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| “No. 38 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 22. Ascension” by Giotto di Bondone,1304-06 |
CCC 659-672, 697, 792, 965, 2795: the Ascension
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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] In 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).
