This Sunday, Christians all over the world are celebrating the feast day of the Ascension of the Lord.  The liturgy of this feast is based on the following readings:  Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20. The main theme that is presented in these readings is a description of Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven. 

In the Gospel St. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ mandate to the apostles to "make disciples of all nations” (v.19).

He tells his disciples how this should be carried on: It is through baptism and continuous instruction on the Christian way of life. Jesus assures them of his spiritual presence; that he intends to remain with them until the end of time.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we are reminded of a series of events, from Jesus’ passion to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost. These events seem to escape the understanding of the apostles as they go on to meditate on Jesus’ words.

But as time goes on, they understood that they were not promised to know the future times and events of Providence. What Jesus had promised them is the presence of the Holy Spirit who would enable them to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth. And while carrying on their mission, they should look forward to Jesus’ second coming. 

St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus is an invitation for them to meditate on what has happened to them after the ascension of the Lord: through the events of Jesus Christ’s human life and resurrection, God has opened for all believers a strong hope for future glory. But St Paul adds on that it is not the kind of glory that Christians can take for granted because it requires faith on their part. That is why St Paul finds it necessary to pray for Christians so that they may receive from God the spirit of wisdom and perception to know these things and to have courage to trust in the Lord. 

Psalm 47 continues with the same note affirming God as universal Lord ruling all the earth. The Psalmist was referring to the future universal reign of God "over all the earth” (v.3).

From a doctrinal point of view, it becomes clear that the Ascension of Our Lord marks the culmination of Christ’s mission on earth and sets forth the beginning of the apostles’ mission to all nations.

It is a kind of transition in which the apostles and disciples are required to spread to the entire world what Jesus Christ accomplished in his human life within the boarders of Israel.

They are required to go beyond these physical boarders. 
This is in accordance with God’s plan for our salvation. Like wise, our meditation on the event of Ascension of the Lord, reminds us as well of our task today as Christians: It is to communicate the divine life of God, through our own life as the baptized, and to hand over to others our way of Christian life through our daily activities.

This is what makes the Ascension so important: we are representatives of Christ. We are expected to take the place of the physically absent Christ in the world and make him visible and audible through our earthly lives. 

Unfortunately, we are often tempted to remain within the walls of our Christian community forgetting the mandate given to Jesus’ disciples of carrying the message across the boarders to the end of the world.

Our obligation as Christians is to be in the world as ‘the light of the world’. We are to build on everything that is positive in order to permeate all reality with Christian life and meaning. We must be convinced that everything which is genuinely human can reflect God’s glory due to the fact that man was created in God’s image.

We all know of course that man is limited in many aspects of life but we must continue to believe that God is already working in the hearts and minds of men and women through their natural aspirations. We observe this in how men of all times continue to seek for a better understanding of what is found in the Gospel through God’s grace and guided by the Holy Spirit. 

It is with this awareness that we too believe that whenever we express our Christian belief in our daily human activities, the Holy Spirit sustains our efforts and guides our life.

But like St. Paul, in all this we must continue to pray that we may receive from God the Spirit of wisdom and perception to know well our Christian mission and for courage so that we may always trust in the Lord. 

Ends