|
ASCENSION OF THE LORD JESUS - 2007
Acts 1:1-11; Heb. 9:24-28, 10:19-23; Lk. 24:46-53
Humans are meant to be elevated to God
First Reading...
"In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that
Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day
when he was taken up to heaven, after giving
instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles
whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented
himself alive to them by many convincing proofs,
appearing to them during forty days and speaking about
the kingdom of God.
While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave
Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the
Father. 'This,' he said, 'is what you have heard from
me; for John baptized with water, but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'
So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord,
is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of
Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know the
times or periods that the Father has set by his own
authority. But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth."
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
While he was going and they were gazing up toward
heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up
toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from
you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw
him go into heaven.'" [Acts 1:1-11]
Second Reading...
"Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a
mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven
itself, to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high
priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood
that is not his own; for then he would have had to
suffer again and again since the foundation of the
world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the
end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of
himself.
Just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and
after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been
offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a
second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who
are eagerly waiting for him.
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter
the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and
living way that he opened for us through the curtain,
that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great
priest over the house of God, let us approach with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has
promised is faithful." [Heb. 9:24-8, 10:19-23]
Gospel Reading...
"Jesus said to the disciples, 'These are my words that I
spoke to you while I was still with you - that
everything written about me in the law of Moses, the
prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.'
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
and he said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the
Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the
third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins
is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
things.'
'And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised;
so stay here in the city until you have been clothed
with power from on high.'
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up
his hands, he blessed them. When he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with
great joy; and they were continually in the temple
blessing God." [Lk. 24:46-53]
Story:
One of master Gasan's monks visited the
university in Tokyo. When he returned, he asked the
master if he had ever read the Christian Bible.
"No," Gasan replied, "Please read some of
it to me."
The monk opened the Bible to the Sermon
on the Mount in St. Matthew, and began reading. After
reading Christ's words about the lilies in the field, he
paused. Master Gasan was silent for a long time.
"Yes," he finally said, "Whoever uttered
these words is an enlightened being. What you have read
to me is the essence of everything I have been trying to
teach you here!"
Jesus
taught, lived, suffered, died and rose from the dead.
Lessons, lessons and lessons for us to learn. His words
are eternal life to us, and his life is nothing less
than our heaven here on earth.
The
Ascension of the Blessed Lord in heaven, is a huge
lesson to all of us to remember that every word and deed
will be exalted and every single act of goodness will be
rewarded. That is what this fest will teach us
A parable:
The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard
the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they
fall into wells.
After carefully assessing the situation,
the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that
neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of
saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and
told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help
haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him
out of his misery.
Initially, the old mule was hysterical!
But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling
and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It
suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of
dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND
STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.
"Shake it off and step up...shake it off
and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to
encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or
distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought
"panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND
STEPPING UP!
You're right! It wasn't long before the
old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY
OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would
bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the
manner in which he handled his adversity.
THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and
respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to
panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT
COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE
POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US!
Remember that
FORGIVENESS--FAITH--PRAYER-- PRAISE and HOPE...all are
excellent ways to "SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the
wells in which we find ourselves!
The
following essentials of the Lord’s Ascension can help
us:
1.
First of all, the
visible departure of the Lord concluded the Risen Jesus’
sojourn on earth. For 40 days after His Resurrection,
Jesus had been appearing to many of His followers and
spoke to them about the Kingdom of God. [Acts 1:3] The
days of His apparitions had come to an end.
If we are to take Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke or
Chapter 20 of the Gospel of John as they stand, we would
get the impression that all three, the Resurrection, the
Ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit happened on
the same day. But this is not so. As I have just
mentioned, there were “40 days” [Acts 1:3] between the
day of the Resurrection and the day of the Ascension.
This knowledge is made known to us by St. Luke who also
wrote “The Acts of the Apostles.”
2.
Secondly, we come
to perceive that the Ascension of Jesus completes our
understanding of the
awesomeness of the glorious Resurrection.
Because the Lord Jesus was raised to Heaven after His
glorious Resurrection, it is made known to us that our
blessed hope of eternal life does not consist of
dwelling in this world, but rather in Heaven.
3. Thirdly,
the Ascension of the Lord affirms that Jesus was the
Messiah. As the Gospel of Luke tells us, “He was carried
up into Heaven.” [Lk. 24:51] The questions to ask here
are, “Who carried Him?” and “Why did they carry Him?” It
was the angels who carried Jesus to Heaven because they
were created to “adore Him” [Heb. 1:6] and serve Him.
In
concluding the writing of his Gospel, St. Luke
emphasized that the proclaiming of repentance and the
forgiveness of sins was to be proclaimed in His Name. [Lk.
