🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHT - THE SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION 🙏

First Reading - Acts 1:1-11 

Second Reading - Ephesians 4:1-13

Gospel - Mark 16:15-20

There is the funny story of the raw army recruit standing at attention on the drill field. The drill instructor yells, “Forward, march!” And the entire ranks begin to move, all except this one raw recruit. He’s still standing there at attention. So, the drill instructor strolls over to him and yells in his right ear, “Is this thing working?” “Sir, yes, sir!” the recruit yells. Then the drill instructor walks around to the other ear and yells, “Is this thing working?” “Sir, yes, sir!” The soldier says. “Then why didn’t you march when I gave the order?” “Sir, I didn’t hear you call my name.” — Some of us are like that soldier standing around waiting for God to call our names. But the great commission given by Jesus on the day of his Ascension is a blanket order. It has everyone’s name on it. And you can be sure that the Man in charge says, “Go! Make disciples! Teach!” It is your mission and my mission.

Today’s readings describe the Ascension of the Lord Jesus into his Heavenly glory after promising his disciples the Holy Spirit as their source of Heavenly power and commanding them to bear witness to him throughout the world by their lives and preaching. But the ascended Jesus is still with us through his indwelling Holy Spirit as he has promised, “I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” Today’s feast is a celebration of Jesus’ final glorification after his suffering, death, and Resurrection – a glory in which we, too, hope to share.

The first reading gives an account of the event of the Ascension as recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. First, Jesus instructedhis apostlesto remain in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism by the Holy Spiritso that they might become his “witnesses to the ends of the earth” by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then a cloud took Jesus from the sight of the disciples and two Heavenly messengers in white garments gave them the assurance of Jesus’ “second coming” or return in glory. The Refrain for today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 47) suggests that by his Ascension, the risen Lord “mounts his throne” in glory. 

In the second reading, Paul explains the theological meaning of Jesus’ exaltation, giving us the assurance that one day, we, too, will be ascending to Heavenly Glory, provided we fulfill the mission entrusted to us by the ascending Lord.

Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus ascended to Heaven after giving his final blessing and missionary command to his disciples. The command was to “proclaim the Good News to the whole creation,” “to be his witnesses,” and “to make disciples of all nations.” (Mt 28:16-20, Mk 16:15-20, Lk 24:46-53, Acts 1:1-11).

Dear friends, we need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming. We preach with words, but we proclaim with our lives. Let us ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as we bear witness to Jesus by our transparent Christian lives.

We have a teaching mission: Jesus taught us lessons of Faith, Hope, Love, forgiveness, mercy, and salvation by his life and preaching and gave as we have experienced our Lord and Savior.

The ascended Jesus is our source of strength and encouragement: We will be able to overcome doubts about our Faith, as well as baseless fears, anxieties and worries, by meditating on Jesus’ Ascension and the lesson it teaches — that we, too, are called to share his glory in Heaven.