He is our treasure, there is also our heart, and where our heart is, there will be us too. The commandment of love is the way to reach it. Now we finally know who we are looking for and how to find it. The glorification of Jesus with His body is the realization of the deepest longing that the God of life has put in man: to become like Him, overcoming death. It is not a forbidden dream, (Gen 3:4) but the gift He wants to give us. That is why the disciples are filled with joy! The Lord, ascending upwards, has accomplished the greatest wonders for us (Eph 4:8). He has destroyed the slavery that separates us from the homeland of desire, overcoming our death and giving Himself as the meaning of our lives; He has distributed all His gifts, offering us His Spirit and the possibility of living His Life. Now we are free, similar to Him, and we see in Him who we are. Children in the Son, finally made adults and responsible, we can witness and proclaim to our brothers and sisters the Love of the Father, continuing to do and teach to the ends of the earth what He began to teach from Galilee to Jerusalem.
Saint Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916) hermit and missionary in the Sahara
§ 46, Psalm 23 (Meditations on the Psalms; ed. Nouvelle Cité, 2002; pp. 131-133; rev.) "The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and seated at the right hand of God" (Mk 16:19)
"Rise up, eternal gates: let the King of glory enter! (...) Who is this King of glory? He is the Lord, the God of the universe; he is the King of glory" (Ps 23:7,10). These verses are wonderfully applicable to the Ascension of Our Lord, received into heaven by the choirs of angels...
How good you are, my God, to console us from the sorrows of earth with the sight of your happiness... As our first duty you command us to love you... And if we fulfill this duty, it follows immediately and necessarily that we are from this world, throughout our lives, wonderfully, infinitely happy. In a way, we already share in the happiness of the elect, since like them we enjoy what makes them happy, and like them we are happy because we know you are happy... In truth, we don't see it clearly for them, but we know it indubitably ...
When we are sad, distressed by the sins of others or our own, by the physical or moral suffering of our neighbor or our own, when we feel discouragement coming on, let's lift up our hearts, let's think that whatever happens to us in this world and in the next, whatever happens to the whole world, our beloved is Jesus and that Jesus is blessed: he has ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of his Father and happy for eternity... When we love, if the beloved is happy, nothing is lacking... our all is happy, that's all we need (...). If we love him, let us look at him and thank him endlessly, like the angels and like the Church at the sight of his glory: "We give you thanks for your immense glory" (...). Please, my God, by your great mercy, make the sight of your happiness our support here below and our eternal bliss! Amen.
Acts of the Apostles 1,1-11.
RispondiEliminaIn 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."
Psalms 47(46)
2-3.6-7.8-9.
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 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.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
Letter to the Ephesians
4,1-13.
Brothers and sisters : I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore, it says: "He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men."
What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended into the lower (regions) of the earth?
The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
Eliminaaccording to Saint Mark 16,15-20.
Jesus said to the eleven: "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.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
POPE FRANCIS - REGINA CAELI 16 May 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Buongiorno!
In Italy and in other countries today, we are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. The Gospel passage (Mk 16:15-20) — the conclusion of the Gospel of Mark — presents us with the Risen One’s final encounter with the disciples before he ascends to the right hand of the Father. Usually, as we know, farewell scenes are sad. They cause a feeling of loss, of abandonment in those who remain; instead, none of this happens to the disciples. Despite their separation from the Lord, they do not appear grief-stricken, but rather, they are joyful and ready to go out into the world as missionaries.
Why are the disciples not sad? Why should we too rejoice at seeing Jesus ascending into heaven? The Ascension completes Jesus’ mission among us. Indeed, if it is for us that Jesus descended from heaven, it is also for us that he ascends there. After having descended into our humanity and redeemed it — God, the Son of God, descends and becomes man, takes our humanity and redeems it — he now ascends into heaven, taking our flesh with him. He is the first man who enters heaven, because Jesus is man, true man; he is God, true God; our flesh is in heaven and this gives us joy. Now a human body sits at the right hand of the Father for the first time, the body of Jesus, and in this mystery we each contemplate our own future destination. This is not at all an abandonment; Jesus remains forever with the disciples — with us. He remains in prayer, because as man, he prays to the Father, and as God, man and God, he shows Him his wounds, the wounds by which he has redeemed us. Jesus’ prayer is there, with our flesh: he is one of us, God-man, and he prays for us.
