Ascension of Our Lord

06-02-2019Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

The feast of the Ascension of Our Lord is a Mystery. Scriptures tell us that Jesus left his disciples to go back to the heavenly Father and promised to return at the end time. He concluded his earthly ministry and with this began the mission of the church. In today's gospel the disciples were saying goodbye to Jesus and we heard the intimate moment of farewell between friends. As he prepared to depart from the earth he offered them his parting gifts: the gift of understanding so that they were able to comprehend the meaning of the Scriptures. He did promise that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit and gave them his final loving blessing and told them that he would not abandon them but remain with them till the end of times. The reaction of the disciples shows a striking transformation. Luke tells us that they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, praising and worshiping God. They were now certainly different from the frightened little band that had gone into hiding, run away from all authorities in Jerusalem particularly after the crucifixion.

Now they were transformed into new persons, strengthened with faith and with the hope of the future. The Lord instructed them to be his witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the world but they were also told to await the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Heavenly messengers were beside the apostles as an evidence of God's continued assistance. They assured the apostles that the Lord will come back to them as they had seen him go up to heaven accompanied by the clouds.

This Feast of the Ascension commemorates the elevation of Christ into Heaven by his own power in the presence of his disciples on the 40 day after His glorious Resurrection. The Ascension of Jesus tells us that the Lord has completed His earthly work of our redemption. Through his numerous apparitions to hundreds of people between the Day of his Resurrection and the Day of His Ascension, Jesus proved two things: First, he proved that he was the promised Messiah that had come to redeem them. Secondly, he proved that through he who overcame death, those who persevere in their living faith shall also overcome death and inherit the Kingdom of God. St. Augustine believes that the observance of the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus is of apostolic origin and after the 5th century, St. Augustine insisted on its universal observance. The scripture readings of today particularly first and the third tell us about the Ascension. Jesus their beloved master was taken up from among their midst and the angels told them to go and search for him among the living and not among the dead. They are now called upon to think in a new way, to visualize Jesus as a universal person. They are totally assured that the Lord was with them and helped them in their work.

BACK TO LIST