Cycle A - Year I:  

21 May 2023: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 1:1-11

Second Reading:   Ephesians 1:17-23

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 28:16-20 

"I am with you always!"

We celebrate this Sunday the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. Forty days after His resurrection Jesus returns to the Father. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes this momentous event: "When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)

Today's Gospel proclamation provides the narrative of the last encounter of Jesus by the disciples. The final words of Jesus, "And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age." (Mt 28:20) close the Gospel of St. Matthew.   

The opening scene of the Gospel is on a mountain in Galilee. Jesus had earlier instructed His disciples to travel to the mountain where He will meet with them. Notice that in Matthew's Gospel, mountains are places where our Lord Jesus' authoritative teaching and divine identity are revealed.  These include the mountain in the temptation of Jesus where He rejects false authority (4:8), the mount on which Jesus teaches with authority (5:1), the mountain on which the feeding of the four thousands occurs (15:29), and the mountain of the Transfiguration (17:1).

Ascension Sunday is what is called the "great commissioning" which the risen Christ gives to His disciples and to the whole Church.  Jesus ordered the disciples: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you!" (Mt. 28:19)  This command is a mission for His disciples to spread His teachings all across the earth.

In the mountain where Jesus meets the disciples for the last time: "When they saw him, they worshiped but some doubted." (Mt 28:17) It would seem that those who worshiped Jesus had some hesitation mingled in with their worship. And yet our Lord Jesus entrusts authority to make disciples of all men to these doubting disciples.  These parting words of Jesus are commonly referred to as the "Great Commissioning". The location of this final instruction, a mountaintop, underscores the importance of obeying this last instruction of our Lord Jesus.

So then Ascension is the time when Jesus puts us, all baptized Christians, and the whole Church in charge of His mission and of His work, promising to be always with us. "Go and make disciples of all nations!"   We can think of this statement to mean we are supposed to go to different countries to preach as missionaries. But also we can think of it to mean we should reach out to unfamiliar groups within our own communities using available social media platform, and even perhaps within our own family.  

Although Jesus is no longer with His disciples and with us physically in human form, in reality the Lord does not leave His followers by themselves in this mission. For the risen Lord continues to work in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And next Sunday, the Church celebrates Pentecost Sunday, when the promise of our Lord to send the Holy Spirit to empower us is fulfilled.

This Sunday the Church celebrates Catholic Communication Sunday. It is a timely reminder to make use of the wonder of digital media to spread the Good News and continue our Lord's redemptive mission on earth through His Holy Church. Let us also pray that those spreading fake news change their ways for love of country and fear of God.

A blessed Ascension Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!