And this should give us confidence, or rather joy, great joy! And the second reason for joy is Jesus’ promise. He told us: “I will send you the Holy Spirit”. And there, with the Holy Spirit, that commandment is made that he gives in his farewell: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”. And it will be the power of the Holy Spirit that will lead us there into the world, to bring the Gospel. It is the Holy Spirit of that day, whom Jesus promised, and then nine days later he will come in the Feast of Pentecost. It is precisely the Holy Spirit who made it possible for us to be this way today. A great joy! Jesus went to heaven: the first man before the Father.
He left with his wounds, which were the price of our salvation, and he prays for us. And then he sends us the Holy spirit; he promises us the Holy Spirit, to go to evangelize. This is the reason for today’s joy; this is the reason for the joy on this day of the Ascension.
Brothers and sisters, on this Feast of the Ascension, as we contemplate Heaven, where Christ has ascended and sits at the right hand of the Father, let us ask Mary, Queen of Heaven, to help us be courageous witnesses of the Risen One in the world, in the concrete situations of life.
FAUSTI - The Ascension takes place on the endless day of Easter. The return of the Son to the Father constitutes the full meaning of the Paschal Mystery, the point of arrival of the exodus and of creation itself.
RispondiEliminaThe exit from the earth, from the tomb, ends with the entrance into heaven: the creature rejoins its Creator. After the Ascension, God has nothing more to say or to give.
He has already said and given everything in the flesh of Jesus.
There is only the continuous need to receive His Spirit, to make Him known to us and to live.
His Ascension - exaltation of His humanity to the dignity of the Son of God - is a certainty of blessing for every man. After a long labor, the Head is born.
But where the Head is, the whole Body will be. In Him we see the hope to which we have been called, the treasure of glory that contains our inheritance (Eph 1:18).
In Jesus who ascends to heaven we fully know the mystery of man and his body.
We know where he comes from because we see where he goes: he comes from the Father of Light, and he returns to Him.
Our life is no longer suspended in nothingness; it has found its beginning and its end.
Jesus does not leave us orphans and without a country. It is precisely by His Distancing that He indicates to us the Father and His house, where He has gone before us.
Our country is in heaven and our life is now hidden with Christ in God.
In him we too have already risen, sat in heaven and glorified (Phil 3:20).
Where He is our treasure, there is also our heart, and where our heart is, there will be us too.
The commandment of love is the way to reach it.
Now we finally know who we are looking for and how to find it.
The glorification of Jesus with His body is the realization of the deepest longing that the God of life has put in man: to become like Him, overcoming death.
It is not a forbidden dream, (Gen 3:4) but the gift He wants to give us.
That is why the disciples are filled with joy! The Lord, ascending upwards, has accomplished the greatest wonders for us (Eph 4:8).
He has destroyed the slavery that separates us from the homeland of desire, overcoming our death and giving Himself as the meaning of our lives; He has distributed all His gifts, offering us His Spirit and the possibility of living His Life.
Now we are free, similar to Him, and we see in Him who we are.
Children in the Son, finally made adults and responsible, we can witness and proclaim to our brothers and sisters the Love of the Father, continuing to do and teach to the ends of the earth what He began to teach from Galilee to Jerusalem.
RispondiEliminaSaint Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)
hermit and missionary in the Sahara
§ 46, Psalm 23 (Meditations on the Psalms; ed. Nouvelle Cité, 2002; pp. 131-133; rev.)
"The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and seated at the right hand of God" (Mk 16:19)
"Rise up, eternal gates: let the King of glory enter! (...) Who is this King of glory? He is the Lord, the God of the universe; he is the King of glory" (Ps 23:7,10). These verses are wonderfully applicable to the Ascension of Our Lord, received into heaven by the choirs of angels...
How good you are, my God, to console us from the sorrows of earth with the sight of your happiness... As our first duty you command us to love you... And if we fulfill this duty, it follows immediately and necessarily that we are from this world, throughout our lives, wonderfully, infinitely happy. In a way, we already share in the happiness of the elect, since like them we enjoy what makes them happy, and like them we are happy because we know you are happy... In truth, we don't see it clearly for them, but we know it indubitably ...
When we are sad, distressed by the sins of others or our own, by the physical or moral suffering of our neighbor or our own, when we feel discouragement coming on, let's lift up our hearts, let's think that whatever happens to us in this world and in the next, whatever happens to the whole world, our beloved is Jesus and that Jesus is blessed: he has ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of his Father and happy for eternity... When we love, if the beloved is happy, nothing is lacking... our all is happy, that's all we need (...).
If we love him, let us look at him and thank him endlessly, like the angels and like the Church at the sight of his glory: "We give you thanks for your immense glory" (...). Please, my God, by your great mercy, make the sight of your happiness our support here below and our eternal bliss! Amen.