Happy Mother's Day! The Month of May id dedicated to BVM, Mother of God, Mother of all mothers. On May 4 Pope Francis joined the people in Mary Major Basilica to seek her intercession on behalf of all of us. In his reflection he said “We have prayed to her, to maternally take us more and more in union with her Son Jesus; we have brought her our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our difficulties... The Gospel of Luke says that in the family of Nazareth Jesus grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him’ (Luke 2:40). This is exactly what the Madonna does with us, she helps us to grow humanely and in faith, to be strong and not to yield to the temptation of being Christians in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, reaching upwards all the time.” Let us seek the intercession of BVM to bless our mothers.
This Sunday is the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven. Easter, the Ascension, and Christmas are the oldest feasts celebrated as holy days of obligation from the very early time. As it fell on a Thursday and is gradually losing its importance, it is now transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter in many Catholic dioceses in the world.
New Testament Scriptures do not give us a clear picture of this event in Christ’s life. Mark writes that after exhorting the apostles to be evangelizers of the Good News, "the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took his seat at God's right hand." (Mk 16:19) Luke tells us that Jesus blessed the apostles and “was taken up to heaven." (Lk 24:51). An elaborate description of the Ascension is found in Acts 1:3-11. This fact is predicted and spoken about in Jn 6:62; 20:17; Eph 4:8-10; 1 Tim 3:16. Christian tradition tells us that the risen Christ remained on earth for forty days appearing, strengthening their faith, exhorting, and sharing meals with his disciples before he ascended into heaven from Mount Olivet and now is seated at the right hand of the Father in order to intercede for humanity. He is the mediator between God and humans. After this extraordinary event the apostles became witnesses to mysteries revealed by Christ Jesus (CCC # 659-667).
What kind of significance does this feast have for our Christian living? There is so much we can gain from this celebration. Jesus, the Son of God was born in human body, lived a simple life of a carpenter. Turning thirty, he became a proclaimer of Good News and eventually faced a cruel death. His dead human body was glorified in the Resurrection, reached the climax of glory in the Ascension into heaven, a different dimension of reality. This gives believers the assurance that our human body too will share in the glory of the risen Lord and enter into this heavenly dimension of reality. To inherit this glory the work is cut out for us: “Make disciples of all nations. Baptize them... Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you." The story of man’s true identity and destiny revealed in Jesus must be told down through the ages until the Lord’s Second Coming in glory. Jesus assures us, “know that I am with you always, until the end of the world.”
Fr. Sextus Don
PASTOR'S SUNDAY REFLECTION