The Ascension of the Lord / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
In most dioceses in the United States, including the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord will be celebrated this weekend. Some dioceses observe this weekend as the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
These reflections will refer to the biblical readings for the Ascension of the Lord.
The first reading is from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. As with the Gospel of St. Luke, the author addresses Theophilus, whose identity is unclear. Was Theophilus his actual name? Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was not. “Theophilus,” meaning “friend of God,” could also be a title or a description of the person addressed.
In any case, this initial form of address recalls that Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles are inseparably linked. Acts simply continues the story begun in the Gospel. (At some point, editors divided these books and placed the Gospel of St. John between them. This arrangement remains today in biblical translations.)
This is important. It shows that, in the mind of the holy author, the process of salvation did not end with the Lord’s ascension into heaven. After the Lord went to heaven, salvation continued as the Apostles proceeded with the mission accomplished by Jesus, ordained long ago by God.
A lesson to be learned is how important the Apostles were. In Acts, the text clearly reveals that the first Christians greatly revered the 11 surviving Apostles, that
St. Peter led and spoke for the Apostles, that they performed miracles just as Jesus had done and that they exercised the authority of Jesus in calling St. Matthias to be an Apostle equal to the others.
Still, despite all these assertions as to their dignity, they were only humans. They needed the inspiration of God.
As its second reading, the Church presents a selection from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians.
This reading is a prayer that all Christians might find true wisdom. True wisdom reposes only in the Lord. Earthly wisdom can be and often is faulty.
For the last reading, the Church gives us a passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel. Again, the status of the Apostles is the point. The Apostles are with Jesus. They see and hear the risen Lord. They are witnesses of the resurrection of Christ.
Jesus tells them to go into the world. Excluding and ignoring no one, they are to bring all humanity into God’s family by baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In this last instruction from Jesus is a clear and direct revelation of the Holy Trinity.
Reflection
The Church, having proclaimed the Resurrection, now calls us to look at ourselves and at our times as Christians. Christ still is with the Church and with us.
As the bond between Luke and Acts tells us, salvation, perfected in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, is still unfolding on Earth. Christ did not just come and go. He still lives, giving direction and focus, strengthening us, forgiving us, enlightening us. He is with us, even after he ascended to heaven.
He is with us now in the Church, because the Church stands on the foundation laid long ago by the Apostles. From them, it has received the message of Jesus. From them, it has received the commission to reach out to proclaim the Gospel to everyone, especially to the needy and the weak. From them and through Christ, it has received the authority to forgive sin and to bestow the new life of grace. From them, it received the sacraments, now offered to us.
The Church brings us to Jesus and it brings Jesus to us. As St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians tells us, only Jesus is the source of truth.
We are not dragged kicking and screaming to Jesus, however. We must turn to Jesus willingly and totally because we humbly realize our need for Jesus. †