Ascension of the Lord!
Ascension of the Lord!
On the 7th Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. God the Father sent his only begotten Son to reveal the Father’s love and mercy for humanity. He was born in Bethlehem, house of bread, and was laid in a manger where animals were fed, lived in Egypt as a refugee, and lived thirty years of silent life, and finally three years of public ministry and its culmination was his suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
During forty days of Easter, Jesus walked with his disciples and prepared them for Pentecost and future mission before his Ascension. The first reading (Acts 1:1-11) gives the account of Ascension. The Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20) gives the account of Jesus' great commission to the Apostles and of this promise of being with them always. Acts 1:9 and Mark 16:19 says, the Ascension of the Lord culminates with his heavenly enthronement at the right hand of the Father. The Ascension took place on Mount Olives. In the first reading we read, “A cloud took him from their sight.” In the Bible the cloud represents the divine presence. We can see references in the Book of Exodus 13:21; Isaiah 63:11; Daniel 7:13. Acts 7:56 Stephan said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Jesus departed from them, but at the same time, he promised to be with them always and he pledged his future return. The same cloud that took him away will bring him back to retrieve the saints destined for glory (1Thessalonians 4:14-17). Daniel talks about his vision, “I saw coming with the clouds of heaven. One like a son of man” (7:13). In the Gospel of Matthew 26:64, Jesus had told the high priest, “From now on you will see ‘the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.” Christ’s kingdom began with his coming, is now present in the Church, and will reach in fulfillment when he returns in glory. Jesus entrusted the Church to the Apostles and asked them to continue the mission with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We are in the years of Eucharistic Revival and Maintenance to Mission. Each of our households will be receiving a letter from Bishop James Powers on this topic. I have formed an Evangelization Team in our cluster. We meet every week for prayer and study on the mission of the Church. During the Easter season the reading repeatedly invites us to reflect on the mission. At the Easter celebration we renewed our baptismal promises and pledged to live the baptismal call. At times in the busyness of life, we may forget to recall our baptismal call and actively live. Our Evangelization Team will be praying for our cluster and inviting you to come and join different endeavors.
As I mentioned at last weekend's Mass, our Evangelization Team would like to invite you to join in praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit from May 18 – 26. If you missed the last two days, you can make up for those and join us. Each one of the Team members will be praying for five families whom they would like to see active in our cluster parishes. We invite each of you to think of five families whom you would like to see actively participate in our cluster. We will be praying every day during the Mass. You may not be able to join for Mass every day. So please take 2 minutes to pray this prayer as a family prayer. Booklets are available at the entrance, also it will be posted on Facebook pages every day. Let us pray also for Deacons: Dan Tracy; Isaiah Schick; and Julian Druffner who are going to be ordained on Pentecost Sunday at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Superior.
Please join the Evangelization Team to pray the Novena. We will celebrate Pentecost on May 27/28th weekend. You will be hearing from the Evangelization Team in coming months. Stay tuned. Thank you!