24:47] This emphasis, in “His Name,” shifts the faith of
the believers from Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament,
to the divinity of Jesus. “For in Him all the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell bodily.” [Col. 1:19, 2:9]
4.
Next, the
Ascension of the Lord Jesus opened the door for the
beginning of the Divine ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus had told His disciples not to leave Jerusalem but
to wait there for the
promise of the Heavenly Father. [Lk. 24:49;
Acts 1:4]
5.
Fifth, during the
Gospel Reading, we heard that Jesus raised His hands and
blessed His disciples. [Lk. 24:50]
From
this passage, we come to perceive that the blessing of
Jesus was not just an ordinary blessing. It was a
blessing from the True High Priest, He who is a priest
forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek. [Heb.
5:6, 7:17, 7:21]
6.
Sixth, from the
moment of the Ascension, the living hope of all
Christians has been for the Second Coming of Christ, not
to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly
waiting for Him. At the moment of the Ascension of the
Lord, the countdown began. “About that day and hour no
one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father.” [Mt. 24:36] “Therefore you also
must be ready, for the
Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
[Mt. 24:44]
7.
Seventh, once the
Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven, He sat at the right
hand of God. [Mk. 16:19; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3,
8:1, 10:12; 1 Pet. 3:22; Acts 2:33, 7:56-7] Since then,
He has been the Mediator between God and humankind. [1
Tim. 2:5] “Jesus has now obtained a more excellent
ministry, and to that degree He is the Mediator of a
better Covenant, which has been enacted through better
promises.” [Heb. 8:6]
8.
Eight, from the
moment of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, His
glorious reign began as the King of kings. Through the
Resurrection of Jesus, death was conquered. “The great
dragon was thrown down (out of Heaven), that ancient
serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver
of the whole world.” [Rev. 12:9]
Following the glorious moment of the Ascension of Jesus,
the souls that dwelled in Limbo were finally released
“Christ was the first fruits of those who had died.” [1
Cor. 15:20]
9.
Ninth, while
Jesus has ascended into Heaven, His Divine Presence
continues to be with us where He is adored daily in the
Sacred Tabernacles of the Catholic Churches.
The
Last verse from
today’s Gospel Reading states, “And they worshipped Him,
and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were
continually in the Temple blessing God.” [Lk. 24:53]
What is stressed here is that the believers were
“continually” in the Temple and their “great
joy.”
From
this passage, it can be perceived that the physical
Church mirrors the invisible Kingdom of God. The One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church mirrors the new
Jerusalem and the new Temple. The Divine Presence of
Jesus in the Sacred Tabernacles mirrors His Divine
Presence among the saints and the angels in the Kingdom
of God.
Another Story: (Use this story if only
you need it)
A young but earnest Zen student
approached his teacher, and asked the Zen Master:
"If I work very hard and diligent how
long will it take for me to find Zen."
The Master thought about this, then
replied, "Ten years."
The student then said, "But what if I
work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn
fast - How long then?"
Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years."
"But, if I really, really work at it. How
long then?" asked the student.
"Thirty years," replied the Master.
"But, I do not understand," said the
disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will
work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you
say that?"
Replied the Master," When you have one
eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."
Following the glorious Ascension of the Lord, the
endless righteous souls who had died from the days of
Adam to the days of Jesus, all were finally released
from their prison in Limbo, not because of their merit
or merit of anybody, but because of Christ’s death and
resurrection. Finally, they could enjoy the eternal
Presence of Christ the King. For these souls, the
Resurrection of Jesus prepared the way for their freedom
from a dwelling where they did not enjoy the beatific
vision of Christ.
These
are reasons to celebrate the Ascension of the Lord.
There may be more than those that we have mentioned. But
these are sufficient for us to rejoice, not only for
ourselves, but for the countless souls of the days of
the Old Testament who finally entered the Kingdom of
God.
Salvation and liberation is not the hard
work of each one of us. But it is the unmerited grace we
obtain though Jesus our Master. He only tells us to
believe in him, so that we experience his love,
forgiveness and peace, which cannot be earned by our
hard work, but through humility and simplicity.
Jesus
taught everything through his words, life, suffering,
death and resurrection. The Ascension marks the
culmination of his earthly ministry. Now we wait for the
fulfillment of his promise, the coming of the Holy
Spirit.
Let us wait and see…
|
 Dear friend, my
homilies will be posted on Thursdays and you can benefit
them and if you need more resources, you could contact
me on
rudyocd@yahoo.com or
rudyocd@gmail.com
Let us make this ministry
fruitful one so that the Word of God becomes a source of
joy for me and for you and help people become more aware
of its riches. You are also welcome to share your
feedback with me. Thanks and God bless.
|
|
