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13 May 2013
Extracted from the Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11:
In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven.
He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. When he had been at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. ‘It is’ he had said ‘what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’
Now having met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.’
As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.’
Psalm 47:2-3,6-9 God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast. or Alleluia!
All peoples, clap your hands, cry to God with shouts of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear, great king over all the earth.
God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast. Sing praise for God, sing praise, sing praise to our king, sing praise.
God is king of all the earth, sing praise with all your skill. God is king over the nations; God reigns on his holy throne. |
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Extracted from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians 1:17-23:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him.
May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.
This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named not only in this age but also in the age to come.
He has put all things under his feet and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation.
Extracted from the Sermon – the Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23:
It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf.
And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own, or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began.
Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself.
Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.
In other words, brothers, through the blood of Jesus we have the right to enter the sanctuary, by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his body.
And we have the supreme high priest over all the house of God.
So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith, our minds sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is faithful. 8-)
Extracted from the holy Gospel according to Luke 24:46-53:
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.
‘And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.’
Then he took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.
Sharing:
On 9 May 2013, the Universal Church celebrated the Ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven after his resurrection from the dead happened over 2000 years ago. Here are the Readings being read in the Eucharistic Celebrations all over the world on the same day:
1st Reading: Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 (see above),
Responsorial: Psalm 47:2-3,6-9 (see above),
2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23 (see above) &
Gospel Reading: Luke 24:46-53 (see above).
We have extracted the Homilies of Blessed Pope John Paul II, based on the aforesaid Readings to share with you, so that you could similarly be encouraged:
EXTRAORDINARY CONSISTORY HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II Ascension of the Lord, 24 May 2001
Eminent Cardinals,
1. We gather around the altar of the Lord in order to celebrate his Ascension into heaven. We have heard his words: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses ... even to the end of the earth" (Acts 1,8). For 2,000 years, the Risen Lord's promise impels the Church to put out "into the deep" waters of life, to become a contemporary of everyone and the ferment of human thought and imagination.
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