THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD  –  2023

«  Forty days ago we celebrated the triumph of Jesus over death, his RESURRECTION.   

«  During this time Jesus has made himself visible in different ways to his apostles who will be the witnesses of his resurrection.   

«  Today we celebrate in the liturgy the passage of Jesus from this way of life similar to ours, visible, to the Father.   

«  He will not be visible anymore, he will be present in his church through the sacrament, the word and the witnesses.  

 FIRST READING  – Act  1:1-11

-          Jesus asks them to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the promise from the Father.   

-          Luke says in this book that the Lord has tried in different ways to convince them that he is alive.  

-          John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  

-          Let us reflect on the meaning of the word “baptism.” To baptize means to submerge into water. Thus, when Jesus says they will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, it means that they will be submerged in the Spirit of God that we call the Holy Spirit.

-          And this will happen also to those who will follow him through the centuries.    

-          Thus, the Spirit does not come to us in a visible and external way, but we are submerged into the Spirit.  

-          They want to know if the kingdom of Israel will be restored, but Jesus says that this is known only by the Father.  

-          But they will receive the Holy Spirit who will come upon them and make them witnesses of Jesus throughout all the world.   

-          It is important to enter into the symbolic meaning of the vocabulary used to describe this mystery of faith, the passage or returning of Jesus to the Father.  

o   Lifted = we always looked at the blue sky when we speak about heaven, the abode of God. Thus, to be lifted means that Jesus goes to the Father.  

o   They continue to look intently; we feel so good when we experience the presence of God.   

o   Why are you standing there looking at the sky? He will return.  

o   But now “you have to be his witnesses”, now it is the time of the church, our time when we must do the same Works that Jesus did. In our baptism we have been entrusted the mission to transform this world of sin into the Kingdom of God, but we are not alone, Jesus is present with his Spirit.    

-          It is not a sad farewell, it is not a day of mourning, it is the day of Jesus’ triumph, that is why the church puts on our lips the responsorial psalm:  

o   We are invited to clap our hands, to shout with cries of joy, to sing the praises of our King, to sing hymns  

o   Because the Lord has established his throne upon the heights, he reigns over the nations, and he sits as King on his sacred throne. 

-          It is neither a sad farewell, nor a day of mourning because Jesus has triumphed over evil and death. 

-          This triumph is already ours in hope, now for a little while we must work with the Lord to invite all to the heavenly banquet for all eternity.   

SECOND READING   Ephesians  1:17-23

-          The author of this letter asks that the Lord of Jesus     

o   May give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in  knowledge of  him  

o   May the eyes of our heart be enlightened in order to know what is the hope that belongs to his call   

o   What are the riches of his glory, the inheritance among the holy ones, destined to be distributed to the members of the Church.    

o   So, we may experience his power in our life  

o   Which is the same power that the Father has revealed in the resurrection of Jesus from among the dead and, in giving to Jesus a glory which is above all that has been created.   

o   He has put all things beneath the feet of Jesus, this means that he has made of Jesus Lord and Head of the church which is his body.   

o   Alonso Schökel asks a question in his commentary, a question which we may keep and meditate in our hearts over and over again: Does Paul mean that the Church is more than an earthly reality, being already united to Christ in his triumph and in his glory, being already inhabited by the fullness of the divinity?  

o   We realize that the true nature of the church has two different sides or aspects: the church has already the fullness of Christ but at the same time she is in the process of being formed, being shaped in the image of Christ her head and Lord, through the process of life.  She is at the same time the perfect reality and the process through the unfinished journey of the community and of each one of its members.   

-          A good preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ triumph will be to reflect and try to answer this question:  

o   Do I really know Jesus, do I know him in such a way that this knowledge fills me with hope, joy, strength and trust without limits? Let us have a heart to heart conversation with the Lord.  

GOSPEL  Matthew 28:16-20

Ø  Matthew writes at the end of his gospel the missionary commission of the apostles by Jesus. 

Ø  The eleven, the new born Church, has gone to Galilee 

Ø  In the morning of the resurrection Jesus had commissioned the women to go and tell his disciples to go to Galilee, there they would see him.  

Ø  Why Galilee and not Judea where they were?  

Ø  Galilee was the place of their first encounter with Jesus, we could call it “their first love” when they got excited about the young man who proclaimed a kingdom of love, peace and fraternity,  they were excited about him and about his project.   

Ø  Now after all that had happened with the crucifixion of Jesus, their cowardice, their leaving him alone, Jesus invites them to go back, we could say to go back home.  

