'They . . .returned to Jerusalem with great joy.' Sunday Reflections, The Ascension, Year C
The Ascension of Christ, Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]
Ascension, Year C
The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 30 May, in England & Wales, Scotland. In the USA it is celebrated on Ascension Thursday in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, Philadelphia, elsewhere on Sunday 2 June. In all of these areas Ascension Thursday is a Holyday of Obligation.
The Ascension is observed on Sunday, 2 June, in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Philippines.
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Luke 24:46-53 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C
These readings are used in countries and regions where the Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 30 May.
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel John 17:20-26 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
Jesus looked up to heaven and said:
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
The Ascension, Theophanes the Cretan [Web Gallery of Art]
The Sunday on which the Ascension is now celebrated in many countries is also the Church's World Communications Day. The first was in 1967. Jesus tells the disciples in today's Gospel - and through them tell us - You are witnesses of these things. Jesus is asking us to use all modern means of communication so that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
When I went home to Ireland on vacation from the Philippines in 1994 before beginning six years as vocation director I took a short course for missionaries in the use of computers given by a religious sister who had worked in an African country for many years. She wasn't the best teacher I've ever had in teaching the 'mechanical' basics of her subject but she was a wonderful motivator. Although the internet was still in its infancy she told us stories of how it had helped save lives in the country where she worked.
Eleven or twelve years ago when checking my email in the Philippines I found myself 'chatting' with a friend, a Filipina married to a Westerner and living in her husband's country. I'll call her Maria. It was clear to me very quickly that she was going through a crisis and thinking of doing the worst to herself. At the time she 'hated' everyone except me and 'didn't believe' in God anymore.
I was able to help Maria see that the issue wasn't any of the things she mentioned but was within herself. I also got her to agree to meet a priest in her own area, someone I had never met and still haven't. But I was able to contact him through email, having got his address from someone else whom I have never met in person.
I learned later that that meeting with the priest was to be a turning point for my Maria. She was able to face the world again with hope and hasn't looked back since.
At the time this happened I had come to know a 16-year-old girl in the Philippines who had been made pregnant by her boyfriend. I'll call her Ana. I'm not sure to what degree she had consented to the activity that led to her carrying a baby. She was from another part of the country but was welcomed by religious sisters who run a home for girls, most of whom have had pretty bad experiences. Ana was was very angry and part of that anger was directed at the baby she was carrying.
I told Maria about Ana. One of the ironies was that Maria couldn't have a child, a great sorrow to her and her husband. Despite her 'not believing' in God I asked her to pray for Ana, something she readily agreed to do, and told her that I would ask Ana to pray for her. When I met Ana a day or two later she too readily accepted her mission of prayer.
Shortly after that we celebrated the feast of the Visitation, 31 May, this year the day after Ascension Thursday. After Mass I asked Ana if she would like me to bless her and the baby in her womb. She was happy with this and later told me that she had felt the baby moving for the first time. More importantly, her anger had disappeared. Some time later she was able to go home to her own family and delivered her baby there.
This incident opened my eyes to the truth of what the Sister who gave us classes on the use of computers and the internet had told us. Here was I at my computer in the Philippines when 'by chance', the 'chance' being undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, giving crisis counselling to a friend on another continent and helping her to meet someone I had never met who could listen to her in person.
This incident opened my eyes to the truth of what the Sister who gave us classes on the use of computers and the internet had told us. Here was I at my computer in the Philippines when 'by chance', the 'chance' being undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, giving crisis counselling to a friend on another continent and helping her to meet someone I had never met who could listen to her in person.
Pope Francis in Palo, Philippines, 2015 [Wikipedia]
The theme of Pope Francis's message forWorld Communications Daythis year is, 'We are members one of another' (Eph 4:25). From social network communities to the human community. In the opening paragraph of the message Pope Francis writes: I would like to invite you once again to reflect on the foundation and importance of our being-in-relation and to rediscover, in the vast array of challenges of the current communications context, the desire of the human person who does not want to be left isolated and alone.
Both Maria and Ana felt isolated and alone. Ana was welcomed by the Sisters and the girls in the home where she stayed before going home. Maria knew me personally and at that critical moment fully trusted me. But it was the marvel of modern communications, which can be used for good or for bad, that enabled us to communicate with one another in a way that a generation ago most of us could not even have imagined. The internet made it possible for me to arrange for Maria to meet a priest face-to-face in the area where she lived.
Ana went home to her own family, her basic community, to have her baby, having been part of a temporary but genuine, welcoming community during her crisis. Maria got through her crisis and has been doing well since. Being part of a social network community enabled her to become again part of the human community, enabled her to leave her isolation of near despair and to experience something of the great joy the Apostles felt after Jesus left them.
That is the great joy of which we are witnesses and which Jesus calls us to share, a great joy . . . to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
Antiphonary (Cod. Cor. 3, folio 59)
Folio 59 contains the Ascension in an initial V, which begins the introit to the Mass for the Ascension [Viri Galilaei, 'Men of Galilee'] below.
Antiphona ad introitum Entrance Antiphon Acts 1:11
Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? [Alleluia].
Quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia [alleluia, alleluia].
This Jesus whom you saw ascending inot heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia [alleluia, alleluia].
Comments
Post a Comment