Solemnity of the Ascension of the LORD 4th June 2000

First: Acts 1:1-11; Second: Eph 1:17-23; Gospel: Mk 16:15-20

THEME of the READINGS

What is the meaning of the Ascension of Jesus Christ in the history of salvation, in which God the Father has placed this mystery? To Jesus Christ, it means that his stay among men is over, that he has been enthroned at the right hand of the Father to rule with him over heaven and earth, that he will exercise his saving action on humankind from heaven by means of the Holy Spirit (Gospel, first reading). For the Apostles, it means that their mission truly begins now, after having received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and being the witnesses of Jesus Christ (Gospel, first reading). To us Christians, it means that it opens us up to the hope of a future life with God and sends us into the whole world to evangelize and unite it in one faith, one baptism, one God and Father (second reading).

DOCTrinal MESSAGE

Value of the Ascension for Jesus. The Word of God became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth (Jn 1:14). Now, after the Resurrection and a period of apparitions to the disciples to confirm them in their faith, the Lord Jesus Christ was raised to heaven and sat on the right hand of God (Gospel). His mission as Revealer of the Father, as Teacher of humankind, as Redeemer of all men, is over, but it has not been completed. It is finished in him, as head, but it has not been completed in his Body, which is the Church. In a way, the Ascension is the point of arrival of Jesus’ mission and the point of departure of the mission of the Holy Spirit to the community of believers in Christ.

With the Ascension, Jesus enters, as Lord, the Kingdom of his Father, and with him, he begins to reign gloriously, with justice and love, with mercy and forgiveness, with truth and holiness. He reigns over the events of history and over the life of men, in a way that we largely ignore and that sometimes disconcerts us. In ascending to heaven, he took with him as captives the men that accepted his reign in their heart and in their daily existence (second reading), thus opening up to humankind the doors of the house of the Father, in other words, God’s life and happiness (cf CCC 661). 

Meaning of the Ascension to the Apostles. Until then, the Apostles had practiced especially the reception of the person and message of Jesus. With the Ascension and with the Pentecost, a new phase begins for them: the passing on of what they have learned from their Teacher and Lord. They will pass this on by proclaiming and preaching the Good News, and in a very special way, by the witness of the Gospel, even to the heroism of martyrdom. It is necessary to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel until Christ returns. They have prepared for this mission during the time they spent with Jesus; in this mission, they will be accompanied by the Spirit of Jesus, which they will receive within a few days’ time (first reading). This mission is characterized by hope, without having the certainty of the time or moment that the Father has chosen to definitively establish the Kingdom by means of the second coming of Christ. His immediate or mediated coming is not so crucial. What matters is hope in his coming.

Value of the Ascension for us. Like the Apostles, we must be men of hope, to which we are stimulated by the Ascension of Jesus Christ. We first of all await the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we wait serenely for a better and more Christian future, a future more full with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more docile to the plan of God for history, and to his mysterious action. The Ascension determines in us the ascetic effort to prepare ourselves to receive the redeeming action of Christ. It also awakens an interest and effort to work for the unity of all Christians and all men, the possible, real but imperfect unity that will be fulfilled in heaven in

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

To spend oneself for the Kingdom. The dogmatic constitution on the Church presents the Church by using the figure of the Kingdom: the Church is the Kingdom of Christ already present in the history (LG 3). To spend oneself for the Kingdom means to spend oneself for the Church according to the condition, possibilities and self-giving of each one. This spending of oneself for the Kingdom may occur in any circumstance of daily life, because what is most important is one’s inner attitude and the offering of one’s life to the Kingdom of God. However, to spend oneself for the Kingdom takes on a special connotation: to work in the Church, for the Church and at the service of the historical and salvific mission of the Church. If a young person or an adult spends a certain number of hours of the week watching television, why not devote at least the same number of hours to working for the Kingdom of Christ among men? If there are so many people who have fun on the weekends, couldn’t these same people decide to use these same weekends to do some good (social activities, visiting sick people in hospitals, Catholic volunteer work, accompanying elderly people, etc.)? If all of us Christians cooperate, the Kingdom of Christ will surely grow among men, well beyond our expectations.

According to the gift we have received from Christ. We are called to cooperate in the work of the Church, but each one according to the gift that he has received. Those that have received the charism of authority will cooperate by exercising authority with love and firmness at the same time. Those that have received the gift of teaching (doctors in ecclesial sciences, teachers of religion, catechists), will work to build up and disseminate the Kingdom with their upright, complete teaching, presented in an adequate and interesting manner. Those that have received the gift of giving life (parents, ministers of sacraments, spiritual directors), will generously place their qualities at the service of life, whether it be physical, sacramental or spiritual life. Those that have been chosen to be missionaries (priests, religious or lay people), will build up the Kingdom of Christ where it still does not exist, or where its foundations are barely emerging, or where it was once a finished and beautiful building but today is just ruins. What matters here is that everyone does his part, with no exception, and that everyone works according to the gift he has received from Christ. Are we Christians ready to take on this great task that Christ has been entrusted to us at the beginning of the third millennium?

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOB.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].