Ø  They go to Galilee, when he comes in their midst, they adore him, although some still doubt   

o   In the Gospels and in the Acts we see how the community of the followers, after the resurrection, gives to Jesus the honor due to God, they adore him.   

o   It is interesting what Matthew says, “they doubted” why? They doubted because the joy was so overwhelming that they could not believe it to be true? They doubted because they did not believe it was he? 

o   We do not know, but certainly this sentence from Matthew is uplifting for us, the followers of the XXI century, we doubt also during the journey of our life, we doubt about our relationship with Him. 

Ø  The fact that they doubt is not an obstacle to be sent by Jesus. We are sent despite our doubts, our infidelities, our laziness, and our many temptations against our mission as missionaries.  

Ø  The one who sends us is Jesus and his will is not conditioned by our feelings or our actions.  

Ø  As a consequence of our baptism, we have been sent. 

o   Go and make disciples, inspire others to follow me.  

o   Not to a select group, but to all the nations, no one is excluded from this proclamation, from this happiness; we cannot put obstacles with our life to what Jesus wants: all the nations. 

o   Once they had become disciples, once they had gotten excited and are ready to follow me, baptize them in the name of the Trinity, in the name of God.   

o   That is submerging them into the waters of life, which is to be deeply submerged in the life of our God. 

o   Teach them all that I have taught you. What we must teach is what Jesus has taught us and the Spirit with his light explains to us, as John says in his Gospel “the Spirit will remind you all that I have taught you.” 

o   If this responsibility frightens us, if we think that we cannot do it, let us continue to listen to Jesus who says to us. 

o   I AM WITH YOU UNTIL THE END OF HISTORY, THE END OF TIME.  

Ø  No fears, no laziness, no excuses the Risen Jesus who sends us is also always with us. 

Ø  THANK YOU Lord to be the Emmanuel, God with us, as the angel had said to Joseph who doubted when he knew that Mary was pregnant, do not fear he will be called Emmanuel.   

I transcribe below a text taken from a commentary I have read:  

We need, above all, an absolute faith in the protecting care of God. God continues to work in the heart and in the consciences of all his children, although we think they are “lost sheep.”    

He continues working in and outside the Church. God does not abandon anyone, even if they have never heard the Gospel of Jesus. 

But this does not releavse us of our responsibility. How does God want to offer the good news of Jesus to the men and women of our time?  

CLARETIAN CORNER 

From the first day that the sea sickness of my companions got milder (as for me, it lasted for the whole travel and so terrible that they thought that I would die) I allotted all the time for spiritual exercises: prayer, reading, examination and devotion, etc. We recited the holy Rosary at the lower deck and the crew answered from the upper deck with great devotion and often with tears of tenderness, , especially at the singing of the “Holy God”, that I did with such a fervor as in a rapture..  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of Claretian Missionary Sisteres,  Autobiography 141.     

That afternoon I went to my home town, Sallent, where everyone came out to meet me. In the evening I preached to them from a balcony overlooking the town square because the church wasn't large enough to hold the crowd. Next day we celebrated a Solemn High Mass, and in the afternoon I left for Sanmarti. The following morning I traveled to the shrine of Our Lady of Fussimanya, the scene of my great childhood devotion. I said Mass in the shrine and preached on devotion to Mary. From there I went on to Artés, where I also preached, as I did at Calders, as well. I ate at Moyá and preached there that night. The following morning I was off to Collsuspina, where I preached; then I went on to Vich where I had dinner and preached that night. Next I went to Barcelona, where I preached every day in various churches and convents^[1] until December 28, when we sailed on the frigate La Nueva Teresa Cubana, under the command of Captain Manuel Bolivar.Su capitán, don Manuel Bolívar.  Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 501.   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Antonio María. Autobiografía.  

PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiografía en Escritos, con Comentarios por   Juan Manuel Lozano.

PÉREZ HERRERO, Francisco. “Evangelio Según San Marcos” en Comentario al Nuevo Testamento. Casa de la Biblia 1995. 

RAVASI, Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras – Año B. San Pablo-Bogotá, Colombia 2005.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO (comentarios). Misioneros Claretianos. China 2010.   

 

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[1]  He was in Barcelona from November 16 to December 28, preaching seven to ten sermons daily and seeing several books through the press. When someone asked him how he was able to do so much work, he answered, "Fall in love with Jesus Christ and souls and you'll understand it all and do much more than I do."