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“No. 38 Scenes from the Life of Christ:
22. Ascension”
by Giotto di Bondone,1304-06. |
Readings for The Ascension of
the Lord [3]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [4]
Readings and Commentary: [5]
Reading 1: Acts 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.”
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Commentary on Acts
1:1-11
These are the introductory comments of St. Luke, as he
begins the Acts of the Apostles. Like any well-written story, he connects the
events that have just taken place in his first volume, the Gospel of Luke, with
what will follow.
Using the interval of days, Luke links the Resurrection,
Christ’s glorification, and his ascension with the appearance of the Holy
Spirit – the Paschal Mystery. Christ’s departure marks the end of his direct
involvement with the Apostles, except for his appearance to Paul on the road to
Damascus. The passage concludes with a unique description of the actual event
of Jesus being taken into heaven.
CCC: Acts 1:1-2 512; Acts 1:3 659; Acts 1:6-7 672; Acts 1:7 474, 673; Acts 1:8 672, 730, 735, 857, 1287; Acts 1:9 659, 697; Acts 1:10-11 333; Acts 1:11 665
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
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.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 47 is a hymn of praise celebrating God’s enthronement
and kingship over the people. The imagery in the second strophe (v. 6) strongly
suggests the movement of the Ark of the Covenant being processed and installed
as part of this celebration. The song concludes with a proclamation of the
universal claim of God – King of all the earth.
-------------------------------------------
Reading II: Ephesians 1:17-23
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.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Eph
1:17-23
The selection provided is part of St. Paul’s introductory
comments to the Ephesians. His focus in this passage underlines the
enlightenment flowing from the Holy Spirit. The final sentences provide an
understanding of the power assumed by the Lord as he ascends to the Father.
The prayer for enlightenment promotes the idea that only
through an understanding of God’s great sacrifice can the hope offered by the Savior
be realized. The Apostle emphasizes the power and majesty of Jesus, placing his
sacrifice in perspective: “he put all
things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things.” How much
love was shown to God’s creation by offering up one whose state is so exalted?
St. Paul’s concluding verse also introduces his concept of the Church as the
living body of Christ, a theme that he developed in earlier letters to other
congregations (cf. Romans
12: 4f; 1 Corinthians 12:12ff).
CCC: Eph 1:16-23 2632; Eph 1:18 158; Eph 1:19-22 272, 648; Eph 1:20-22 668; Eph 1:22-23 830; Eph 1:22 669, 753, 2045
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Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
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Commentary on Mt 28:16-20
This passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew
presents the "commissioning” monologue that concludes this Gospel. The
doubting disciples are reassured that all the Lord had predicted, and all the
prophets had foretold, had come to pass, and the Lord had now assumed his place
with the Father.
“This moment of encounter on the mountain is
fraught with tense solemnity that cuts deep into the flesh of the apostles’
faith. Yes, they have responded to the summons that both the angel and Jesus
himself sent them through the women. And yes, despite their misgivings, they
have faithfully come to the precise place of their appointment with Jesus on
this mountain. Nevertheless, it is all too evident that the apostles are not as
unequivocally filled with joy as the two Marys were. The text tellingly makes
no mention of the rejoicing by the disciples in its description of their
reaction on encountering their risen Lord. Instead we read: ‘When they
saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.’ There are different ways of
interpreting this mixed response. I, for my part, read it as signifying a total
shift of theological focus on the part of the evangelist as he portrays the
meeting that is the climax of his whole Gospel.” [6]
The Lord then sends them out to continue his
earthly mission. His command to them is an important one: “Go, therefore,
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you.” In this statement, we receive the proper “form” and
institution of the Sacrament of Baptism and the command to bring all nations to
follow the Lord. The critically important emphasis here is "make
disciples," which goes beyond the sacramental act of Baptism, the
imparting of the Holy Spirit, to converting the hearts of those so washed.
Finally, he reassures them that he will be with them always.
“What strikes us very forcefully at once in these solemn
words of Jesus to the Eleven is their absolutist, all-encompassing character.
He declares that he himself is the heir of all authority both in heaven and on
earth; he commissions the apostles to go and baptize all nations; and he
enjoins them to teach others to observe all that he has commanded them. To this
we should add the immediately concluding promise that seals the Gospel of
Matthew: ‘I [will be] with you [all the days until] the close of the age” (28:20b).’[7]
CCC: Mt 28:16-20 857, 1444; Mt 28:16-17 645; Mt 28:17 644; Mt 28:18-20 1120; Mt 28:19-20 2, 767, 849, 1223, 1257, 1276
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Reflection:
We ask the question on this solemn day, “Why was more not
made of the Lord’s ascension to the Father?” While it is referred to in Scripture
in some places, it is not even mentioned in the Gospel of St. Matthew or St.
John’s for that matter. In St. Mark’s Gospel it is given
only one verse (and some scholars say this may have been a later addition, not
even intended by the author when it was first published). In the Scripture
St. Luke (Lk 24:46-53) speaks of the event.
But unlike the resurrection and even the birth of Jesus, about this event, the
final event in the Lord’s presence among us, we are only given a few
verses. Even St. Paul’s support speaks of the Lord’s ascension as the
necessary conclusion to Christ’s ministry on earth rather than a tremendous
event. Why is that we wonder?
We look to our next most important source, the Patristic
Fathers, the earliest theologians, those mighty minds that first considered the
very nature of Christ and His Church. We find little written about the
importance of the ascension of Christ from that
source. St. Thomas Aquinas did treat the subject in the Summa
Theologica in the Third Part (Tertia Pars): considering the life of Christ he
devotes a question to the topic (Question 57). While asking about the rationale and effect of Christ’s ascension,
he does not question the reason for its lack of prominence.
Having found little to answer the question from pre-existing
sources, we must use our own understanding of Christ and of human nature to
infer the reasons. First, we look at the situation in real-time and set
in its historical perspective. We know that the Lord ascended on the fortieth
day following his resurrection from the dead (“The elevation of Christ into
heaven by His own power in presence of His disciples the fortieth day after His
Resurrection. It is narrated in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and in the first
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.”[8]). The
disciples have just gone from anguish at the Lord’s death to joy at his
promised resurrection. The event that fulfilled God’s promise and was
proof of salvation. What is the last thing they would want? They
would not want to lose him again.
In a really enjoyable story, the ending is “and they all
lived happily ever after.” The fact that Christ died and rose from the
dead is the happy ending. The Ascension of the Lord, even though it was
foretold as well, was not something either the disciples or the early Church
wanted to dwell upon. It meant that Jesus, the man, the living proof of
God’s inestimable love, was no longer with them in body.
The Ascension of the Lord is a happy day for us. It is
truly the happy ending that had to be. Jesus returned as he said he
would. He left his final instructions with his friends before departing “to
take his seat at the right hand of the Father.” We rejoice today in
that knowledge because it was necessary that he go on before us to prepare that
place where we and all who walk in faith hope one day to follow. Even
though it does not consume volumes of Scripture, we rejoice as the Lord returns
to the Father for us.
Pax
[1]
Outside of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark,
Omaha, Philadelphia.
[2]
Catechism links are taken from the
Homiletic
Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[3]
The picture used today is “No. 38
Scenes from the Life of Christ: 22. Ascension” by Giotto di Bondone,1304-06.[4]
S.S. Commemoratio[5]
The readings are taken from the New
American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were
developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.[6]
Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the
Word Volume IV (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA © 2021), 642-43.[7]
Ibid
p. 645-46[8]
The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume I. Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort,
S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New
York, Ascension, Written by John J. Wynne. Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas.
(Published 1907. New York: Robert Appleton Company).
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