What a glorious day to celebrate today, being the Solemnity of the Feast of the Ascension!! Can you believe, it’s already 40 days since Easter?! Some parishes may celebrate this Feast on the following Sunday.
After the Resurrection, Jesus was busy appearing to the Apostles in different locations, explaining the scriptures to the disciples on the way to Emmaus; preparing breakfast for the apostles who had returned to their old occupation of fishing; appearing through walls and locked doors in the upper room and displaying His wounds to His apostles.
Assurance in the Holy Spirit
Before ascending into heaven in their presence, he assured them that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit, and that they would be His witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Then he raised his hands and blessed them, and as he did so, he was taken up into heaven.
Let the Responsorial Psalm help you imagine the reception Jesus received upon entering heaven – “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy; a blare of trumpets for the Lord.”
The second reading continues the story as the letter to the Hebrews states,
“Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.”
What comforting words to know that Christ, who lived on this earth as a human being and experienced all the emotions we go through, is now our advocate with God the Almighty Father!
As the reading continues, “and since we have ‘a great priest over the house of God,’ let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.”
Mission Statement
Our mission statement is clearly stated in the Gospel Acclamation “Go and teach all nations, says the Lord; I am with you always, until the end of the world.”
At the time of writing this reflection, I had just returned from a weekend retreat to St. Clare’s Retreat Center in Soquel, California, which is near Santa Cruz – a very pretty area. We were blessed to have a Polish priest as our Retreat Master who had a first-class relic of St. Faustina that he blessed us with. He is of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel, and he urged us to invoke the intercession of St. Michael to assist us battle temptations from the devil by reciting the St. Michael’s prayer several times throughout the day.
An Encounter
During the retreat, I met one of the volunteers, and engaged her in conversation. She was a young lady from Fiji, who was raised in the Islamic faith. Sadly, her mother passed away when she was nine, and when her father remarried, she was terribly ill-treated. As she grew older, she tried to fill the hole in her heart with alcohol and parties; but while she enjoyed those at the time, they left her feeling even more empty as time went by.
One day she wanted to go out with a friend, but this friend was busy taking sisters out to their doctors’ appointments. “Sisters?” she asked her friend. “I didn’t know you had sisters.”
“Not sibling sisters,” her friend laughed. “Nuns!”
My volunteer asked her friend if she could accompany her, and that’s where her journey into the Catholic Church began. She began assisting her friend at the Home of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa’s group of nuns. She started volunteering there, and slowly started learning about God’s deep love and mercy for us, His creatures.
Peace
She then understood what her brother had told her, “You will not find the peace you are looking for in parties and in alcohol. What you’re looking for is deep inside you.”
Now, she is on fire for the catholic church, learning as much as she can from sources like Relevant Radio, and by assisting the Franciscan Missionary Sisters and seeing love in action, while also volunteering at the retreat center.
I pray that we all have similar zeal in proclaiming the Gospel to everyone we meet, using words when necessary.
